Netherlands
Our second mainland trip was to the Netherlands in the beginning of May. Neither of us had been there before - I wrote earlier that we hadn't been to Spain before, but Nate had actually visited there when he was a child. I've since corrected the error.
On this trip, we encountered warm weather for the first time since we moved to Europe. The clothes I packed were too warm! It was also sunny the entire time.
We stayed in Haarlem, just outside of Amsterdam, and were glad we made that choice. It was a smaller, calmer, cozier-feeling town, and it was nice to get away from the craziness at the end of the night when it was time to sleep. Plus, it forced us to see another part of the Netherlands that we might not have seen on our rushed four-day trip.
As usual, eating and atmosphere were one of the best parts of this trip. Among our favorite dining experiences, we loved sampling cheese by a breezy canal, gorging on an Indonesian rijstafel, and even checking out the savoury pancakes at this cute little family-run cafe in Haarlem. We went to that place twice, it was run by these sweet elderly people who were always at the back, playing cards and socializing while they waited for their customers.
The true highlight of the trip was the Keukenhof Garden. This place is only open two months out of the year, and has over 1,000 varieties of tulips in bloom. It was amazing - we spent almost an entire day there. When we left I took a long, lingering look, since as a teacher I probably won't be able to see this place again, as I'll be working during the March-May time period. Maybe I'll return some spring break in the future - if I'm feeling ambitious.
Other Firsts for Megan and Nate in Amsterdam
- Visiting the Anne Frank house (very crowded, but a powerful experience)
- Climbing a windmill (much scarier than you'd think if you're afraid of heights!)
- Going to one of the more risque museums (in the spirit of the Red Light District)
- Getting mooned on a candlelight canal tour - twice
posted by Megan and Nate at 11:03 AM
5 Comments:
Meg and Nate, I'm so happy that you finally have your blog up and running. Please write often so that I can live vicariously through you. It's good to see that you are taking advantage of mainland europe.
Your townhouse location sounds wonderful. Glad to hear that you are having a good time despite some daily frustrations.
Are people crazy there about the World Cup?
**Allison
To Allison:
I know, it's about time we started this - at least we still have a while to go. Most of the first months would have just been spent griping about those frustrations though, so it's probably better that I skipped that phase.
Everyone is nuts about the World Cup! Sky News, the English equivalent of CNN, breaks in regularly with updates. Too bad Ireland didn't make it though - would have been much more fun. For that matter, too bad the USA got clobbered by the Czech Republic yesterday!
Hey Matt! Good to hear from you! Are you THAT surprised, given who the primary author of this is? Nate might give you a different take - maybe he'll feel inspired to leave his insight next week when I'm out of town.
YEah!!! Now we can find out all of your crazy adventures!
Summer school just started here Megan- with all of the joy that it entails for teachers and students alike.
Austin might be working here next year- the jury still seems to be out on that one.
I'm in Alex Bell's old room (I have WINDOWS!!!). She and Katie Spillman left LHS to pursue other interests (or so the saying goes).
Miss you guys! Mel and I are trying to come over to visit you in Dublin and hopefully backpack a little bit in mainland Europe next summer. Of course, for right now, that just means saving as much money as we can.
I'll try to write you some more later. I'm so excited to see your blog though! I cannot wait to hear more of your stories. I'm biking to and from summer school this year (in an effort to lose my gut- the darn thing just keeps on following me though!)so I need to get going if I'm gonna eat in the next hour.
Love you both, and look forward to more stories. WRITE ABOUT WORLD CUP MANIA!!! I want to be able to vicariously share your stories with my good summer school kids.
Dan
Hi Dan!
Hope all is well at school - I feel so out of the loop! I do actually miss it - a nine-month hiatus makes you ready for more. Too bad teachers don't get that more regularly. :)
We hope you can make it here, but we're heading back earlier than we thought now - end of March is the return date at this point! I can email you about that.
I'll try to keep up with the stories - so glad you're both doing well and that you checked out my new endeavor into the world of technology!
Take care - give Mel a hug for me!!
- Megan
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