TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

This fall is our 7 years anniversary, and 5 years (last August) of living together. So to commemorate this very special occasion, I came up with a few romantic suggestions. Initially, Dutchman told me that in the Netherlands the usual practice of couples is to only celebrate when the milestone of 10 years being together has been achieved. Now tell me... how dull, uninspiringless, and unromantic that can get for the first 9 years and 11 months in the relationship? With a Dutch man(woman)? Nevertheless, I told him flatly, and resolutely –- I am not Dutch, so you are going to compromise with me and abide with my terms. PUNT. Actually I am Dutch *sniggers*, as I am a holder of the maroon passport, but, you know what I mean. And well... his response was only a sheepish smile. Nou goed! So here are the choices I made. See my poll of getaways below, and please do vote! Let me know what is best. There is also an additional function in there to vote your choice of romantic getaway. Let’s see w...

After a teary weary weather yesterday, today the sun shone – hallelujah! Looking at the bright blue skies, an indication of a dry beautiful day is in order. So I thought I will take advantage of this exceptional sunny occasion. Get out during lunch and take the tram to the city center. It’s been 18 days already since I bought the nice belt at Mexx in Schiphol Airport. I picked the wrong size - M, which was too big for me, thus I need to exchange it with the S size. Mexx has a branch in Kalverstraat, the longest and busiest shopping street in Amsterdam Center. Returns and exchanges are valid only within 21 days after date of purchase. I therefore must act fast, and so I went. It has been quite some time since I rode a tram. Amsterdam’s trams are nice and comfortable. They have a uniformed design and color: sleek, blue and white. They also yield distinct sounds when they stop, and when the doors open and close for passengers. It also speaks which is cool. We passed through Museumplein wh...

This is not the first time I have been to this halcyon of a place: Heerlijkheid Marienwaerdt (in Beesd, Geldermalsen), a divine and pastoral nature’s park where one can truly reflect and enjoy what quality life is all about. A couple of years ago we were here with the whole Dutch family celebrating the birthday of my other Dutch brother-in-law. We had a little picnic in the woods and did a walking route whilst picking chestnuts and castanas along the way. To check out this remarkable place, please go to their official website: Heerlijkheid Mariënwaerdt (in Dutch) De Stapel(b)akker pancake house. The sun was out; beautiful weather it was. We had light lunch here with coffee, tea, and tart. My organic tea and a souvenir foto of the Dutch sister’s chic and classic red Volvo before she finally says bye to her (jammer but she’s retiring her soon... and perhaps display her in a museum, ha-ha, rightly so!). Feast for the connoisseur culinaire zealots: De Landgoedwinkel - this is the organic ...

For a change of scenery, fasten your seatbelt and let me take you to a little drive down the highways of the Netherlands and through its bridges. These two bridges on A27 highway, heading towards the south of the country, were taken last weekend during our Baarle trip. They are small-to-medium size bridges and are quite interesting in design. The Merwedebrug [Merwede Bridge] in Gorinchem. Check out the hanging lights on the sides. The Keizersveerbrug [Keizersveer Bridge] between Gorinchem and Breda. I call this the box bridge. Up and coming this weekend: The kick-off of the verjaardag seizoen [birthday season] in my Dutch family. The brother in law starts the countdown with a non-traditional Dutch birthday celebration. In an organic pannenkoekenhuis boerderij [pancakehouse in a farm] in the south of the country. Cool. There is also a promise of a lovely stroll in the nearby forest. Ah nice indeed. I am so very looking forward to this family birthday feast get-together. What else is n...

In my continuing quest for history and culture, I spend idle moments googling (an addiction we all think is normal) and discovering a plethora of sights and places, when I ran into this interesting website about the twin towns in the border of Belgium and the Netherlands. The twin towns and border pole (grenspaal) between Belgium and the Netherlands. These twin towns are said to be the most remarkable village in the world as there are 30 loose puzzle pieces of land tangled seamlessly with each other and under two sovereignty - Belgian and Dutch. Baarle-Hertog , the Belgian municipality has 22 loose bits of land in Baarle-Nassau, the Dutch municipality. Baarle-Nassau in turn has 8 loose bits of land in Baarle-Hertog. These bits and pieces of land are called enclaves. Here is a description of the sister towns I found from their official website: “No where else in the world is known of a municipality so extremely interwoven with a municipality of the neighbouring country. Thi...

Discovering my bathroom It’s been two full weeks since I toiled and labored for our bathroom. With all the clinging undetected stains and icky grime, I scrubbed and wiped judiciously every inch of them filth away. On the tub, sink, shower cubicle, walls, and just about everywhere. So after my grueling bathroom performance I felt high and mighty -- shhh, this is the first time in my life I could remember sweating out a house job. Now, let me tell you partly why... I did a hell of a job! It merits a foto shoot ;-) The bathroom and toilet is, and has always been, the Dutchman’s official domain of house chores responsibility. Two weeks ago -well on that day, he vacuumed our whole place (which is also part of his house chores activities - am I a very lucky woman or what???) so I thought maybe I’d help out a bit. I’m not really into slavery at home, lol, so helping out was just the right thing to do. The bathroom was it. And the result – walla - the overall sleekness and the sparkly look ha...

When you reach the late 30’s age mark, and without a child, some of the numerous forthcoming questions popping out from people’s mouths are, “When are you going to have kids then?” The hard-hitting ones would push and scoff, “You need to hurry up. You are 37 already!!!” and “The clock is ticking! It won’t turn back!” Then there are those self-serving packs who believe that their pension-for-a-child-premium-motive is but a conventional take in the evolution of societies and culture. They say with horror, “Who will take care of you when you are old?” -- Makes me want to grab a pan and hit them right on the head. You also have the idealists and their philosophical profound echoing statements of, “A woman is perfected through motherhood...” leaving everyone in stitches, emotional and teary eyed - sniff. Of course, how can we miss the spiritualists and traditionalists lamenting, “What’s the purpose of your life if you are not going to have children?” Yes, I have been asked, and harassed, a ...

I finally made it to Muiden! Dutchman was teasing me that our weekend was a grand and marvelous [insert sarcasm here] one. With all the culture, history, art and architecture we absorbed in the little village of Muiden, nothing could have been so much better. Actually, Dutchman refused to go with me in to the castle. He is, as written and published many times in this blog, per culture, art, and history pursuits totally overdosed – blanched – ad nauseam – defunct. His brains will malfunction if you show him pictures of bewitching architectural masterpieces. The Muiderslot in Muiden, constructed in 1280 by Graaf Floris V. The writer Pieter Cornelisz. (PC) Hooft also lived here during the Golden Ages (17th century). What to do? What can you actually do if you grew up in a country and continent with breathtaking castles, mystical ruins, and amazing works of art and architecture still standing tall? Answer: you get used to them and sometimes take them for granted. Dutchman said – If you hav...