Tulips and Bicycles

Those are two very Dutch things: tulips and bicycles.  Combine them together into a one day adventure and you're basically a Dutchie...minus the fact that most Dutch people don't make the trip to see the tulips, but that's besides the point.   That's how I spent my Saturday-- biking through Holland admiring the tulip fields which are in perfect bloom right now-- and it was so much fun.

 We started off by taking the train from Utrecht to Haarlem.  We then biked from Haarlem to Leiden, stopping for lunch in a tulip field near Lisse.  The actual bike route was only about 45km, but add in the trip to and from Zeist, and the extra kilometers we covered while we were temporarily off route (we weren't lost, really, we weren't), and we biked about 80km in total.  Needless to say, my legs were pretty darn tired by the time I got home.

All in all, it was a fantastic day!  The weather was absolutely perfect: not too warm, not too cold, no rain, and not too windy.  We were in good company and good spirits.  I don't have much else to say because simply saying we went and saw some tulip fields doesn't cover it.  Actually, it sounds pretty darn boring when I say it like that, but I assure you, it wasn't.  It was a fantastic day and only pictures can demonstrate. It's a shame I forgot my camera (I'm such a bad photographer), but luckily I have this nifty new smartphone that actually has a decent camera on it.  I managed to get a few nice shots and borrowed a couple pics from Karen to give you all a taste of my flowery day. Enjoy! 

From left to right: Karen, Me, Jorine, Laura. 

This was taken in Leiden.  Apparently there's this "thing" called Wild Knitting and people make stuff to decorate cities.  Basically it's a nicer version of graffiti, and I think it's pretty darn cool.

A weekend in Copenhagen

First off, Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you all enjoyed some family time.

I spent this Easter in Copenhagen with my dear friend Laura.  It was.....well....a bit snowy at first.

However, soon after that, the skies cleared and the sun shone the rest of the day.  We did a beautiful walking tour and got to see many highlights of the city.  One of my favorite spots was Nyhavn.  For me, it's the view that pops in my head when someone says Copenhagen.  Originally, it was a slummy area, and they decided it was time to clean it up and attract a better crowd.  So one really really hot summer day,  the drawbridge lifted and some boats docked for people to go visit.  They were only supposed to be there for 3 days, but the hot weather warped the drawbridge to the point that it wouldn't open again, so to this day, the boats still remain docked there.  

On Saturday night, we went on a pubcrawl with some of the people we met on the walking tour.  It was a wonderful group of people, and we all seemed to just click right off the bat.  We had an absolute blast and got to enjoy the nightlife of Copenhagen and some traditional alcohol like Fisk.  It means fish, and funnily enough, it tastes a lot like Fisherman's Friends throat lozenges.  It wasn't my favorite as I felt like I just did a shot of Listerine, but it was still fun to try it out!  

Another highlight of Copenhagen we visited was Christiania.  I was absolutely intrigued by the concept of it.  Basically, there were a bunch of hippies that took over this old military area of Copenhagen.  They have their own currency, their own laws, the own schools, and a very unique way of life for the modern world.  This is their mission statement: 

"The objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the well-being of the entire community.  Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted." 

I urge you to check out their website, and to check out pictures on google.  I didn't get any pictures of the community because I felt a bit awkward and like I was imposing on their privacy.  Sadly, it reminded me a lot of what a ghetto would be like, as it was very run down in general.  Overall though, it was really neat.  I'm not sure I fully grasp the entire concept yet, but I have to say, it was worth the trip over there, and I'm very curious to learn more about the community.

Another touristy spot we visited was The Little Mermaid Statue.  I'd be lying if I said it was cool.  To be honest, it was a really ugly statue that barely resembled a mermaid and it was created in honor of Hans Christian Andersen-- the writer of the original fairy tale before Disney stole it and warped it into their own more popular version.  I was really hoping that the story was more along the lines that he was inspired to write the story based on the statue, but that's not the case, and that's why it was so uncool that I didn't even take a picture.

I did however, get a ton of random snapshots of the city.  In general, I found Copenhagen to be very picturesque.  It's a large city without the hustle and bustle of one.  It felt like no one was in a real hurry and everyone was so happy to help out the dumb tourists that were lost.  Overall, I'd say Denmark really did fulfill the stereotype of them being one of the happiest countries in the world.  

Making Baba Proud

Hey Baba, this post is for you!

Today, we baked Paska!  For my first time making it on my own, I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself.  Not only did the dough turn out alright, I managed to whip up some gluten free dough so Pippa could have Paska too.  

The really white one is gluten free bread.  It looks horrible, but surprisingly, it tastes like normal bread!  The dough is a bit tough to work with cause it's really sticky and not really the texture of dough at all, but we managed and made a braid and a bird too!  And with the leftovers we made a bread duck to match the ones Kristel bought for Cleo and Pilou.

Swinging Through Spring

The kids had no school this afternoon so we ventured out to the local farm/petting zoo/park to check out all the adorable new born animals.  And while they played, I picture adventured......a lot.....and I couldn't decide which pictures to post, so here are all of them!  Starting with my favorite: the swings!!!

If this isn't the look of pure glee, I'm not sure what is.

My future little photographer.  =)

And the misplaced duck hanging out with the lil sheep and goats.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Enlarge images to view in much better quality.  =)

Een paard heet Sterk

The title translates to: A horse named Sterk (which actually means strong in English).

A couple weekends ago, Sander and I joined a few of his housemates for a weekend adventure with Anne's horse Sterk.  We were having gorgeous +20 weather at the time, and it was a wonderful kick off to spring!  We had a nice BBQ after and even ate outside! Unfortunately, the weather has gone downhill a bit since then, but based on the facebook status' I've been seeing lately, I think the weather here is still better! 

That's Enny.  She's one of Sander's housemates, who also happens to make the most amazing Indonesian food I've ever tasted.  This past Saturday she made a dish called Gado Gado.  It's rice with green beans, tofu, rice, egg, cabbage and peanut sauce.  It was soooooo delicious!