Every year winter puts me in an introspective mode. The new year, my birthday in early Feb, the gloomy atmosphere – I find myself pondering over many things. In between all of this, when the fresh snow falls and turns the whole city into a wonderland, I realize that I actually don’t dislike winter at all.
Just a few days ago, we had a night of heavy snowfall which when I saw in the next morning reminded me of my Finland days. I remember the feeling of being in a magical land on the first morning of heavy snow (first of that year) that had fallen the night before, when I walked to school.
After all these years of living in Europe, I still am so excited when I see a thick layer of fresh snow envelope the surroundings. Back then, there were so many things I didn’t know about living in a cold, snowy place. I had improper boots and jackets, no knowledge about layers, and I didn’t check the weather forecast religiously.
Now I have become accustomed to adjusting the clothing and expectations according to the weather. My friends over here are surprised to find that I find snow so fascinating – they think that we get snowfall everywhere in Nepal. It’s actually not true despite the ubiquity of tall mountains in the country. The permanent snowline in Nepal is surprisingly high – above 5000 meters, and below that altitude, we only get occasional snowfall. Not any in my hometown Kathmandu which is at an altitude of 1400 meters.
With the growing popularity of domestic travel, youths flock to the snowy hills in Nepal from the cities to play with the snow. My sister recently made an arduous hike of 26 kms up and down a muddy dirt track in the closest snowy hill from Kathmandu. The snow wasn’t fresh, so all she got to see was old, icy, ugly snow, but it was her first time and she said she actually liked the snow (or what it had turned into that point..). While people go to such lengths to just see snow in some places, here it’s just another winter day..
//Have you been enjoying your winter (or summer)?
Stories from Europe 
Fresh snow always looks beautiful! Seeing everything is coated in white is like watching magic 🙂
Magic is exactly the word to define such soft, freshly fallen snow! 😀
Greetings, Pooja. I can’t see any protection on your balcony. Is there any thick glass so you can’t fall through those railings ? Pooja, I love these pictures and I too love to see the fresh snow although I don’t want any down here. The hills are too steep everywhere. Some of our guests are still going to the nearby beach but not for swimming They go to see the Atlantic and just for strolling along the sands. Our weather should really warm up next month.
Enjoy your snow, Pooja, and have a really good weekend. Dai
Yes, that’s hard glass Dai 🙂 Snow is great but becomes inconvenient pretty quickly hehe. Did you have snow growing up in England dai? Here the kids know how to make use of it very well – they go on sleds, and make all these snowmen and things. My weekend was spent working at the new apartment Dai. How was yours?
Glad it has glass, Pooja. I was imagining you and Stasiek slipping through and down. Pooja, in my younger days we had deep snow every winter. It was impossible to walk to school sometimes but we kids thoroughly enjoyed playing in the snow. We are VERY busy here this weekend, Pooja. We just had two guests depart for Brussels, a few minutes ago. And we have just 1 hr 45 mins to get the room ready again for a guest from Italy. Apart from being busy, the weekend is going well and we have been joking and laughing a lot.
Dai it’s Monday already hehe. I am waiting for the weekend again sitting here at office desk 😀 Have a nice day, Dai!
Oh, so it is, Pooja. I rarely know what day it is although I know the dates because of all the bookings. Only five more days till Saturday, Pooja It will zoom past.
All your photos are to die for!!! I find snow magical too and would easily walk miles just to see it. I remember expecting snow falls when I was a kid. It didn’t always happened but every winter I would hope we’d get at least a night of heavy snowfall. The pleasure to open the shutters in the morning and discover what happened while you were sleeping!!!
Thanks you so much Vero! I can imagine how you felt as a child waiting desperately for snow. It’s so magical isn’t it! I, despite living in Kathmandu where it doesn’t snow at all, still had those dreams sometimes as a child haha. Had to make it work with hailstones 😀
No snow here once again -_-
Well we did have around 0.5cm of snow and -4 degrees Celsius for a couple of days and in the news it was described as Sibirian Winter xDxD
The snow has melted away here too! In fact it was 7 degrees yesterday. Felt like spring. Haha -4 degrees as Siberian winter for northern Germany? That’s too funny 😀
Yeah Northern Germans are always shocked when there are subzero temperatures and even snow!
