There Is One Thing Missing

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DSCF0565FUJIFILM X-T1 (23mm, f/2, 1/80 sec, ISO1600)

Before Christmas evening we went to a Christkindlmarket in Passau, Germany. It was wonderful: A beautiful place, very nice booths, the cathedral of Passau as a backdrop and just the right amount of people. But there was one important thing missing:

Snow! Maybe I’m old fashioned but without snow Christmas just doesn’t feel right. I can’t remember the last time that we had snow on Christmas evening though. I think that is more than 15 years ago but at least there was some snow in November or December to get some Christmas feeling even if it melts away before Christmas eve. This year like the year before there was nothing! And it was very warm too. The warmest autumn since the weather is scientifically recorded in Austria. And that means since the year 1773.

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Of course it makes little sense to drink glogg or hot punch if it’s warm enough to walk around without a hat and gloves. They better start to sell soft ice.

I really miss the cold weather! I remember that once on my birthday the temperature was below -20 degrees Celsius. I took my Nikon D200 plus Nikon AF-S 2.8/300 and drove to a small zoo. When I came to the place there were just a couple of cars at the parking lot and I think almost all of them belonged to the staff. When I bought the ticket the steam that came out of the ticket office misted my glasses and the guy looked at me like I’m crazy. Maybe I am but I always loved the cold so this winter so far is useless. The only thing that day that kept me from frostbite was the fact that I wasn’t able to buy a second battery for my brand new D200. I came home with some great shots and a big smile on my face. Nothing compares to being out in the snow on a cold winters day.

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But thanks to global warming those days are gone. At least in the place where I live. But maybe there is still hope. I remember that in Ramsau, Styria, Austria two years ago we had 1.5 meters of snow in the village and it was biting cold. It was magical. Finally the tourist board was able to replace the winter photos in their flyers with newer ones. And it was high time because most photos showed Volkswagen beetles.

But how about this year? December 28th, outside temperature is -5 degrees Celsius and it is finally snowing here and almost everywhere in Austria. According to the weather-forecast the temperature will go further down within the next couple of days. The snow will stay at least till New Year’s Eve. Great! A true happy ending.

Now I need to take some winter shots!

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