A summer quarantine was not welcome news. Vacation times, summer holidays, and family reunions… All cancelled. Now summer quarantine isn’t mandatory in The Netherlands. But it is suggested. Sander and I try to be upstanding citizens so we decided to hole up for the summer. And we survived. There a blistering week where so many people went to the beach that the beaches had to close down. People we knew went on vacation while we occupied our couch. We longed…
The Willem – Alexander Pavilion is one of three “flower buildings” located in the Keukenhof and holds the name of the current Dutch King. Rows and rows of different types of flowers are displayed here but the most popular type of flower is the tulip. The Dutch are most known for their tulips so there’s no surprise there. The flower was popular in the mid-seventeenth century and even created “Tulip Mania.” From there it seems the crazy never left The…
The Beatrix Pavilion is one of three “flower buildings” that are located in the Keukenhof. This year it follows the same theme was the Oranje Nassau Pavilion. The Flower Power Movement again embraced with beautiful and extravagant orchid displays. See the thing about the Beatrix Pavilion is it always features orchids. I know the Dutch are well known for their tulips but for some reason, orchids are also very popular. So again we pushed past the Instagrammers and casual strollers…
The Oranje Nassau Pavilion is one of three “flower buildings” that are located in the Keukenhof. This year’s theme was the Flower Power Movement of the 1960s. It was a time of counterculture that allowed people to express themselves in a personal and powerful way. Of course now there’s a lot to be frowned on but let’s be real here… When has there ever been a perfect decade? What’s beautiful about the humans experience is that nothing is perfect. And…
It’s no secret that I love visiting the Keukenhof. I don’t mind braving the crowded spaces if I can a chance to look at beautiful flowers. And it’s true, The Netherlands has beautiful flowers everywhere you look. But there’s something about the Keukenhof that I can’t put a finger on. I love the history behind the space as well. The Keukenhof is one of the largest flower gardens in the world. It’s close to where we live, in the middle of…
“You must be crazy! Leaving behind all that sun for this…” Our neighbor gestured around him and while there was nothing to see, we know what he was talking about. This weekend the temperatures will be dipping down into the low 30°s. While this is warm for most people from the east coast of America, I’m entirely new to the scene. I grew up in California where the coldest it would get was maybe low 40°s in the middle of…
I’m always excited to get out and about, especially when we head out to Amsterdam. A big city, as always, is filled with the hustle and bustle of both native and tourists alike. Since the crowd can be overwhelming for us, we tend to space our visits out when choosing something busy. These are the events we’re planning on attending in The Netherlands this year. Several Music events at AFAS I’ve always wanted to attend live shows of my favorite artists…
I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful New Years day! 2018 is here and with that I turn the big 3-0! Yes, my birthday is on New Year’s day and yes, I’ve finally left my 20s. 2017 flew by faster than I could have ever imagined. I found myself wondering where my time had gone. What came to mind were memories both amazing and difficult. Two life changing events happened to me in 2017. The first was finding my…
First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and of course we still have New Year’s to look forward to (here it’s called Oud en Nieuw, or Old and New) but I want to share how we spent our Christmas. We had, what the Dutch call, a gezellig Christmas. Wait, hold on a moment, what does gezellig mean? Sander defines gezellig as “being in a small and enjoyable setting with friends and family.” The term can be used…