But...What's all this green stuff?

The big news this week has got to be- temperatures in Stralsund have moved into the positive numbers!

During our time in Dresden (we stopped overnight on our way back from Poland, to break up the journey, and take lots of photos, as it really is one of the prettiest cities in Germany) we had experienced pavements that weren't covered in ice, and on the train we had even seen some greenery, but as we headed northwards, the snow was all firmly in place, the greenery disappeared, and it even started snowing, just in case we weren't completely sure that the winter had no intentions of stopping any time soon.

At least it meant my lesson -finishing the work on snowmen we'd started before the holidays- wasn't out of date, but I'd really thought the snow might have gone away by the end of the holidays.

However, despite new snow on Monday and Tuesday, there really have been signs that we might finally be heading towards spring. The temperatures are rising, the snow is starting to melt, and I've seen real grass in Stralsund! It really shouldn't be so exciting to report that, but everything has been white for nearly three months, and after so long, the grass actually looks almost artificial, and unnecessarily bright and green. It was also exciting when it started raining- yes, rain, not snow!

The other positive sign is the longer hours of daylight. It's now nearly light when I wake up on some days, which makes me happy, and though it might have a damaging effect on my lie ins, I'm willing for that to be the case, if it makes getting up before 6am more bearable.

Even the Germans are sick of the snow, and on the radio the reporters are clearly excited whenever they can report a lack of snow, and positive temperatures. They even played a fake trailer, that announced 'SPRING-Coming soon to Mecklenburg Vorpommern'. I'm looking forward to it.