Our First Taste of Winter in Bucharest

After a last minute trip home for Christmas to the UK, we didn’t get to spend New Years Eve celebrating in Bucharest as we had planned. When we left Romania in December, temperatures were still very reasonable. We had cold mornings but nothing like what we’d read about in previous years.

It seems our trip home resulted in us missing the adjustment period between being a bit chilly and bloody freezing.

The night we drove back into Bucharest the temperature dropped to -17°C, far below anything we’d experienced before (even working in a ski resort high up in the alps last winter). Needless to say, unpacking a car full of Yorkshire tea bags and HP brown sauce wasn’t much fun in those conditions.

First Snow of the Winter

That same night the snow started falling. Luckily it held off until our 3-day drive back to Romania was over because, despite passing through so many countries on route to the UK, driving through Romania is the toughest and most time-consuming section. The rest of Europe flys by on perfect motorways but much of the route out of Romania is still only doable on normal roads.

Sharing a single carriageway road with lorries through the mountains is bad enough, especially with the style of driving in Romania, but add snow to the mix and it would be lethal. Thankfully we made the decision to try and clear the mountains before dark which resulted in us passing through the worst sections before the snow hit too.

Despite the snow settling well for a couple of days, the temperature soon warmed up and withing a few days the first lot of snow had been and gone.

Round 2

A week later and the weather reports started mentioning the temperatures falling again and sure enough by the weekend, we were well back into the minuses. The snow came down fast and heavy on Saturday night and on Sunday morning we woke up to a completely different world.

With more heavy snow predicted for Sunday evening, those in power decided to make the call that schools would be closed on Monday. It wasn’t long before the international schools followed suit. Kirsty received an email from the school and moments later was planning her day playing in the snow with all the other teachers who were just as excited to start building a snowman.

What I love about out local park (and I mean local, it’s a 30-second walk from out front door) is how quiet it is. It’s mostly untouched woodland with concrete paths running in various directions throughout and while it’s not one of the well-known popular parks in Bucharest, it’s ideal for us and Lola.

What was most surprising about the snow day was the lack of children at the park. Instead of kids playing on their sledges and throwing snowballs it was the international teachers having all the fun. With almost guaranteed snow each winter maybe the novelty had worn off already with the snow the week before?

It looks as though the snow is here to stay for a little longer this time. It’s been three days since the last snowfall and everywhere is still covered in a pretty layer of white. This morning it was back down to -17°C and the next few days are predicted to be just as cold, all that ski gear from last year is proving very handy. 

So… Who wants to come and help me dig my car out of the snow?