Wednesday, May 23, 2012

{Away We Go!}

It's approximately 12:20 AM and the huz and I need to get up in 4.5 hours to catch a cab to the airport and board our flight to Naples! We'll then take a multitude of buses and trains to arrive in gorgeous Positano, Italy on the Amalfi Coast to celebrate Corey's 30th birthday! I had grand plans of scheduling posts while I'm away as I have plenty to show you, but alas, life got in the way and it didn't happen. So I'm sorry to say that you won't be hearing from me until we return next Wednesday. I'm going off the grid - no Twitter, no Instagram, no blogging, no EMAIL. No nothing. Can you believe it? I hardly think I'll be able to do it, but I'm going to try real hard. I just want to be as fully in the moment as possible and spend some quality time with the birthday boy before he has to start studying for finals next week :)

Hope you won't miss me too much ;) I know I'll miss all of you!! Ciao ciao!
{photo via}

Monday, May 21, 2012

{Weekend Snaps}

Some iPhone snaps from our glorious four-day weekend. Captions below!
 1 
We ventured over to Ijburg to check out these floating houses I'm obsessed with. Then we stopped in to Espressofabriek for some muffins, lattes & magazine reading.
We took the train to Hilversum (the same town we work in!) for dinner with family friends. We were a little bored on the train, as you can see :)
3
We spent a day in The Hague with Jeanelle and her boyfriend Steven, who live there. We were very impressed by how quaint and clean it was. Will definitely be doing a full post on the city soon! This is a photo of the Peace Palace.
4-6
The sun decided to come out so we grabbed our bikes and cycled to Oud Zuid - a neighborhood we don't spend much time in - to sit outside and enjoy some snacks & a glass of wine. Afterward we met up with some friends at Barca for dinner & drinks! It was so much fun!
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A leisurely brunch at Le Pain Quotidien never disappoints!
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Grocery shopping at our favorite store, Marqt. It's the Whole Foods of the Netherlands - love!
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Cycling home our groceries for the week (it's a short one as we're off to Italy on Thursday!). 


{all photos taken with my iPhone & edited with VSCO Cam & Camera+}

Thursday, May 17, 2012

{Barcelona: La Boqueria & Lunch al Fresco}

One of the first things we did upon arriving in Barcelona was walk La Rambla up to La Boqueria. It’s another very famous site in the city, and if you don’t already know, it’s a huge market. You can pretty much find anything you would ever need there, from fruits, veggies and meat to fish, cheese, wine, delicious tapas and the most incredible freshly squeezed juices. This place is a giant maze of deliciousness.

It’s not surprising that as we walked around we worked up a huge appetite. We slurped up some fresh juice and snacked on fresh pineapple we bought for €1, but we were ready for some real food after that! Jeanelle (one of my best expat friends here in Holland) used to live in Barcelona and she suggested we go to Les Quinze Nits for lunch. It’s located in a gorgeous plaza (conveniently close to La Boqueria), which made for a perfectly picturesque al fresco lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed our food and our sangria – it was my mom’s first time drinking sangria and she really loved it! There’s always a line out the door for this restaurant, but the line moves quick and it’s worth the wait! If you’re ever in Barcelona and you’re near La Boqueria – I’d definitely recommend it!

{Photos ©  Liz Denfeld}

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

{Paris: Pont des Arts}

Paris is one of the romantic cities in the world. It’s hard to explain why, really. Every city we’ve been to has been romantic and enchanting in its own way, but Paris is special. Maybe it’s the Eiffel Tower, or the French architecture, or the fact that I had always dreamed of going to Paris, strolling the cobblestone streets, stopping for cappuccinos and eating baguettes with the one I love. No matter the reason, it truly is an incredibly dreamy city. 

And it’s made all the more romantic by the Pont des Arts – the place people from all over the world go to forever lock their love to the bridge and throw away the key in the Seine River. I could’ve stayed on the bridge studying all the locks for hours. Being the hopeless romantic that I am I loved reading all the locks – intentions of love, unrequited love, and even marriage proposals! I found myself daydreaming about all the people who had been on the bridge before me – all of their stories, unique and mysterious. Who were they? Did they keep their promises?

Corey and I decided to lock our love and make a wish. We promised that we’d come back to Paris for our 25th wedding anniversary. Then we gave the key a smooch for good luck and tossed it into the Seine. As we walked away I couldn’t get the smile off my face imagining where we’d be in 23.5 years – 49 (me) & 53 (Corey) years old, still madly in love, our kids probably in college… And we’d go back to Paris to celebrate our love and reminisce on the time when we were young and carefree living in Europe, gallivanting across the continent to our heart’s content. Life will be different when we return, but it will be even more amazing than it is now. I’m sure of it.

{Photos of Corey and me by Tricia Seabold, all others ©  Liz Denfeld}

Monday, May 14, 2012

{Barcelona: Park Güell}

This post doesn’t need much of an introduction seeing as Park Güell in Barcelona is one of the most well known tourist sites in Europe. But I have to say that sometimes when something is super hyped up it doesn’t live up to all the hoop-lah. I can say with great confidence that Park Güell lived up to its reputation. We walked/hiked all the way up to the top from the apartment we were renting in El Borne. If you know anything about Barcelona, you know that’s a pretty good walk. Definitely recommend checking out Parc Güell if you’re ever in Barcelona!
{Photos ©  Liz Denfeld}