Winter in Zagreb....was it ever going to end?

So everyone in Zagreb that is a veteran of winters here has told me this past on was the worst in several years. In turns out this year's winter in Minnesota takes the title as the most miserable season ever (according to friends and family), but Zagreb winter was a bit peculiar. This winter had a pattern of a big snow, complete melt, and a few warm days before the cycle started over again. It was a bit like a form of meteorological torture, as I thought spring had arrived on several occasions, only to awake once again to another snow day. In the end, spring skipped Zagreb and we straight to summer. Since it's now consistently warm and sunny with a few thunderstorms at night, I am certainly not complaining.

This photo was taken in the early hours of December 1st on my way home from a friend's place. While it didn't seam so bad, I woke up in the morning to this on my terrace (below) which I had to find my way through since I was entirely out of groceries...poor planning on my part. 

However unpleasant my trip down the hill to the grocery store (I didn't even bother to check if the market was open), I was able to get some good pictures of my street in the snow.

Of course all the snow above melted after several days and we experienced only a few blustery December days after this. On Christmas Eve, the weather was actually quite nice. It was dry and warm with a temperature near 65 degrees followed by a sunny and warm Christmas day.

I woke up on this morning in mid-January with only a few inches on my terrace but in the course of a few hours, this is what arrived. I ventured into to the center (which I should clarify is about a 2 minute walk down my hill) in order to hop a tram to see my Croatian Tutor. I never made it to the tutor, but I did make it to a cafe to have coffee with a few friends. The view from inside the cafe offered the great photo above. Later that day, my friends and I decided to make the best of it and built a snowman outside my place. 

A few more big snows followed in February but perhaps the most frustrating was this day at the end of March. I was so annoyed with the snow, which lasted nearly a week followed by another few days of rain, that I ran off to Venice in search of the sun. 

Even the gorgeous view from my living room window seemed a bit depressing as the winter continued....