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I'd been planning to visit Amersfoort for a while now. With its historic city centre, great restaurants and shops, and plenty of things to see, Amersfoort is the perfect destination for a day trip when you're visiting the Netherlands. This beautiful city is super...
I'd been planning to visit Amersfoort for a while now. With its historic city centre, great restaurants and shops, and plenty of things to see, Amersfoort is the perfect destination for a day trip when you're visiting the Netherlands. This beautiful city is super close to Utrecht, but also from Amsterdam it's only around 30 minutes by train. Best Things to Do & See in Amersfoort The Amersfoort Boulder This is a bit of a must. The giant rock that weighs over 7000 kilo is the reason that Amersfoort is known as the 'Boulder City' (Keistad), which is why it's a great place to start your city tour. By the way, this boulder didn't just show up here. During the...
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A little warning for friends and family of bloggers. Don’t spend too much time reading their blogs and listening to their stories about blogging ‘adventures’ (drinking afternoon tea can be an adventure too right?), or you might run the risk of turning into one of them. I’ve seen it happening, and let me tell you… it ain’t pretty. I’m kidding of course. But it turned out that I wasn’t the only one in Paris focussing on taking nice pictures and finding foodie places to write about. My friend Sandra (who took the photos of me with my ONA bag) is becoming a serious food blogger with her first stories on Holland’s most populair culinary website Culy.nl. So how do two foodies spend two days in Paris? Eating of course!
Staring out the window of the Eurostar, I’m thinking about the last time I was in Paris. Twenty years old, studying at Sciences Po and with a room at the Cité Universitaire. I didn’t think much about best places to eat or most trendy hotels to stay. Simply because as a student I didn’t have the budget to go out all the time (let alone pay for a meal at one of the popular restaurants) and I didn’t need a hotel. So even though there once was a time when I knew the city well, when it came to planning this trip it almost felt like I was going to Paris for the very first time.
Last week I heard the first Christmas song on the radio. The lights are up on Oxford Street. And everybody is sharing John Lewis’ Christmas TV ad with Monty the Penguin on social media. There’s no denying: London is getting ready for the holidays. For a group of London bloggers, Christmas started a bit earlier this year. On a warm, late summer afternoon in September at the Conrad London St James hotel where we were getting together for another #LDNBloggersTea.
The most challenging part of visiting Prague is pronouncing the street names. Seriously, you try saying Dvořákovo Nábřež or U Starého Hřbitova or Náprstkova with a straight face. Fortunately, Prague is not a big city and it’s quite easy to find your way. So no need to embarrass yourself in front of locals when asking for directions.
There are places that have such an excellent foodie reputation, that you would visit them just to go crazy on the food. I love exploring the typical local cuisine when I travel, but when I was planning my trip to Prague I had no idea what to expect. I heard many great stories about the city, but not often did these stories say anything about the food. So I was about to visit a country that I’d never been to before and where I had no idea what to eat. Challenging… Unless you plan a food tour on your first day. And let a food loving local not only show you the culinary treasures of Prague, but also some beautiful hidden gems along the way.
I unfortunately don’t have an unlimited budget to dine out (if only…). I’m not complaining, but let’s say that you won’t find me in restaurants with a Michelin star very often. Let alone a restaurant that has two!
So when you receive an email from a company asking if you want to try one of their experiences. And on that list of experiences is a 2 Michelin star lunch…You’d also do a little happy dance right?
Writing a post about Berlin in a New York hotel room. Life could be worse. It's so great to be back in New York. I can't wait to share all my photos and stories, but first: Berlin. Yes, my travel schedule is a bit crazy at the moment. But hey, I wanted to travel...so...
Most people assume that because I'm from the Netherlands, that I must be from Amsterdam. I know we're a very small country, but there are other beautiful cities as well. Such as Den Haag. Or The Hague. Or 's Gravenhage if I wanted to make things extra...
Time for another coffee break at one of London's best coffee shops. Working my way through the London Coffee Guide's top 30, I decided to go to Notes this time. There are four Notes coffee shops in the city and since I didn't have the guide with me, I went to the...
It's funny. Whenever someone asks me why I like living in London, I usually answer something along the lines of you're never done exploring this city, there's so much to do, there's always something exciting happening. When a man is tired of London, he's tired of life...
