Iceland Part 2

Iceland had so much beauty. I immediately fell in love with the country and felt a connection to it. I'll let the photographs speak for themselves.











































The North American and Eurasian tectonic plates:

Iceland Part 1

For our Iceland recap, I want to start off with our hotel because it was just that awesome. We stayed at the Hilton Nordica and splurged on the executive room. With that, we had a fabulous view from our room. Check it out:



We had the most incredible sunrises and sunsets. I could wake up to that view every day. As a bonus to the stunning view, we also had access to the executive lounge which meant free drinks (including alcohol!) and snacks every day.











And some beautiful shots of Iceland:









And next: geysirs, waterfalls, and landscapes oh my!

Holland Part 5

These are some of my favorite shots from our time in Holland.















The best tree house ever:



At the Botanical Garden:







And the next post will begin with Iceland.

Holland Part 4

From the time that we got to Holland, I made it known that I HAD to see some windmills. I have to admit that part of that desire came from a guidebook I got with our Holland card that had the most beautiful photographs of a spot with windmills. The guidebook said that we could get off at one of two stops on the train. On the morning that we decided to go, we went to the train station and I proudly pronounced the stop that was easier to say to the woman at the ticket counter. We purchased our tickets and got on the train. The guidebook said it would only take 15 minutes and it took approximately that long to reach our stop. We got off the train and showed the guidebook to a passerby and she pointed us in the direction she thought we should go. I asked her if it was a far walk and she said "no, maybe 2 minutes." 10 minutes later and still no windmills, I asked another passerby. This one looked at us with the look you don't want to see when asking directions and said that we were in the wrong place, the guidebook was wrong, and it would be an hours walk to get to the correct location.

Now, my husband and I don't give up that easily. We decided to walk around and explore. One of the first sights that I saw was of a building that was still in construction. I immediately recognized it as a building that I had seen online and favorited because it was so unusual. I thought it was fate that we ended up right there in front of that building. Check it out:



Here I was standing in front of a building that I had fallen in love with in photographs online and it was all completely accidental.

My husband and I kept walking and found a market that was going on. We purchased cheese (3 cheese for 5 euros which was unheard of in Amsterdam) and antipastos (also 3 for 5).



A vendor was also selling these fish bites with sauce for 3 euros. I think this was actually my favorite meal of the entire trip.



We had a complete blast and decided to head out to the windmills the following day.

This time, we got off at the correct stop (the other stop was accurate) and when I saw this, I knew we were heading in the right direction this time:

Holland Part 3

So let me tell you about the shops in Amsterdam. I think it has something to do with traveling to a foreign country and being so far from home, but when I am away, I get insatiably hungry. I need to eat and try every single food and I eat 20 meals a day instead of 3. But what would you do when you are surrounded by so many delicious and awesome storefronts?

Cheese! There were so many cheese shops. You just don't see that here.





We basically had a chocolate croissant and cappuccino every morning. Do you blame us?









And we couldn't stay away from the Waterleuplin (the flea market) which is outrageously closed on Sundays. You should know this so that you don't plan on going on Sunday to seriously shop, only to discover that no one is there.



And of course we had to go to the outdoor flower market on the water, which is really an outdoor tulip bulb market when the weather gets cold it seems.



And the back of the flower market on the water:



I'll have to tell you how we ended up somewhere outside of Amsterdam next, only to have it turn into the coolest day trip ever. But, that deserves a post of its own.

Holland Part 2

The second we got to Amsterdam, we immediately decided that we needed to explore and walk, walk, walk. I think we walked between 10 and 20 miles each day. We would literally walk until we couldn't walk anymore and end up in absolutely gorgeous neighborhoods. And then we'd grab lunch or dinner at the restaurant that appealed to us (which generally meant that we'd go for the places that were packed with locals).

But we still acted like fools and took touristy shots like this:





We took the canal bus around as well and learned about some history. Who doesn't want to get around Amsterdam in a boat??

We also dreamed about moving to Amsterdam to live in one of these:



Only in the millions you know. Those houses don't come cheap.



At some point we ended up going to the Van Gogh museum which we loved.

And as our legs could barely move at the end of our nights, we'd end up in places like this to warm up and eat: