H/B/F 2017: getting to know Haarlem

Andrew and I arrived in the Netherlands bright and early on Saturday morning, having had no sleep on the plane over. (Take-off was approximately 6 pm, we landed at 7 am local time; there is a 6 hour time difference.) We’ve learned from past trips that jet lag is FOR REAL and that your first day in-country is often spent on a roller coaster of caffeinated highs and head-drooping lows.

Our hotel was, shockingly, able to put us in a room when we arrived around 10 am, and we napped until almost 2 pm. As someone who doesn’t normally nap, I can tell you that if I hadn’t willed myself out of bed, I’d have passed right back out for a few more hours. But, the best thing for jet lag is sunlight, so we got ourselves up and out in search of food.

Highlights from the weekend:

Grote Markt and the Grote Kerk (Great Church): On Saturdays, the square is filled with stalls selling food and trinkets, and there is a smaller market on Mondays as well. Otherwise, it’s filled with cafe tables and a couple food trucks selling sugared donuts and pickled herring.

Monument to Monument walk: We started our morning with a walk we found in one of the brochures we got from the tourist information office, which started at the Grote Kerk and hit all the biggies (Teyler’s Museum, De Adriaan Windmill, Nieuw Kerk, etc). It was an excellent way to stretch our legs, bask in more sunshine (see jet lag, above) and check out all the local architecture and food options.

Poffertjes: We sampled sugar donuts on the Grote Kerk before our church tour. They’re very much like swedish pancakes, simply topped with more confectioners sugar. Delicious.

Who’s that handsome man taking photos??

Lunch at Native: While on our walk, we passed a hoppin’ place the locals seemed to like, so we made sure to stop in. I got a salad with pistachios, pomegranate arils, oranges, lima beans and fennel, served with bread and chili butter (delicious), and Andrew had the beef empanadas with chutney. Sangria to drink.

How beautiful is this?! We haven’t had a chance to go up in the windmill yet, but we may actually hit the windmill MUSEUM, which is in Leiden. We’ll be there Sunday when I run the Leiden half marathon!

Compared to the pack-it-all-in pace of our usual trips, we ended the weekend feeling like we’d barely done anything (again, see jet lag, above). But, Andrew felt like he was ready to work Monday morning, which was one of his big concerns (and–obviously–the whole point of our trip). Plus, we do have the evenings to try to see a few more things while we’re here.

I’m already enjoying my time on my own here…spoiler alert: I joined a gym! Check back to see what I’m up to while Andrew is at the office!

H/B/F 2017: we moved in

…and then out again. I’ll spill the beans on how we got a newer, nicer room, but first, our hotel:

The Lion d’Or faces the square for the train station, so it’s both conveniently located and easy to find (both ideal qualities for a directionally challenged girl like me!). In all honesty, we searched high and low for a place to stay in Amsterdam (to no avail) and Haarlem was plan B. Now that we’re here, I can’t imagine staying anywhere else!

We arrived Saturday morning and we’re given one of the first clean rooms they had available:

We thought it was more than adequate and promptly moved in. This was the first time in our seven (!!!) European trips that we completely unpacked our bags–it felt so good.

My bedside table held my reading material and running stuff, as well as my nighttime creature comforts, like my lavender lotion.

However, this morning the gentleman behind the desk approached me after breakfast–shocked–and asked if I’d like a better, bigger room. He’d noticed we were staying for two weeks and wanted to offer us one of the renovated ones. I jumped at the chance and ended up schlepping all our stuff downstairs to the new room.

While it’s not a lot bigger, it’s way nicer and even has a small fridge!! We’re unpacked again and already dreading all the bag-packing that will start again in a couple weeks!

Holland/Belgium/France 2017: an introduction

Yet again, Andrew and I are across the pond, this time in the Netherlands!

This trip was not planned as a vacation; in fact, back in January we decided we wouldn’t take a trip this year. However, just as we resigned ourselves to staying home and finishing our projects, Andrew found out there was a possibility he might need to travel to Amsterdam for work. For months we felt like we were in limbo, wondering if the trip would happen and for how log it might be. Finally, about three weeks ago (!!!) Andrew got the green light that he would be needed in Nieuw-Vennep (Moog’s division outside Amsterdam) when the piece of the surgical arm he designed arrives.

We immediately threw ourselves into trip-planning mode, decided to tack on two additional weeks for some travel afterward (might as well, right?!) and arranged for a house sitter for our fur babies. Needless to say, these last couple weeks have been nothing short of INSANE; Andrew put in almost 80 hours at work just last week ensuring his design prototype was ready to ship and I ran around with a to-do list a mile long.

We landed at 7 am Saturday in Amsterdam and, after a leisurely breakfast at the Schiphol Airport, jumped in our rental car and headed for Haarlem. We’re staying at the Lion d’Or, a business hotel about 20 minutes from both Nieuw-Vennep and Amsterdam, and we couldn’t be happier.

We spent the next day recovering from jet lag (it’s for real) and getting acquainted with our new home for the next two weeks. More to come!