Amsterdam: Edam

Have you heard of Edam Cheese? The one with the happy red coating? 

It's named after the town of Edam (AY-dum), in the Netherlands. A picturesque village if I ever did see one. Absolutely charming canal houses and teahouses lined up against perfectly still water.

Our stop? The Cheese Weigh House, built in 1778, where a giant cheese market is held every summer. Here, Edam is coated in yellow wax as the red coating is only for export. 

And as far as Edam, that was all there was to see but I was camera happy, all the same.

Throwback Monday: Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans Part II

Today's Throwback Monday post takes us back to Zaanse Schans for Part II.

Cute little shops with clogs galore! Remember the clog trend? 

Part I if you missed it.

Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans Part I

Zaanse Schans was a day-trip for us whilst in Amsterdam.

The 17th-century town is a short bus ride away from Amsterdam and located along the River Zaan. Described in one word, Zaanse Schans is: Touristy with a capital T, but as we were, in fact, tourists, it was rather interesting to visit.  

The highlight was the working windmills. We chose one to go up into, however in the midst of purchasing tour tickets we found out that that particular windmill was NOT actually one of the originals but a replica of the original. Did I say it was tourist trap? 

Regardless, Zaanse Schans is beautifully scenic and wonderful to walk around in.  This is part I. Oh and as it was touristy, there are a couple of photos of us (and fellow tourists) thrown in for good measure. 

And for more Amsterdam, check out my Travel album, here. 

Throwback Monday: New York City, May 2004

I'm so excited about our upcoming NYC trip in February and looking forward to catching up with some NYC bloggers while I'm there - if you'd like to meet up, send me an email!

One of the last times I was in NYC was in May 2004 with my friend Alicia, whom you've already met on this blog before, here and here and most recently with the newest addtion to their family, here.

This NYC trip took place when we were still in university and goofing around (hence the image of me pretending to take a flip and the one of us freaking out on the plane).

All of these were taken with film. Alicia is a talented web and graphic designer, so credit goes to her for all the images of me. 

Here's the first installment of what I'm calling Throwback Mondays.

MLK Weekend: Provincetown, MA

As it was our first MLK weekend here in Boston, we decided a day trip was in order. Onwards to Cape Cod, we drove. Destination: the tip, mainly: Provincetown, MA.

Although it was a blustery cold January day and almost everything was closed until the Spring, we enjoyed walking around, eating some fudge and ended up having dinner at a fantastic little restaurant on the water, watching the sunset.

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Amsterdam: B + W

As seen along the streets of Amsterdam. This reminds me of an archway one would see in India. In terms of the number of cycles, Amsterdam is very similar to India, except Amsterdam has a discipline for riding whereas riding in India is more of an organized chaos. 

What's funny to note here is the "India Tourism" sign hanging in the middle of the shot. 

I Amsterdam

One of my favourite outdoor sites in Amsterdam was the "I Amsterdam" sign in Museumplein, behind the Rijksmuseum and near the Van Gogh Museum.  The Van Gogh Museum, btw, was by far the best museum I went to. The Anne Frank House was incredibly moving as well, but more on that later.

Amsterdam: Sheep + Bicycle

One thing you see plenty of in Amsterdam is bicycles. I was expecting them, sure, but not this many.  

And beware of crossing the path of a cyclist. They get very angry. You have to look both ways before getting from one side of the street to the next. The cyclist path is given more importance than the pedestrian sidewalk.

Amsterdam: The Hilton Hotel

It was raining pretty hard as soon as we arrived in Amsterdam, and it remained fairly wet and quite chilly throughout the trip. As soon as we got to The Amsterdam Hilton, made famous for John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "Bed-In-For-Peace", all we wanted to do was have a quick bite to eat and some tea.  So, while we waited for our room (not the John Lennon/Yoko Ono presidential suite, alas), we dined at one of the hotel's resturants, the Half Moon Lounge. We ordered some teas and a falafel sandwich with a side of fries.  How amazing was this sandwich?  And the service was wonderful and unintrusive while we relaxed by the huge canal side windows. Highly recommend this hotel, which has beautiful rooms and bathrooms with gorgeous canal views and a spectacular breakfast buffet, which may make an appearance on Foodhogger, later.

Amsterdam: Cine, Cheese & Chums

As seen in and around the Red Light District in Amsterdam. Love the burger vending machines! Oh, and the boat full of dapper gentlemen is just some random eye-candy for you.

Amsterdam: Alan & Ginnie

Alan and Ginnie are our good friends from Toronto and we were so happy to see  them again in Amsterdam in September.

I've introduced you to Alan before, in Stirling, Scotland, where we were hosted by Alan's parents at a glorious garden party.  

In Amsterdam we, once again, enjoyed a few pints and saw some sights.  Ginnie and I also visited some museums together and had many cups of tea.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's strange for us to be celebrating Thanksgiving in November, as Canadian Thanksgiving falls in October (2nd Monday in Oct).  

Nevertheless, any excuse to eat, drink and be merry is a good one.  

It's been an unbelievable few months since our move to Boston from Toronto in August.  Boston is a lovely city and we've felt so welcome in many ways.  I've also had some very cool opportunities to shoot fun events in the city, and I'm thankful for each moment.

I'm also so very thankful for our family who've helped set up our new home, for the friends who've visited from Toronto and made the distance seem much closer.  And for the new people we've met so far who've made us feel at home.  

What are you thankful for this season?

 

(Image processed with Poladroid)

Amsterdam: Flower Market

Remember when we went to

Amsterdam

in September? I've been so back-logged in getting these photos up!

Here's a few from the gorgeous Bloemenmarkt, Amsterdam's famous flower market.  The flower stalls are actually on barges, floating in the Singel canal.  Traditionally the flowers were brought in via barges into the canal, hence the floating flower market (held first back in 1862).

Some of these flowers I'd never even seen before.  The tulips in the cans are actually WOODEN tulips, aren't they gorgeous?  As we couldn't bring back real tulip bulbs, I brought back mini wooden ones.

What is your favourite flower?

Happy Birthday To Us

A and I celebrated our birthdays together again, this year.  Last year we did the spa and dinner.  This year we did it with strawberry picking at Springridge Farm (fantastic place btw!) followed by a picnic in the park.  There was lots of sunshine, not so many strawberries, lots of laughs and a few tears.  Thanks to N, who was the only boy at the party, for capturing all the fun moments of the girls!

 

Seeing Red in Montreal

As seen on the streets of Old Montreal.