Travel: The Netherlands

  • A Visit To Delft, The Netherlands

    On a rainy Sunday just before Rosh HaShana we took the train from Amsterdam for a visit to the historic Dutch city of Delft. I enjoyed visiting Delft, and while certainly “Dutch” and charming the city has a much heavier feeling to it than say Haarlem, which I posted about here. These feelings could be…

  • The Royal Delft Factory And Museum

    What to do on the Sunday before Rosh Hashana in The Netherlands with two ten year old girls? How about a train ride to the historic Dutch town of Delft, and a visit to the Royal Delft Pottery Factory? Sounds good to me, even though we did board the train without tickets, much to my…

  • Haarlem, The Netherlands…..The Original!

    When visiting Amsterdam, I highly recommend taking a day, or even just a few hours, to visit the city of Haarlem, a beautifully preserved Dutch town with lovely canals and architecture as well as a significant and reknowned shopping area. if you happen to be traveling with those who’d prefer shopping to wandering around the…

  • The Portuguese Sephardic Synagogue In Amsterdam

    On this visit to Amsterdam I’m so happy to report that we did pay a very important visit to a stunning synagogue, completed in 1675 by Sephardic Jews originally from Spain!  Just a little background for you. Jews were expelled en masse from Spain in 1492, while  Jews were expelled from Portugal in 1497. Of course those…

  • Amsterdam LOVE…….A Second Visit

    With the holiday of Succos in full swing, we are spending time with friends and family in the Succah, so this week I’ll be posting photos of my latest adventures in The Netherlands and Spain! When I moved to Israel fifteen years ago life was so different that I never thought I’d have the desire…

  • Gorgeous Zaanstreek Region in The Netherlands

    The area around the Zaan river, one of the world’s first industrial regions dating back hundreds of years, is just a 45 minute bus ride from Amsterdam and is breathtakingly beautiful. There were once over 1000 operating windmills here, and it’s also home to most of the other things you might associate with Holland: cheese,…

  • Container Gardening in Holland

    The Netherlands is the largest exporter of cut flowers in the world, which is no surprise since the Dutch people love flowers! Though I made my trip in the fall when the floral displays aren’t at their peak, I enjoyed seeing flowers boxes and little gardens everywhere. Gorgeous geranium window boxes complete the look! A…

  • Vintage Wooden Knitting Spool Collection

    On my recent trip to Amsterdam, I noticed that most of the homes and apartments are designed with large windows to let in as much precious light as possible. And with this comes the traditional picture window at the front of the house which for many becomes a display area to delight those that pass…

  • Dutch Style – Joyful Color and Design From The Netherlands

    A sweet little store across the street from the Anne Frank House museum Wooden shoes, tulips, windmills, cheese…..these are the things that most people associate with Holland, though of course there’s so much more! After my recent trip to The Netherlands, where I stayed in Amsterdam for ten wonderful days, I’ve put together a little…

  • Exploring Amsterdam…. Street Scenes…Canals….Architecture

    The secret is out! I had the great pleasure of spending ten days with friends in The Netherlands around Rosh HaShana! Amsterdam is an amazing city, filled with historic and well cared for architecture, lots of water and boats and a certain European charm that I just loved. This is the first of a series of…