haarlem

Haarlem - 8th & 9th of March - 22616 steps

Last week I went with my dear friend Marieke to Haarlem. Marieke & I got to know each other in 2011, she was one of the participants of my second crochet workshop in Den Bosch, the Netherlands.

We became friends from the start and a few years later she also joined me on the Cool Crochet workshop in Marrakech.

We share our passion for green (flowers, plants, gardens) but also for vintage, interior, art, culture and crafts.

We planned a mini break to London actually, but because of Marieke's pregnancy we decided to have our girlfriends getaway in Haarlem and booked a room in boutique hotel Staats.

Friday:
Coffee & cakes at By Babette
Lunch with homemade empanadas at Native
We bought some plants at the neighbor across the street, Klavertje Vijf
Dinner at De Dakkas

Saturday:
Breakfast at De Dakkas (we loved it and wanted to see the view in daylight)
Teylers Museum, 200 kinds of green, botanical art
Lunch at Martinus

In between we did some shopping (favorites; Ottomania & Vintage Curator), but we mainly talked and laughed a lot, while we went from breakfast, to coffee, to lunch, to drinks, to dinner...

and in case you want to visit the city, travel by train; Haarlem has the most beautiful station in the Netherlands.

Thank you Marieke for an unforgettable mini break. Love you.

ahoy

Rotterdam - 13th of February - spring-like weather

Today we had lunch on a cruise liner.

The Steamship Rotterdam is the biggest ocean-going steamer ever built in the Netherlands.
As the former flagship of the Holland-America Line, this cruise liner has sailed many of the world’s seas since 1959. The ship is now moored permanently in the Maashaven in Rotterdam.
The 1950s interior and the many artworks are restored to the closest possible approximation of their former glory.

After lunch, Pippa and I even had a spring-is-in-the-air experience at the pool ;-)

marylebone & mayfair

London - 9th of January - 15667 steps

Breakfast at 'home'
Coffee to go from Deeney's
Underground to Bond Street
Selfridges
Coffee & cake at Brasserie of Light (and champagne to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary)
Marylebone
Lunch at Sketch (by interior designer India Mahdavi)
Mayfair
Underground to Leyton
Last cuddles with Nori - @nori_nagaland - the beautiful black cat (we have been taking care of my niece's cat and house for 5 days)
Underground to London City Airport
Return flight to Amsterdam

Thanks Afra & Tet