8th Anniversary tour of Netherlands

We had a blast. There you go. That's all I'll tell you. Just kidding. I know all five of you reading my blog are dying to read about our anniversary in the Netherlands. It was pretty lovely and smooth going I must say.

To be honest we are pretty broke at the moment. I love a good challenge and thought it would be fun to organize a wedding anniversary with the theme no-money, no-complaints, with the goal to spend absolutely nothing and love it. I envisioned us biking to a beautiful nature reserve, and spending the night camping out, building a fire, and cooking re-hydrated pasta and then smores like in movies and books that I've read. Yes, I've never had to build my own fire in the wild before. Ever. Someone else (usually a guy) was there to take charge. I think this is a major lack in my survival skills set. So why not combine pleasure, learning and romance for our anniversary? Turns out though, that there is no "wild" in the Netherlands, and that starting a fire anywhere is illegal. There are nature preserves that have campgrounds, called natuur campeeren, which means, basically a camping ground in nature. The tent spaces are further apart, and there are usually very basic to no facilities (i.e. running water/toilets). Natuur campeeren differs from normal camping which is just your basic camp ground somewhere outside the city, with tents lined up within arms reach of each other, and full facilities. Turns out though that to go nature camping you have to buy a permit for 15 Euros, and then once you get to the camp ground you have to pay per adult, reservation fee, and for the space. If you use a shower you also have to pay. So we would have ended up paying about 30-40 Euros to go camping, which kind of wasn't what I had in mind with a romantic getaway and no spending. Then there is vrij campeeren, where you can camp for free at the edge of the field. However you can only camp after 7 pm and then it's first come first serve. Only three spots available, and no exact location. Camping laws here are very strict, and the police department even has their own unit who do nothing but patrol for illegal camping. The final nail in the camping coffin was that apparently there is a major tic problem in the forests here with Lyme disease. I know you were all just dying to know about this, so now that your curiosity on camping in the Netherlands is satisfied, back to the anniversary.

We threw all previous attempts to not spend money out the window, and settled for good ol' American credit card vacation. Our hotel actually ended up being just slightly more than the camp ground, and we had shower, and a king size bed!!! As soon as my head hit the hotel pillow for an afternoon nap (pure luxury) I laughed at the thought of camping somewhere on a hard floor, with no running water close by and bugs swarming us.

We started out our day in the amazing city of Utrecht. The earliest origins of this city date back to 2200 BC!!!! In the 2nd century Romans built a fortress there, but couldn't maintain it, and finally it is spoken of again in the 7th century. I love how steeped in history everything in Europe is. The city itself reminded us a little of San Antonio with it's river boardwalk. We arrived before 9:30 so shops were all still closed, and the atmosphere was very peaceful.

Aaron in Utrecht

Behind the Cathedral

This is taken from underneath the cathedral tower. The cathedral was destroyed in a hurricane.

Tower of Utrecht, part of the former cathedral.

This is by far one of the most elegant catholic churches I've had the pleasure of visiting.

Boardwalk in Utrecht

Little shops line the canal

wacky tree along canal

Cool Stone with ancient carvings in front of Cathedral

After Utrecht we headed out to the Kastel De Haar, a very pretty castle outside of Utrecht, with an underwhelming park. Sorry, but after seeing Schoenbrunn I'm not easily blown away. We had a fun little picnic in the park and walked around the castle which is being renovated.

Aaron washing out raspberry vinaigrette from his shorts and white shirt in the super fancy guest bathroom of the castle.

Seriously, wrought iron hardware, solid wood door, ceramic tiles...and we got all the raspberry dressing out.

We headed straight up to our hotel which was about an hour North of Amsterdam, and took aforementioned nap. I think, only parents can truly appreciate the luxury of an uninterrupted afternoon nap.
The beach was next on our list. The water was freeeezzzing, and my legs mysteriously started itching. After we were thoroughly cold, we headed back to the beach and saw a disgusting, dead jelly fish. Ewww. I paid closer attention to the water and saw several small jellyfish floating next to the shore, and many dead ones on the beach. With the mystery of my itching legs solved I didn't return to the water after that.

Then we had dinner in Haarlem, which is probably the prettiest city I've been too so far in the Netherlands. Or maybe the second prettiest. I don't know, so many to chose from. After a stroll through the narrow streets and peeking at the menus of several restaurants we decided on Japanese, because it had the nicest interior decor and the least likelihood of me ending up toppled over with stomach cramps an hour after eating.

Haarlem City Center

The only thing I'll mention about going back to the hotel was that we got to sleep in the next morning. That alone was worth going away for!!!