amsterdam.

in love. i’m in love with amsterdam. although it pains me to say this, i think new york city has actually been bumped to the number 2 spot …

there’s something so charming about amsterdam that it almost feels a bit unreal, like you’re walking around a movie set at universal studios. but at the same time, it’s so perfectly imperfect – the buildings kind of tilt and slant at odd angles, the cobblestone is crooked, nothing really matches or flows smoothly. but these little oddities all add to the unique charm of the city. around every corner is a new surprise. it’s as if they took the best streets or neighborhoods from all of my favorite cities and pulled them together. the west village + covent garden + nw 23rd + le marais = amsterdam.

i literally loved every inch that we explored, and 4 days wasn’t nearly enough. i’m already plotting how / when we can go back – not to mention daydreaming about moving there. forget the pied a terre in paris – i’ve moved on to a canal house in amsterdam!

a few highlights:

DUTCH PANCAKES: we of course ate dutch pancakes. every. day. sweet (sugar and butter) … savory (wen had a mexican fiesta pancake thing? yum) … sweet again (strawberries + cream). piper was obsessed. you mean i can dump this powdered sugar on top of the pancake? well, ok! 

CARRIAGE RIDE: the girls loved it every time a carriage passed us, so we surprised them one afternoon with our very own carriage ride. the driver was so cute and gave us a fun tour with lots of historic sound bites as we toured the canals.

THE STREETS OF AMSTERDAM: my favorite part was literally just wandering and window shopping and meandering and being part of the city. we must have walked miles each day (piper was such a trooper! bitty of course wanted to be carried everywhere … my arms are still sore, but lugging her through the city was a good way to work off the dutch pancakes!). there’s a darling section of town called “The Nine Streets” which is a block of 9 streets (duh!) with amazing shops – one after another of the cutest boutiques with everything from beautiful clothes to cards to books to antiques. i couldn’t get enough.

and of course the canal houses – each more charming than the next. i took about a gazillion (literally) pictures of doors and shutters and roofs and stairways leading up to more doors. i was obsessed w all of the different fonts used for the house numbers – the wanna-be graphic designer in me couldn’t get enough of the type face and fonts, SO fun.

and bikes. and bridges. and, and, and …

VONDELPARK. there’s an amazing, central-park-ish park in the city which was SO beautiful. i love seeing all of the green and playgrounds and cafes in the middle of this bustling little city.

HOTEL: we stayed in a super beautiful hotel, the hotel pulitzer. it’s a series of 20+ canal houses that have been combined to make a hotel. they’ve maintained the integrity of the original buildings as much as possible, so it’s super quirky navigating through the halls. random staircases, etc. but so beautiful.

we were just 2 blocks from the anne frank house, which was SO incredibly moving. wen took the tour while i stayed back w the girls, but even just seeing the house itself was amazing and sad and beautiful. wen wrote down this quote from the museum which i absolutely love:

think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. – anne frank

i love that.

EASTER: the girls were so excited that the easter bunny found us all the way in amsterdam. he’s so clever! we had a beautiful morning and day, celebrating our family and our faith and this amazing adventure. feeling very grateful, indeed.

hope you and yours had a beautiful easter as well. love from nuremberg. xo.