Wandering Browns

After spending a month in the Netherlands, I'm still not really sure exactly what constitutes Dutch cuisine. Here are some relatively unique foods we tried and enjoyed during our time there: Some day I will take pictures of my own food, but until that day arrives, photo cred  here Patat (French fries) and other fried things: Thick-cut french fries have their own fast food restaurants here. They are fresh cut right there before your eyes, then fried. The classic way to eat it is with special Dutch mayonnaise squirted on top of a cone of fries, with a little fork for spearing the gooey fries. French fries are one of Landon's favorite foods, and so we ate them more often than I'm willing to admit. First time, I ordered them plain because we were getting on a train, and the 2nd time with ketchup and both were delicious. Along with french fries, most of the fry stands also sell other fried things like fried sausages, chicken, etc. You can make a totally unhealthy fried me...

For the second half of our day in Amsterdam, I wanted to visit the Rijksmuseum, a big art museum, and Austin did not. So, he took Landon to the Maritime museum while I took on the Rijksmuseum. From where we parted ways after lunch, it was a far walk for both of us. My walk took me through the heart of the city where I discovered the famous floating flower market, Bloemenmarkt. These days, there were some bulbs and some live flowers, but mostly souvenir shops which was a little depressing. I also passed the Munttoren, a tower that was once part of the medieval gate into Amsterdam. It was first built in 1480, and the city has grown far beyond that original gate at this point.   Bloemenmarkt Munttoren Rijksmuseum exterior Exterior details Even the outside of the Rijksmuseum was impressive. It was originally completed in 1885 after a contest was presented for the best design. Albert Cuypers won with a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance architecture. The museum h...

 After splitting up to see things of interest to us in various parts of Amsterdam, we met back up at de Bijenkorf department store in downtown Amsterdam. It was right across from the Royal palace, Nieuwe Kerk, and National monument, so it was easy to find! We were there to claim our free gift as part of the Holland pass. Our free gift was a commemorative tin with candies in it, which we thought was pretty spiffy for a free gift. After claiming our gift, we thought about what we wanted for dinner. The top of the department store was also a cafeteria style restaurant. We ordered a pesto pasta dish, pizza, and salad which were all delicious and our first Italian food for awhile which was a welcome change. Our Magnum bar creations The real star of the cafeteria, though, was the Magnum bar booth. For those who don't know what Magnum bars are, they are extremely delicious chocolate covered ice cream bars. In stores, they are sold in various flavors like chocolate, chocolate brow...

Waiting for the tour to begin! As a family, we decided to buy a Holland Pass because it gave us discounts at all of the places we wanted to see in the Netherlands. As part of the Holland pass, we got an hour-long canal tour of Amsterdam. On a gray, cold day, we headed up to Amsterdam and parked right across from the Amsterdam Central, where the canal boat tour started. Typically, we would have taken the train to save money and avoid parking issues, but we compared costs and trains from Rotterdam to Amsterdam are more expensive for the three of us then the parking fee was! Since I reserved it online, we paid 20E for parking for the entire day (or 24 hours)! We registered our vehicle on the website, and the cameras at the entrance knew us when we came in and let us in without any hassle. I would definitely recommend looking into parking ahead of time and reserving a space. It saved us money and hassle of struggling with parking in a watery, not car-friendly city! Amsterdam Cent...

Hook of Holland strand, looking toward the ship channel and haven Right before leaving the Netherlands, we had an unseasonably warm week. I had wanted to check out the beach at the Hook of Holland before leaving, and we picked the nicest day we could find- with temperatures hovering around 70 degrees and sunny. This was such a contrast from the 40s and rainy that we had endured for many weeks at the beginning of our trip! Austin had plans to go with us, but ended up being called into work. Landon and I took the train to the end of the line, and then walked another mile or so to the beach proper. Wading in the FREEZING water It was the first nice day of the season, so some shops were not open yet, but there were a fair number of people around. Unfortunately for me, and all the parents there, shops lined the entrance to the beach. There were tons of those stupid ride-on toys that you put money in and they move and play music. I refuse to put money in them because Landon has...

Landon and the two-toned tulips When we found out we were visiting the Netherlands in March and April, we had two things on our must-do list- windmills and tulips. We visited the Kinderdijk windmills, and waited as long as we could to see the tulips to wait for them to bloom. The early bulb flowers were out in March, but we waited until tulips started to show themselves throughout the cities I visited before we spent the day in a giant tulip garden. I was surprised so many varieties were bloomed, and there were more that were not quite there bloomed yet. Keukenhof is one of the largest flower gardens in the world. Seven million bulbs are planted in the 72 acre garden each year. 800 different varieties of tulips are displayed in the garden. They bloom mid-March through mid-May. I was surprised by the amazing variety of colors and types of flowers in the garden.  Daffodils Trying to get a good shot for the calendar competition... I loved these red tulips above wit...