Dutch immersion lesson of the day: Elfstedentocht

TLDR: If the canals freeze over they throw a huge nation wide party.

“As soon as a few days pass with sub-zero temperatures, the media start speculating about the chances for an Elfstedentocht. The longer the freezing temperatures stay, the more intense this “Elfstedenkoorts” (eleven cities fever) gets – culminating in a national near-frenzy when it is announced that the tour will actually be held.”
Elfstedentocht – Wikipedia

The Elfstedentocht (Dutch pronunciation: [ɛlf’steːdə(n)tɔxt]; Frisian: Alvestêdetocht [ɑlvəˈstɛːdətɔxt], English: Eleven cities tour) is a skating tour, almost 200 kilometres (120 mi) long, which is held both as a speed skating competition (with 300 contestants) and a leisure tour (with 16,000 skate…

cross-posted on Facebook