Amsterdam in Spring

This past weekend, I took a quick trip to Amsterdam.  My college friend Steph is doing a global rotation for a large public accounting firm like David so I took advantage of knowing a "local" in Amsterdam and visited her.  David and Colin stayed back in London for a guys' weekend (hanging out at the pub, going to the park, riding double decker buses, and watching the Masters).

I had been to Amsterdam two times before, but it made a huge difference to see the city with someone who lives there.  The only really touristy thing we did was visit the Van Gogh Museum which I hadn't done on either of my previous trips.  Other than that, we took a day trip to a cute Dutch village called  Zaans Schans, went to some of Steph's favorite restaurants, walked through the city's flower market, and did some cheese shopping.  It was nice to be able to relax and spend some time catching up with Steph (we hadn't seen each other in five years!) and not feel like I had to run around the city like crazy checking the "must-see" items off that are on a normal tourist's list.

I planned my visit in April as this is normally the peak time for tulip viewing.  Tulips have always been my favorite flower.  Unfortunately, the spring in Europe has been just as miserable as the spring in the US so everything is late blooming this year.  We were still able to see quite a few tulips at Keukenhof, a famous flower garden located in Lisse. Keukenof had quite a few flowers already in bloom, no doubt planning for the late spring and not wanting to lose out on tourists as it is only open from late March to late May each year.  Only about four of the tulip fields outside of the park were already in bloom.  It was still amazing to see all the tulips.  

I have included some photos from the trip below.

Bikes, canal, boats - this picture sums up Amsterdam

I loved all the colors of tulips at the flower market

I would buy tulips all the time if I lived in Amsterdam

Zaans Schans - a cute Dutch village a short drive from Amsterdam

With my wonderful hostess Steph at Zaans Schans

Keukenhof gardens

I LOVE tulips!

So pretty!

In Bruges

We took advantage of the Bank Holiday on Good Friday by visiting Bruges, Belgium from Friday to Sunday of Easter weekend.  Bruges is the site of the 2008 film In Bruges starring Colin Farrell, which I have yet to see but was asked by countless people if I had seen it when we mentioned we would be traveling there.  I guess I will have to add it to my Netflix queue.  Bruges is a small city surrounded by canals known for its chocolate and lace.  We skipped the lace but definitely took advantage of all the chocolate shops in the city.  The trip pretty much centered around eating chocolate and sampling Belgian beers including the local beer Brugse Zot at De Halve Maan Brewery.

Colin's favorite part of the trip was once again a boat ride.  The boat trip went through the many canals of the city.  Colin insisted on announcing "BRIDGE" every time we would go under one (approximately every 15 seconds).  I am sure the fellow passengers loved the commentary.  We also went to the french fry and chocolate museums which were about as lame as they sound like they would be.  The city is known for its art museums, but we have given up on going to art museums with a toddler.

We headed back to Brussels on Sunday afternoon via a local train and then took the Eurostar the rest of the way to London.  Colin is still enamored by "choo choos" so was a happy traveler.

I didn't take many pictures on this trip but have posted a few of the ones I took below.

Markt - the main square of Bruges 

Another quality Buckley family picture in front of one of Bruges windmills

Canal ride

Canal ride

More quality parenting - sampling beer at De Halve Maan Brewery while your child watches an iPad and eats a sucker