TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

We are off to Santorini, Greece in less than 48 hours and I still don’t feel the holiday feeling flowing in my veins. So I thought, perhaps writing about it – blogging it, would help me get into the holiday mood. I’ve managed to print a list of places to visit in Santorini and in the nearby islands of the Cyclades Islands-Region. They say that Santorini is the most beautiful, with breathtaking and unique views, and is the most popular island of Greece. The pictures make me look forward to the holiday but with many things to do before the actual flight, everything seems like a last minute run, a miasma of activities. The kitchen needs cleaning and I don’t know where to start. Ugh, I swear I have failed housekeeping. I’ve never hated housekeeping this much until I came to live in the Netherlands. Dutchman promised to vacuum the place before we leave. He better do it as I am not in the mood. I still have to pack! It’s not going to be quick mixing and matching clothes and accessories. Are ...

I’ve been in the IT industry for over a decade now and I have sold monstrous software applications in the past from ERP to CRM to DW and BI’s. In every company and customer I have dealt with the holistic pitch is always about having a clear 360-degree view of the customer in a single database. Every competitive organization aims for this dream, which unfortunately proves to be quite elusive in reality thus the proliferation of customer management tools and applications in the market today. There is indeed raw power when all relevant information a company needs about their customer is stored in a single database, real time and online (or at least within a 2-4 week period) – information that can be extracted anytime. Well here is the story -- recently I had a very interesting customer experience with the giant credit card company, American Express. This financial institution is a perfect example of a very large and successful organization that failed to capture the very basic informatio...

We have been visiting Baarn lately, and our most recent visit was this morning when we met with a real estate agent to check out this vrijstand house with a 1930’s architectural facade design. The house was lovely from the outside. However, my first impression when I stepped inside the living room was nowhere near ecstatic. It was actually a bit of a downer. There were no sparks flying. No love at first sight kind of thing. Only the bathroom impressed me as it was so luxurious I could imagine myself lying in the tub with the bubbles. Nevertheless, I would like to post some of the fotos I took in Baarn during our few visits.   Thatched roof shops in the Centrum. Many mansions here... De Generaal Cafe What I love with Baarn is the exclusive, suburban, and living with nature feel. There are lots of trees, parks, and forest groves in the area.  The famous Lage Vuursche forest where the Drakesteyn Castle owned by Queen Beatrix is located just right by the corner. Be...

And I thought searching for a new house (read: my city girl days are over and I cannot wait to move out to somewhere green and quiet) would be an easy and enjoyable task. NOT! We’ve just spent driving 160 kilometers back and forth today to check this house described as a little villa in the North Holland province in Avenhorn, 40+ kilometers from Amsterdam. Not bad, as I am 44 kilometers from Utrecht to my work in Amsterdam. Initially, I was drawn to the large floor to ceiling French white windows in the living room (the whole front was glass!) that opens up to a wide patio with hard wood floors that goes down a few steps to a garden facing the water and an endless horizon of green. The whole setting, the design, everything, it was executed regally. Trust me, I am an Interior Designer in my previous life so I know. On the fotos online the house was spectacular, dramatic; an oasis to look forward to after a hectic day at work. But when we saw the house with our own four eyes, my heart di...

Ohhh mijn godtt! The Orange fever is unstoppable! Holland did it again and took France to the cleaners with a score of 4:1! Look what happened to Leeuwtje, he is so happy with the win against the French last night his orange hairs stand in excitement, they look like cat’s whiskers now. LOL Who would have thought the last title holder of the UEFA Championship (we were in Greece when we watched this a couple of years ago), Italy, would be defeated by the Dutch with a score of 3:0, and now the runner up title holder, France beaten with an impressive 4:1? I will post some videos from Youtube when the fans in Berne have sobered up and posted their videos from last night’s win against France. For now, Dutchman wants me to post this very, very, very typisch Dutch humor (ha-ha). It’s nice to see the Netherlands football team coming up in shape again. I am not really a football fanatic but the game last night was one of the best so far in this European Football Championships. Now the Dutch has ...

The European Football Championship and Oranje fever has gotten into me. I got myself a Welpie (little lion mascot of Holland) from Albert Heijn at work! For every €15 purchase at Albert Heijn you get a free Welpie and I made sure yesterday to get me one =) My little Welpie in support of the Dutch football team sitting on the phone; I call him Leeuwtje (means little lion). The Lion is the Dutch mascot - its national mascot for everything. With the Dutch’s great start yesterday taking Italy to the cleaners with a score of 3 against 0, who would be mad not to join the Oranje raucous? UEFA website: Euro2008 Championships ............... Oranje fans in Bundesplatz Berne, Switzerland during the first match of the Group of Death, Netherlands vs. Italy. ............... Dutch invasion in Berne, Switzerland. The mayor is so happy as every minute 30 liters of beer were consumed (and the fans had only party and getting drunk in mind, no hooligans!). He enjoys the party but more so the €€€€€€€. C...

Lately I have been spending a lot of time in Amsterdam, and well not really for work as I work in Amsterdam anyway, but for other things. Here’s a few fotos I took last Friday and Saturday, luckily I took them as sometimes I get into the spur of the moment and forget to take fotos. This basically wraps up my weekend as today Sunday, we just decided to stay at home enjoying the beautiful weather outside with a glass of chilled wine. Friday On a Friday evening, passing through Keizersgracht pretty lofty buildings towards Rembrandtplein. The nice thing during summer in the Netherlands is there is daylight until late in the evening. Currently sunset is around 10:30PM and I think it will move up to around 11PM in the middle of June, which is really fantastic! We dined in a Tapas Bar in the popular gay street nearby Muntplein. Their best tapas was the sardines - forgot to take a foto, too bad. Saturday Then yesterday Saturday I went back to Amsterdam to do some shopping with a ...

Portovenere was not really in our agenda, however when we were in Riomaggiore (one of the five villages of Cinque Terre) checking out the cliffs, we found this boat service going to Portovenere. The man behind the counter says it’s only a 20-minute boat ride. It’s very tempting indeed considering the Dutch mother was very enthusiastic about the place. She said it’s very pretty. Oh dear, decisions, decisions. Let’s just say that in the hurl of the moment, Blondine and I bought re-tour tickets. Get on board, ahoy! Rounding the cape of Portovenere as we sail towards the harbour, we see the imposing old Church of St. Peter on its promontory looking more like a watchtower than a church. Arriving in Portovenere was quite dramatic. This once upon a time fishing village is by the way now a UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. From the distance we could see the gothic inspired Church of St. Peter, circa 11th century, rising with pride above the isthmus, the white clouds and bright blue skies...

Well, hello there... ciao Bella. Here we are sailing towards.... can you guess? Approaching Portofino... Blondine and moi still on board the boat with the famous Portofino Bay and its rustic yet quite charming pastel and terracotta coloured old buildings crowding with each other in the background. Portofino Just like the jet set leagues of Saint Tropez, Cannes, and Monte Carlo, Monaco in the French Riviera, Portofino is the equivalent for the Italian Riviera side and considered to be amongst the most beautiful ports in the Mediterranean. Quite famous that Tokyo DisneySea in Japan and Universal Orlando Resort in the USA recreated a mini Portofino. Portofino is also widely known to grace intimate weddings (for a max group of 50) at the San Gregorio Church that sits on a promontory watching down to the village square. And I guess a perfect place to honeymoon too. Smaller yachts anchored at the bay of Portofino. It takes about 15-20 minutes by boat fro...