Snow!

This morning I can see snow from my kitchen window: the Killesberg hillside is white. Winter is here! Hooray!

This reminds me of a little oddity of European life which I have often thought to blog but not yet done. People (by which I mean North Americans) are often uncertain about the size of European countries, equating the thousands of years of history and millions of population with physical size. Germany is a small country, just a little bigger than New Mexico; you can drive the length of it between breakfast and dinner.

The snow forecast is therefore not geographical but topographical: the weatherman says "snow above xxx metres" (above sea level). Given what I see on the Killesberg, the snowfall line is now at about 450 metres. There's not even ice on the cars on my street, it was too warm last night down here in the valley.

Slim's parents who live in the Black Forest (around 750 metres above sea level) are probably ankle-deep in snow today.