Well, spring is here! We had a very mild winter here in The Netherlands....not one flake of snow all winter, and only one night of freezing weather. Everything is blooming and beautiful now! The daffodils were up a couple of weeks ago. I took a walk around town and took a few pictures.
A week later they were in full bloom..March 22nd:
Saturday, March 15th, we went to the Global Garden Store with Bruce and Linda. We ended up with a car so full of plants and supplies we ended up carrying things on our laps to get home!
Sunday, March 16th we met with Dede and Brad in Amsterdam for dinner at St. James Gate Pub. We had a great time eating good food and drinking good beer!
On Monday, March 17th, Kelly and I went to Hanos together....what an adventure in shopping we had!!!
After seeing this, I will probably never eat foie gras again!
Nutella anyone?!?! Look at the size of that jar!
King sized salad spinner!
From what I understand, this wine is for cooking.......
Friday, March 21st we had a very nice dinner at the Southern Cross Restaurant in Heemstede with Bruce and Linda. They are such a nice couple, we really enjoy spending time with them. Good food, good wine, great company....can't get much better!
Sunday, March 23rd. My sisters, Kris and Tracy, arrived at Schiphol from Minneapolis (where it is still a frozen tundra!). It was soooo good to see them come through the doors!
That first day they were here we decided to take it easy and just stay in Haarlem and show them around a bit. We were blessed with pretty good weather the entire time they were here.
Monday, March 24th, we went to Zaanse Schans. First......we did our hair! Kris used the straightener on both Tracy and I!
There was something wrong with the train on the way there so it delayed our arrival by almost an hour. We had to find the buses in Zaandam (which looks like a pretty little town!) and then wait for the next bus going to where we wanted to go.
We stopped for lunch at D' Vijf Broers (The Five Brothers):
We had a lot of fun....butttttt.....most of the shops were closed! We were told everything officially opens April 1st, so we made plans to return the following week.
Tuesday, March 25th, we stayed in Haarlem. We went to the Frans Hals museum
and St. Bavo's Church (the Grote Kerk).
Then headed over to the Jopen Kerk
Where we each selected three beers and we did some tasting!
We ordered some bitterballen!
Our favorite was #9-in English 'Doubting Thomas'! During our tasting we gave each other names....
Tracy is a Butterfly-she is delicate and so pretty; Kris is a Hummingbird-cute and flitting from flower to flower; and my nickname is Cardinal-strong and vibrant! Ha!
Wednesday, March 26:
We headed to Amsterdam early so they could get in to see the Anne Frank house. The line gets pretty long, so we wanted to get there early. We took the train from the Haarlem Station
to Amsterdam Centraal:
then took a tram to the Anne Frank Huis:
Stopped for lunch at Smits, which is near Centraal Station:
then we got on a bus to go to the Amsterdam Harley Davidson dealership! Oh my, what a trek that was! It took about 45 mins. each way:
We sure had fun there!
Afterwards we headed back to Amsterdam where Kris and Tracy wanted to do some shopping for souvenirs....
We stopped at de Bijenkorf and got a little something to drink...
At the Haarlem Station a girl was carrying this sign around....isn't it pretty?!?!
We stopped and got donors for dinner...yummmm! I had never tried them till James was here and introduced them to me...now I'm hooked!
Thursday, March 27, 2014
We headed first to Muiderslot to see the castle.
Unfortunately the castle was closed to the general public.....it appears there were groups of small children.....we were able to walk around a bit and take a few pictures anyway!
We stopped for lunch at Cafe Ome Ko:
We walked around town a bit, then headed to the beach....Zandvoort!
Fresh mint tea!
We headed back to Haarlem.......met up with Andrew:
stopped by the Tromp Cheese shop! We go in there often.......the employees are all so very friendly and helpful!
Later that evening we went out for a drink......3 irish coffees and 1 beer please!
Friday, March 28th....First thing in the morning, Kris, Tracy and I went to Albert Heijn to get a few groceries....Tracy was kind enough to carry the toilet paper home! LOL!
Andrew took the day off from work......we headed to Duin en Kruidburg for lunch...
After lunch we drove over to De Haar Castle:
That evening we had Bruce and Linda, and Hetty and Michiel over for a few drinks....
The end of a wonderful day!
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