RTW - week 16 (Holland)

From Berlin we flew to Brussels where we are situated for almost an entire month! At this point, we are over the moon excited to have the same bed for more than 14 days. We have a beautiful open concept home in the country that is so unbelievably peaceful.

We have this fabulous deck overlooking the fields of corn and cows, where Bryan and I have decided to pick up meditation and yoga. Did you hear that correctly? Meditation and yoga. Try meditating in the country with 3 kids running around, flys are buzzing around your head, cows are mooing, frogs are being caught, Charlie is asking for food (but won't eat anything) and here we are trying to ascend to a level of enlightenment.

Needless to say, switching to a wheat free diet in the land of waffles is easier than meditating.

We also swapped cars for this leg, which means we get to do some travelling around again - which is exciting! First up is the land of windmills - The Netherlands!

We drove into Amsterdam on our first day, stopping at Castle De Haar. We had plans to meet up with some friends for lunch in Amsterdam, so this was supposed to be a super quick visit. It ended up being way more amazing than we had initially thought. This castle is by far the most beautiful that we have ever seen, and the grounds are incredible.

We reluctantly pulled ourselves out of there after an hour or so and continue on with our journey towards Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is certainly a lively city, one that we barely had the chance to see. The canals are gorgeous and lined with the most incredible "tiny houses" that are floating. I would live in any of them if given the chance.

But Amsterdam is Amsterdam after all, and basically everyone you pass in the courtyards has blood shot eyes and is eyeing you all funny and suspiciously. Im getting the impression that this is a city best visited without the kids. 😂

The Netherlands is however filled with the most incredible little towns outside of the cities, and once again, we are proving to be country people and not city people. These villages are crazy charming, filled with canals and bright and playful buildings.

We spent the night in Zaandam allowing us to see the neighbouring villages of Zaanse Schans which is a replica of an 18th century Dutch village. We packed a picnic, feasted on cheese samples (yum!) and enjoyed the afternoon learning about windmills and what it must have looked like back "in the day".

On our drive home, we stopped at the Unesco site Kinderjik to see the windmills again. We didn't get to spend much time there unfortunately as we had been dodging the rain all day. It was coming in fast so we made it a quick visit, but a lovely one at that.

Now just to drive home back to the country with three sleeping kids in the back. Netherlands was a success!