End of sunny weather – rain attacks

Weather changed. Last few weeks, we had almost summer – warm, no clouds, no wind. Quite an exception for Netherlands, but not any more. Rainy and windy autumn has arrived.

I was really lucky (and everybody here in Maastricht) that the mother nature was so kind to us until now. For about 3 weeks, I could enjoy sun and ride a bike every day without getting wet. I made some bike trips around Maastricht but not to another cities, which I now regret a bit. Today, for the first time, I had to ride my bike in the rain. It's not pleasant, as my fingers and ears are freezing and then I sit in wet clothes in a cold room for several hours. As autumn is there, also wind gets stronger, which makes riding the bike really difficult. Combination of cold, wind and rain is exactly what I dislike.

Somebody told me, that the rain here is usually very strong and short. Well, It seems to be true, but I got really unlucky because it rained only in the time I had to ride on my bike to another part of the town. Great. But I do not want to be complaining only about the weather, because I was aware of that before I came here.

Autumn in Maastricht

The change of the season can be also recognized by that fact, that it's getting more and more dark when I get up in the morning. I like the autumn as the change of nature – leaves on the trees get colourful, fall down and roads in the parks are covered with them and if you walk or ride a bike, it makes such a pleasant sound. Sun is lower on the sky and you can enjoy the warm colours created by it. Hopefully we will have more sunny than rainy autumn.

I remember that when I was a kid, I liked the feeling of autumn wind in my face. Running with friend outside was so much fun. I especially liked to fly a kite. Here it's more windy, I saw a lot of groups of children with some tutor playing outside, but no kite. I have to ask some Dutch friends, if they know it.

But back here to Maastricht. The city is still full of people, but they no longer sit on the grass in the park and sunbathe. No wonder as it gets really windy. I also haven't seen anyone so far to clean up the fallen leaves from the roads in the parks, but I may be influenced by Prague, where there are a lot of path cleaners near the main train station, which is in the city centre and I passed it every day on my way to university. Nevertheless, people still sit in front of the restaurants and enjoy they morning coffee or afternoon snack. It doesn't matter what the day is – even on weekends, there are plenty of people at the Vrijthof. The only question would be, it they are local people or tourists

Bikes. Last note about the bikes. People ride their bikes no matter what the weather is. Ok, a small decrease of number of bikes on the streets can be found, but still – cold air or rain won't stop bike riders. As I spoke to some friends, who live for a longer time here, it's quite normal. Maastricht city centre is not easily accessible by car, city as such is not that small for everything to be in walking range. The fact, that it's colder or there is some rain, will not change people's habit.

Photogallery – Autumn in Maastricht

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