Catching up, photos from our September trip to the Netherlands. Canals and boats.

Remember in September, my Sweet Husband took me on vacation to the Netherlands?

Well, I posted the first set of photos and I promised more.

Here is another installment.

Canal Boats in Amsterdam.

 

 Look at how the light sparkles on the water.

Reminds me of an Impressionist painting.

 



 Under a bridge on a water bike.

 

 Boats range from simple, like this one to elaborate house boats.

 

Beautiful Canal scene. 

 

 

This one looks like it could use a little love.

An unfortunate occurrence. 

 

 Classic wooden boat.
 

Sight seeing boat, The "Pieter Heyn I" 

 

 House boat.

 

 Swan.

 

 Bridge details seen from the water.

 

Living on a boat doesn't mean you can't have a garden.
If you look closely, the one on the lower left corner has a greenhouse and a porch/

 



The Netherlands are famous for flowers.
You will see them everywhere.

 



Sailing anyone?

They come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
(Yes, that is the tip of a Venetian Gondola peaking out.)

 



Bridge.

 



Amsterdam is a beautiful city.
Anyone want to see more pictures?

Cheers,
Kat
and Spontaneous who is very glad we are at home.

 

 



Autumn Faire

We attended the Annual North Carolina Renaissance Festival a couple of weeks ago and it was fantastic! The Festival is still on this weekend and next, so if this post inspires you and you can make it to the Charlotte North Carolina area, join the fun.

 

 

Your tour guide for the event (me).

I get the feeling this is going to be a little different...

 

 A Reaissance Festival (or Ren Faire) is a trip back in time.

This lovely old time traveler was parked near us.

 OK, maybe it is not 100% accurate Medieval Recreation, but it is fun.

We started with a trip to the Cappuccino Inn shown above.

Have a good look at the buildings, this festival occurs out in a field.

I do not know if the buildings are from previous years or not, but they were substantial.

We certainly met some interesting people.

Some of the people in costume are paid performers, but not all.

Some, like me, just love an excuse to play dress up.

Dressing up is certainly not required, but it is fun.

 

 I found a friend.

 Looks like My Sweet Husband found a couple of friends too.

(Hey, that is my Pumpkin Ale he is holding)

I am rather fond of Pumpkin.

There is music everywhere at the Faire.

Some performers have set stages.

This One Woman Band provided a very pleasant accompaniment to our lunch 

(I'll show you that later). 

I believe this is Twig, the Fairy (and yes, I do believe in Fairies, do you?).

Charming. 

I have added a new band to my list of favorites. Cu Dubh.

Awesome, how can you go wrong with pipes and drums?

Check them out Cu Dubh

There was plenty of food on offer.

The stuffed baked potato was an excellent choice.

(Although, once again, not really historically accurate. Potatoes came from the new world.)

Click here for potato info.

 If you are looking for a new career, the Faire has many possibilities.

You could be a flower seller.

 





Or a target.

This young man hurls insults at the audience and some of them pay to hurl tomatoes back at him.

Tomatoes also originated in the New World.

I can't imagine what cooking was like before they became popular.

 These look like fun. Once again, options for everyone.

What sort of career requires the outfit on the right?

Then of course there is the Knight in Shining Armour.

This one was the bad guy.

Great show.

 This is one of my favorite photos!

Meet The Lady Christie and Widget.

I learned several things at the Festival.

My traveling companion.

My best friend.

The reason I am such a lucky girl!

 

Cheers,

or shall I say

Huzzah!

Kat

 



Autumn Post

Autumn Color

 

 Heintooga Roundbottom Road

Blue Ridge Parkway

North Carolina

 Glorious Color

 The perfect moment in time

 Majesty

 Choosing Apples

 

Bounty



 Time Travelers

 Where too next?

 

Cheers,

Kat



Nadia Hotel in Amsterdam.

We have been busy again.

I really needed a break and My Sweet Husband took me to the Netherlands. Have you ever been?

The Dutch people are great, starting with the staff at our wonderful hotel.

The Nadia.

 

Amsterdam is a very romantic city. It is a port city that was built on and around a series of canals and Dams. Many of the buildings are literally built on poles that extend through the water into the mud.

This picture show an exterior view of the Nadia Hotel where we stayed. This building also houses several shops and a couple of other hotels. Ours was on the end. If you look at the balcony in this picture, the second segment over was ours.

The round balcony on the corner is for the breakfast room.

 

 My Sweet Husband at the Hotel entrance. See the Tram car behind him?

The stop was just down the street. We were located very close to Anne Frank House, pink point, restaurants, a nice little grocery store, and the cheese museum among other things. Amsterdam is an easy city to get around in. The hotel is right on the canal.  

 

 My Sweet Husband took this photo of me on our balcony.

 

 This is an evening view from that balcony.

 

 Our room faced the street side. There was a bit of late night noise on the weekend, but I think you would find that almost anywhere and we had no trouble sleeping through it. Our room was very comfortable.

 

 The breakfast room. My Sweet Husband is taking photos out the balcony door.

Breakfast was included and it was all very good. The coffee was excellent, as were the croissants. It is probably a good thing I do not live in Europe as I have a weakness for real croissants, spread with Nuttella and dipped in a good cup of coffee. They also offered some excellent local cheese, tea, Hot chocolate, yogurt, bread and fruit.

 

 My Sweet Husband and me on the Breakfast room Balcony, you can see the canal behind us.

 

 We were greeted by fresh flowers in our room.

 

 This is Hello, she is the very sweet hotel cat.

Doesn't she look relaxed?

Things must be going well.

 

 Here she is again, she looks like she is ready to discuss some serious business.

(My Sweet Husband took both kitty pictures, she would not hold still for me, but she posed beautifully for him)

 

 A quiet corner in the reception area of the hotel. 

Some of the reviews we read before going said the steps were steep.

(Isn't this a lovely stairwell?)

 My Sweet Husband took this picture for me.

As you can see, not bad at all and the Hotel staff were happy to carry things up and down for us.

We have stayed in a lot of hotels over the years, this is certainly the friendliest.

 

Of course, I took a few pictures while we were there and I will be happy to share them with you over the next few posts. We have been back for a couple of weeks and I am still sorting through everything. So keep watching.

 

Cheers,

or as the Dutch say "Proost"

Kat