Every day can’t be a thrill ride, and we used our last day in Amsterdam to gather up our strength and take a breath. And to do laundry. Lots of laundry. Even still, we had a lovely day staying close in the neighborhood of our apartment, and saying goodbye. We…

A couple of notes about our apartment in Amsterdam before we leave the city… Here is the outside of our apartment, which we didn’t have a picture of before: Daniel meant to get some footage of the crazy stairs – they are insanely narrow and steep, and they follow a…

Well, we never did build a sand fort in Zandvoort. But we sure did go to the beach. Zandvoort is a highly resorty town due west of Amsterdam, 30 minutes from the city to the sea. The town itself is charmless, as we were warned by a chatty Dutch woman…

Today was a departure from our established mode of travel so far. In general, we’ve been staking out a big thing or two with some points of interest in between, and wandering as we go. We stop for coffee when we feel like it, we duck into this or that…

Four days into our Amsterdam stay, and we haven’t explored our neighborhood beyond the bakery on the corner, and to and from the transit stops. That ends today! We wish we could say this was part of some grand vision of growing roots where we’re planted, but in reality, we…

Well friends, today Amsterdam really got to strut her stuff. It was a beautiful day in the city, and we have a week of glorious weather to come. And we went to hands-down the loveliest of Amsterdam’s many lovely neighborhoods, the Jordaan. The Jordaan has loomed large in our imaginations…

Today we celebrated the Netherlands by getting out of Amsterdam and into Haarlem. We’d heard wonderful things – our friend Ted called Haarlem “Amsterdam without the tourists,” and travel writers we follow are also big fans. So expectations were high, but you really can’t anticipate what it’s going to feel…

We’ve been by a lot of buildings and seen lots of neat things, but other than swinging through some churches and cathedrals, we haven’t done major sightseeing events – until today. This morning was our timed ticket for the Van Gogh Museum, which Daniel remembered fondly, and Stef was very…

Belgium couldn’t have been lovelier, and Stef was finding it very hard to leave. There’s a poignancy to travel in that when you leave a place, it’s a good bet we’re seeing it for the last time. We don’t get many times in life when we can savor and appreciate…