At the beginning of 2016 while Jeff and I were making our “travel wish lists” we asked our three-year-old to list a few things he would like to do over the next year. The top of his list was to sleep in a real castle. As luck would have it the boys and I were …
Just a few minutes from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport lies FloraHolland’s impressive flower auction facility . FloraHolland’s Aalsmeer is the world’s largest trading center of plants and flowers. If you want to take in the hustle and bustle of the auction, arrive early. On this January morning it was still quite dark as we arrived at 8am and parked …
Happy New Year! Jeff and I have rung in the New Year in quite a few places. In Hawaii we watched lava flows instead of fireworks. We spent a random New Years in Canada at an Irish Pub near some glowing oil refineries. (It was more romantic than it sounds.) Last year we were in …
Let me start by saying, I do not think it is a “Dutch” thing to have a farm where one buys all their diary, eggs and vegetables. I think we just got lucky. Hoeve Biesland is a family owned dairy farm that sits tucked into the woods just behind an old windmill foundation. Closer to us than any …
When we got ready to move we knew Dutch houses weren’t exactly known for their storage so we skimped on packing Christmas decorations. I condensed down to one box that would move with us. When we unpacked the one box my eldest proclaimed the house lacked Christmas spirit. So we did some crafting. We made …
It is rainy season here in Holland. Rain means we spend more time than I would like inside the house! Paper Goods Projects arrived just in time to try to tame our inside boredom [60 crafts, 112 pages]. The projects are simple and patterns are provided. I let the kids flip through the book to decide on …
We brought our car from the U.S. but have found bicycling and public transportation to be easier and cheaper for lots of reasons. We use our car when traveling to remote areas that would require multiple public transportation connections. Luckily, a lot of our travel has been city-to-city so we have been able to get …
One rainy Sunday we boarded the pancake boat for a cruise departing out of Rotterdam. This is a perfect activity for a family to enjoy together. The boat leaves from the dock just beside the Euromast tower. There is plenty of metered street parking and a paid parking lot attached to the docks. We boarded …
The Dutch are experts in water management. Over 55% of the Netherlands sits below sea level. Exacting measurements are made in Amsterdam where the normal sea level is called Normaal Amsterdams Peil. Most of the land that sits under sea level was created by the Dutch. They drained water through a system of polders, canals and windmill-driven …
We went back to Utrecht with a kid-friendly itinerary. Back in September for Open Monuments Weekend we spent most of our visit hauling the kids around to things we wanted to see. This time we planned an itinerary just for the kiddos. We took the train, changing from the Sprinter to the Intercity in Gouda …