Europe Trip Recap – The Netherlands

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Europe Trip Recap – The Netherlands

Now that we’ve covered how to Pack Light for Europe, it’s time to get to the good stuff! Our trip recaps!! I’m breaking these posts up by cities and will be spreading them over the next couple of weeks.

We started our trip in Amsterdam. We chose Amsterdam mostly because there are direct flights from Boston and it is close to the other places we wanted to go. On our red-eye to Amsterdam, we had a screaming baby on the flight. Not sleeping on the plane made us pretty tired the first day, but we were able to stay up until about 9pm which really helped us get ahead of the jetlag.

Strawberries at the Haarlem Market

There were tons of cute little alleys in Haarlem

We decided to stay in Haarlem because I had been doing research and it seemed like a cuter, more quaint town than Amsterdam itself. After landing at 8am, we took a bus straight to Haarlem and were able to check in to our hotel room. We actually laid down for about 30 minutes before getting up to head to the open-air market. We bought some fruit and bread to have a snack. We even ran in to someone who works at our company (big company, small world).

One of the canals in Haarlem

Canal in Haarlem

We both weren’t overly impressed with Amsterdam. Parts of it were really cute, but the main drag was just really crowded and felt very Western. We did go to the Van Gogh museum which was awesome. Tip – buy your tickets online for the Van Gogh museum. They cost the same price and you can skip the long line outside. We tried to go to the Anne Frank house twice. Both times the line was insane. It was hot and we just weren’t up for waiting, so we skipped it. As you can see, we had great weather the first two days of the trip. We just enjoyed walking around and doing a lot of people watching.

Canal in Haarlem

Block of restaurants near our hotel in Haarlem

We stayed in Haarlem for two nights. Just before bed the second night, I saw that Elina from Healthy and Sane posted a picture of herself in Dam Square. Turns out she was in Amsterdam that same day! We chatted a bit about trying to meet up, but we were catching an early train to Belguim the next morning, so it didn’t work out. To say the least, those first two days were a little crazy with running into people…

Windmill in Haarlem

Another view of the windmill in Haarlem

We absolutely loved Haarlem and highly recommend staying there if you’re visiting Amsterdam. It was a 15-20 minute train ride from Amsterdam and offered cute little outdoor restaurants, a windmill that you can go up in (the tour was really informative), and just a more quaint look at life in the Netherlands.

Train Station in Haarlem

Dutch Apple Pie from Winkel in Amsterdam – you better believe I’m going to try to recreate this in the fall!

One Year Ago: Summer Shrimp Salad
Two Years Ago: Pita Bread and Tzatziki Sauce
Three Years Ago: Chorizo, Shrimp, and Lentil Stew
Four Years Ago: Layered Cookie Cake and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Travel

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20 Responses to “Hershey’s Trip Part 1”

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Chelsea — January 19, 2011 at 5:28 pm

Wow, that sounds like an incredible trip! I really hope to make my way over there someday. So nice of Hershey to do all that!
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Fun and Fearless in Beantown — January 19, 2011 at 5:37 pm

Wow, this looks like a fantastic trip! I went to Hershey World once when I was small and all I remember were the rides! 🙂
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Cupcake Kelly — January 19, 2011 at 5:48 pm

That chocolate tour sounds really fun! I went on a Callier facotry tour in Switzerland. It was pretty lame and not as high tech(they did have a tasting room though).
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Cupcake Activist — January 19, 2011 at 6:05 pm

How can I get in on this action next time?! How fun!! I think I would go crazy with that much chocolate.
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Sarah — January 19, 2011 at 6:06 pm

Hershey is a fun place to go, even as an adult. I go every 6 months with 2 friends of mine and we spend a day at the Chocolate Spa at Hotel Hershey (hopefully you had a chance to go – it’s AMAZING). The Hotel Hershey is gorgeous and is even better in the spring/summer, when the gardens behind the hotel are in bloom. And I love shopping at Chocolate World for all of the baking items that are so hard to find elsewhere! Can’t wait to hear about the rest of your trip.
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Rachel @ Baked by Rachel — January 19, 2011 at 6:11 pm

Wow! Totally jealous of that trip! And I am so going on a mini pb cup search soon – my kitchen needs them 🙂
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Kris @ everywhereorange.com — January 19, 2011 at 6:20 pm

I live about an hour from there and we were just there on New Year’s Eve. Looks like you had an amazing time. Don’t you just love how it smells like chocolate everywhere?!?!?!? I have never stayed at the hotel hershey because we live so close, but maybe hubby and i need to do a night away!!! can’t wait to see the rest of your trip!!!
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Daisy — January 19, 2011 at 6:28 pm

Chocolate bubble bath?! nice! What a great experience for you. I went on a family road trip here (and to Reading, PA – Amish Country!) when I was a kid. I had so much fun!!!
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Shannon — January 19, 2011 at 9:31 pm

how neat you got to make your own candy bar!! awesome choices 🙂

the shaws by me has cinnamon chips now, if you need any more 😉
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Georgia (The Comfort of Cooking) — January 19, 2011 at 10:01 pm

Wow, what a trip! I’m somewhere between insanely jealous and ravenously hungry now, haha. Thanks for sharing! It looks like you had a lot of fun. I’m so glad I found your blog. Looking forward to exploring your recipes and seeing what’s next! – Georgia
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Heather Lynne — January 20, 2011 at 1:02 am

I love Hershey:-) It’s always been one of my favorite places. It sounds like you got the royal treatment, jealous!
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aimee — January 20, 2011 at 1:52 am

i have to say, i never thought of visiting hershey…but it sounds like you fun, and i am a sucker for any “food factory” tour. it was so nice of them to show you ladies such a good time!!
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kitchenmisfit — January 20, 2011 at 2:41 am

Looks like you had a ton of fun! And now I want to take a chocolate bubble bath too
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Amy (The Petite Filet) — January 20, 2011 at 3:04 am

Your chocolate bar looks amazing! And the store looks pretty cool too. I’d love to go to Hershey at some point.
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The Small Boston Kitchen — January 20, 2011 at 12:45 pm

How cool! I love the make your own candy bar part and I agree with you, I would have wanted lots of salty pretzels in there! So fun!
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Leslie M. — January 20, 2011 at 1:00 pm

Great Post and we had a fabulous time! It was wonderful meeting you and your Blog is fabulous!
Leslie
Leslie Loves Veggies
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oliepants — January 20, 2011 at 9:57 pm

Talk about a delicious trip! You have totally made me want to go! I love the make-your-own. I definitely would be a toffee and dark chocolate person!
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Julie (thelittlekitchen.net) — January 21, 2011 at 2:07 pm

What a cool trip! Looks like you had fun. Can’t wait to hear about the rest of it!
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Megan — January 21, 2011 at 11:01 pm

This sounds absolutely fabulous. You might have to go into business with that candy bar. I was ready to buy one after the description… with more pretzels please. rom the accommodations to the shopping to that chocolate bath… wow!
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Kerstin — January 24, 2011 at 1:05 am

How fun! I want some mini Reese’s cups to bake with!