Which is actually surprising as in my childhood we had snow every winter and often enough so much that the schools were closed. However by now we had perhaps 10cm snow in total over the past 10 years! (no no can’t be global warming…)
I love this black and white beauty, especially in the park – I can feel the silence of the moment and this magic feeling of fresh snow. Glad you can enjoy snow, sometimes it feels difficult))
Thank you, Marina. I guess I have a love-hate relationship with snow, depending on its forms. Fresh snow is definitely love! 😀
Tell me about it! I used to love snow before moving to Norway! But then it just became too much of this good thing for me, haha. need to balance it out with some sunshine and icefree pavements :)) But fresh snow is always magic!
Thanks for showing beautiful vistas from your part of the world, Pooja! Make the most while it lasts!
Thank you so much, Arv! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
so beautiful photos!
I love the sun and Summer 🙂
have a nice Sunday 🙂
Thank you so much! I love the sun and summer too, but also some fresh snow in winters 😀
What beautiful photos and scenery! Glad you are enjoying the snow!
Thank you so much! By now it has all melted but hopefully we’ll get some more before spring 🙂
Just what I needed to see today, after the heat wave we have had and continue to have. The little snowmen are so very cute and your photos make me think of the words, “winter wonderland” – it really is quite magical. It is ironic that Kathmandu does not have snow. But then it also has jungle in the south with tigers, does it not? Quite the range of geography for a tiny country. Still special in my heart.
It was indeed a winter wonderland here for a few days! Now the snow has melted but two days ago there was fresh snowfall again and it was quite stressful for me to drive. You are right, Amanda! Nepal has a huge geographical variation for such a small country. It ranges from 70 meters to Everest in just less than 300 kilometers of distance south to north. This year there was more snowfall than usual around Kathmandu and my family said that they could see those green hills that surround Kathmandu covered with white snow. I think you remember the hills that surround the city on all sides? 🙂
Oh snow is precious. No matter how you get used to it. I have a sneaky suspicion that even if I saw it my whole life, I would still be hopelessly in love with it. Your photos bring through the pristine beauty of it and makes me feel like we have been a bit cheated of it this year. We have not had the abundance of last year.
And, belated birthday wishes, Pooja! You mentioned early in Feb, so I guess I missed it. Hope you were pampered till you had a smooshy smile on your face. 🙂 xx
I absolutely agree! Sadly such heavy snowfall with nice snow that actually stays doesn’t happen more than one or two times per season in the city where I live in. Got to make the most use of it when it does hehe. Thank you for your kind birthday wishes, Dippy! 🙂
I am glad you were able to enjoy some fresh snow, Pooja. Watching it snow is still magical to me, as is playing in the snow.
Happy belated birthday, by the way! 💐
Tanja
It absolutely is! You must get quite a bit of snow there in Colorado?
Thank you for your kind wishes, Tanja! 🙂
Some parts of Colorado get a lot of snow, but along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, where we live, it actually does not snow very often, and when it does, it melts away quickly, unfortunately.
Hello Pooja.
Absolutely beautiful winter / snow photos. The family of snow man is lovely. Thank You.
Happy weekend!
Thank you, Sartenda. We had spring-like weather this weekend, I wonder if more snow is to come before spring. 🙂 Have a good day!
Such a cute snow family!!! aww… ! I didn’t know about layers until I was about 30!!!
What kind of office work do you do, Pooja? I work in an office too, some people sit in a big room with cubicles but luckily I’m in a smaller room with only a couple other people. I work as a sales and marketing planner.
Also interesting to know your home town is at an altitude of 1400m – I wonder if that has affected your body in a way we don’t even know? I’m thinking it must be positive, since you were used to that altitude from a child. Hmm? (Never mind, I’m very interested in science and medicine in general, so this is just one of those things I start pondering, with no real facts!)
You’ve made me curious about my body adjusting to that altitude now hehe. Probably it has.. I’ve never been higher than 2000 meters so I don’t know if my body is more resistant to altitude sickness?
Oh it’s nice that you’re not in a crowded big room! I work as a software developer – so it’s not strictly office job because I can work a couple of days per week remotely but I prefer going to office anyway because I am very unproductive at home. We have an open space with other developers, I think only the super high level managers get their own office hehe. My immediate manager sits in open space too. Have a nice day, Snow! We had spring-like weather this weekend (11 degrees and sunny ❤ ) but back to 1 degree today hehe.
We’ve had blue skies this weekend too, feels springy if you don’t look at the ice rink surface on the pavements 😊 The boys have a cold again so we are at home today… Have a nice day and week!
Oh I hope they get better soon! 🙂