Serving their own locally roasted Workshop coffee, everything about this place feels very ‘neighborly’.
It had been a long day and I was hungry. Very hungry. And even with all the fancy food that's available in London, when you're looking for something comforting, what's better than a good old (well, preferably fresh actually) pizza? Pizza Rossa Londoners love pizza....
What year did I just walk into? I was expecting to see 17th century artwork, not real people walking around as if they had just stepped out of a painting. What I learned later on was that they were hosting a special event to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the...
What better way to spend a Sunday morning than reading a newspaper and drinking a nice flat white at one of London's best coffee shops? With so many independent cafés to choose from, I'm glad there's a London Coffee Guide that lists the best ones in the city....
Isn't it interesting to see how people - of all ages - are drawn to water? Turn on a fountain in the middle of the city on a summer's day and they'll be tempted to jump in. This water installation at the South Bank by Danish artist Jeppe Hein is called...
I once did a wine tasting course together with a friend and my sister. We thought it was a good idea to learn 'how to impress people in a restaurant when ordering a bottle glass of wine'. To be honest, I don't remember much about it, except that it's fun to drink a...
And so it happened that I ticked three dishes off Time Out's 100 best dishes in London list...all in one afternoon. I was meeting our guide, or actually guides, at Old Spitalfields Market. I love this part of London. It's where I get my hair done, enjoy...
It might be pouring while I'm writing this, but there's no denying... summer is here. I had signed up for Blogshop at Home this weekend which means I was tied to my computer most of the time in an apartment without air-conditioning. So I was really...
Trying to get a table at a restaurant with a celebrity chef that doesn't take reservations during the day is nearly a mission impossible in London. You could of course wait in line for about two hours. But since an empty stomach brings out the worst in me, I try...
Only foodies will understand that I already knew two months ago where I was having brunch on Sunday. At Duck & Waffle. Even though they're open 24 hours a day, it's still fairly difficult to get a reservation. Especially at times when...
Lily Vanilli is not your ordinary bakery. First, it's only open on Sundays. Second, celebrities and big brands love her. And when I asked the guy behind the counter which cake he recommended, he asked me if I liked beetroot and courgette. We're talking cakes here,...
I say 'Brazil'. You say...World Cup? Olympics? Before last Tuesday I would have probably said the same, but now the first thing that comes to mind is food. What else? To celebrate this Brazilian summer, Brazilian food bloggers Rosana McPhee and Luiz Hara teamed up...
London has a lot to offer, but what it doesn't have is a beach. Not that the UK is famous for its sunbathing weather (or that I'm the sunbathing type for that matter), but there are few things as relaxing as a walk on the beach. One of my intentions for this year was...
I've been waiting for this day for over a year. My favorite Dutch store HEMA is finally opening its doors in London. Who would have thought that when I left the Netherlands that one of the things I was going to miss the most would be a store? HEMA is so typical...
The Dutch may not be world-renowned for their food, but just like any other expat I do have this craving from time to time for snacks from home. Raw herring with (raw) onions, stroopwafels (syrup waffles), erwtensoep (split pea soup), hutspot (mashed...
Let's start with the most touristy photo you can take in Copenhagen, so we can tick that box. Tick! Okay, moving on. As I mentioned in my previous post the only true way to explore Copenhagen is on a bike and that's exactly what I did last Monday. The sun was...
When you travel, do you also ask yourself if you could live in that country or city? Or is that just my twisted expat mind? Anyway...It's something that I unintentionally always do. And when I visited Copenhagen this weekend the answer was a definite Yes....
Is there anything more fun than watching other people? Silently observing what others are doing, the way they passionately move their hands when they're trying to make a point, quickly checking their hair in a mirror when they think nobody's watching or...
There's a first time for everything. And yesterday was the first time I made my own pasta. And I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty damn good at it. Or maybe it had something to do with the professional help of the Cookery School team. Cookery School at Little...
I don't know how other bloggers do it. Having a full-time job, a social life, traveling...and then still finding the time to blog according to a fixed schedule? After doing the A Beautiful Mess Blog Life e-course, I'm now trying to blog more regularly. But after...