The Museum of Bags and Purses Amsterdam
The Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam might be worth a look, if you like handbags or if you enjoy the absurdity of a museum devoted to purses. [This museum is now closed.]
Europe travel
This category includes all my articles about my Europe travel. Because I live in the Netherlands, I can travel in Europe quite easily, and as you see here, I’ve seen a lot of it. Generally I don’t write “ultimate list” or “everything you need to know” posts. Instead, I tend to focus on just one or a few sights or experiences from my specific point of view. Enjoy!
-
-
Body Worlds Amsterdam: Museum or freak show?
At Body Worlds Amsterdam we are viewing actual dead bodies, called plastinates. Is this entertainment? Education? Or just a freak show? A critical review.
-
Gothic Barcelona: A Walking Tour with a Difference
As you know, I attended the TBEX travel bloggers’ conference in Lloret del Mar recently. While I was there, I was fortunate to be able to take a walking tour of Gothic Barcelona offered by Context Travel. They operate walking tours in more than 36 cities, “the world’s cultural capitals,” around the world. Context Travel’s unique selling…
-
Gala Dali Castle: Dalí’s Gift to his Muse
If you like Salvador Dalí’s art—even if you’re not such a fan of his work—the Gala Dali Castle in Púbol, Spain, is something you should not miss. This is not a Dalí museum. Dalí bought the building, a medieval castle, as a gift for his wife and muse, Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, who was called simply Gala….
-
2 historic homes in New York City
If you’re on a budget in New York City and want to visit historic homes, the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Museum is an obvious choice. After that visit, I ended up also checking out the Merchant’s House Museum. These two historic homes in New York City both lend some insight into the lives of the 19th…
-
5 Reasons to Visit Lloret de Mar
(Nederlands versie beneden!) When I told people I was going to Lloret de Mar for the last week of my one-month solo trip (Guadeloupe, Martinique, New York, Lloret de Mar), the usual reaction was something along the line of “Lloret de Mar? But why?” Lloret de Mar has a reputation as a party city, along…
-
The most beautiful Starbucks?
You know how sometimes you get so used to what you see every day that you stop noticing it? I’ve walked by the Starbucks in the Groningen central train station hundreds of times in the course of commuting to and from my job up in Leeuwarden. I just didn’t pay much attention to it until…
-
How English is Guernsey?
The other day I tweeted “Guernsey is so very English.” Well, I stand corrected. It isn’t English. I learned this when I asked a completely unrelated question in a shop. There were candies in jars behind the counter marked “£1 a quarter.” I asked the shopkeeper “One pound a quarter what?” “A quarter pound,” she…
-
The Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam: A review
The Rembrandt House Museum gives a realistic idea of what a new 17th century Amsterdam house looked like. It’s a bit too new: it lacks atmosphere.
-
Van Loon Museum: A restored Golden Age house
The Van Loon Museum’s rooms give an impression of how wealthy residents of Amsterdam’s canal houses lived and, to a lesser extent, how their servants lived.
-
Canal House Museum Amsterdam: A review
Grachtenhuis means “canal house,” so it’s not surprising that the Canal House Museum is housed in a charming Golden Age row house on a canal in Amsterdam.
-
Ons Lieve Heer op Solder: A surprising little museum
Ons Lieve Heer op Solder museum is a great choice for a quick taste of the Golden Age of Amsterdam; it was a secret church built into a canal house attic!
-
Yes, you CAN visit the Rijksmuseum in 2 hours!
Yes, it is possible to see the Rijksmuseum in just two hours. Read this article to find out how I saw the best of the Rijksmuseum in 2 hours.
-
An unusual walking tour in Athens
It was just my luck that the day I’d signed up to take a walking tour in Athens, there was torrential rain. Nevertheless, this tour – covering religious Athens under Ottoman rule – was fascinating. Disclosure: I received this tour for free, but all opinions are my own. It never occurred to me, to be honest,…
-
St. Maartens Day: A sweet local tradition
Today is St Maartens Day here in Groningen, a children’s tradition that is relatively unique to this area. On the 11th of November, once the sun goes down, children go door-to-door begging for sweets. Instead of threatening “trick or treat” like on Halloween, the deal here is that they sing a song, and in return,…
-
A one-day Greek island cruise
My rather lukewarm review of a one-day Greek island cruise, complete with karaoke, Greek dancing and food. Plus some recommendations.
-
Bicycle baptism
All we were trying to do was to get out of the car while it was stopped in traffic. The plan was to walk to the restaurant two blocks away while my husband went to park the car. It made sense. I stepped out on the right side, but not before saying to the kids…
-
Watery Hubris
That’s part of this admirable hubris: complete and utter self-confidence.
-
Forbidden Spaces in Chateau Chaumont
When you tour a historical building, do you ever wonder about the rooms they’re not showing you? I do! My ruminations about Chateau Chaumont.
-
Arromanches 360 circular cinema: A review
My oh-so-laconic son, on exiting Arromanches 360 circular cinema, which depicts the D-Day invasion, remarked, “Even I found this one moving,”
-
The Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy: A review
A not-very-favorable review of the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy in Bayeux, France, with other ideas for learning about D-Day.
-
War graves in Belgium: Living among the dead
With so many Belgium war graves, memorials, monuments, trenches and museums in the Ypres Salient, it’s as if the locals live among the dead.
-
How NOT to design a bathroom!
We ate lunch yesterday at a café in Gent. Afterwards, I went inside to use the toilet, followed the signs upstairs, came around a corner, and saw this.
-
In Flanders Fields Museum: A review
The In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium, is one of the most effective museums I’ve ever been to. It focuses on WWI in the Ypres Salient. Read my review here.
-
On not being a VIP in Rome
We were in Rome yesterday and the day before, but apparently so were representatives of the G8 nations and other VIPs. Sights/sites closed or opened arbitrarily to accommodate their whistle-stop visits. A note from 2020: I wrote this post back in 2009, one of my earliest ones. I usually try to keep my articles useful…
