The pulse of September

There are many reasons for me to feel good in this September. I finally have a peace of mind about many things. It's good to see how some pieces of a puzzle found their spots in the "year book of 2023" and now I eagerly wait to experience and enjoy the rest of the year. Still many months to rock n roll. I'm really happy getting back to yoga practice, I get so much better contact to my body, mind and breathing after every lesson. For me the best combination to stay fit is running, yoga and pilates. All of these actions & practices supporting each other perfectly.

It's important to see and experience something different regularly. Then it's easier to go on with the normal routines. I have still extremely much to see in the Netherlands. It's a never ending project. So small country, but so many interesting places! Luckily we did one "uitje"(a little day trip/visit)a couple of weeks ago.

Doesburg

Our long term plan is to visit all the 9 Hanseatic towns of the Netherlands - still five to go. Around the middle ages, when Amsterdam was still a small town, the Hansa towns were successful economical & transportation spots by the water. You can sense the history and the visible & cultural marks of the past times when visiting these towns (Deventer, Zwolle, Zutphen, Doesburg, Kampen, Elburg, Hattem, Hardewijk & Hasselt) along the rive Ijssel and near the national park Veluwe region. 

A star shaped form of old Doesburg

A typical roof silhouette of Hansa in Doesburg 

        

A historical and tasty short weekend with great walks around the town, admiring the architecture and the surrounding Nature. You can easily take the train from Amsterdam to Arnhem (East of Holland) and travel from there to Doesburg by a bus. By the way Doesburg is very well known for the mustard and there is a great museum for that as well. Every first Sunday of the month you can visit a big market in the centre, where the local creative people are selling their products.  

I think the Holland travels should not only focus on Amsterdam or other big cities. If you have an opportunity, pick one of the Hanseatic towns as well and get to know the history a bit more. 

Lalique Gallery

We visited one museum in Doesburg and what a great surprise it was. The museum in named after René Lalique (1860-1945), a very productive french glass and jewellery designer from the art deco & art nouveau period. The museum is located in two old national monument houses, a very beautiful experience. Flora, fauna and feminine forms were the inspiration for art nouveau. The designs have beautiful lightness and flow and phenomenal sense of using the materials. The jewels had such detailed balance and I found his perfume bottles such art also. At the museum shop were a collection of perfumes for sale - of course I had to buy one for later inspiration. 

The museum has regularly different exhibitions beside the basic collection. During our visit there was a great show about graphic design from around 1900 - "Mucha & Tijdgenoten". During that time the color photography was not yet developed and taken over the market. That's why many artists had a lot of work: posters, pictures for the magazines, fashion illustrations. Back then these marvelous works were not seen as art. Looking from our perspective it really was a very beautiful period of time when a lot of work was made on paper and a lot of patience was needed to create these unique hand made art works. One of the most famous poster artist was the french Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec from Paris. The museum about his work and life story is located near Montmartre in Paris - another great museum to visit.

The life energy, the inspiration is so important part of staying motivated, curious and open. I get the biggest "kick" when seeing something like this. It gives always hope, to see the humanity and expression of feelings and thoughts trough any interesting art.

 

That's the reason, thinking of the long, soon arriving winter time, I bought a museum year card. You can visit as much you like a long list of Museums in the Netherlands with this card during one year. This personalized card is only sold for the people living in the Netherlands.

Via the following link you can compare the prices of different sorts of discount cards for tourists. You can choose the best option for your purposes:

Amsterdam City Cards comparison & review

Bloemendaal aan Zee

I had not been at the beach in Holland for a while. Since we sold our car, it was not so spontaneous to make a short visit there. Actually you can take a train to the beach, but we never did it. I was so happy to see the see and feeling the Atlantic breeze. I love big, open views and the far away horizons. The water was still warm and we had a long walk at the sandy beach. 

 

The Autumn sun was giving such a reflective shine on the surface of the sea. I loved the sharpness of some waves, the speed they confronted the sand with a dominance. I always had a big interest about the adventurous sailors who go to chase their dreams over the restless seas. I read so many books about their trips and hard experiences. I am afraid of the dark side of this massive forse of Nature, but I love to watch the Sea and I feel alive when I hear the waves. It's really like hearing the earth breathing, how it's alive and wants us to be alive. That's why I often seek the water, walk along the water. It makes me  calm in any restless moment of my life.

autumn sunsets are the best

Evening salad with pink mood with a glass  of Rose

I think my September has been balanced so far and I feel it was a good recipe of different things that made me extra happy. It is  also the contrast between the more challenging summer period and finally things getting easier & clearer that made me space to take a better care of myself. 

The pulse of September is getting calmer and stronger. Lucky to be old enough to know the importance of taking your time (and us time) when the opportunity comes.

 Creating opportunities by making choices!

Less overthinking and trusting the feeling!

Walking around in Zwolle

Last week I was looking for a hotel room to have a nice weekend somewhere in Holland with my husband. There are so many beautiful, historical towns where to go. So in the end I found something from Zwolle. I did not know anything from this star-shaped old Hanseatic town, but it was worth to visit. The medieval centre of the town has big squares with many cafe's and restaurants and a lot of monumental architecture to admire. 

A star-shaped canal ring is surrounding the old centre. On sunday we just followed the waterline and had a healthy walk. Zwolle is a lively town to have a different aspect of Holland. It'a located in the north east of the country and it is the capital of the province  Overijssel. 

Zwolle is an easy town to walk around, you will get the picture of the centre fast. If you like to do shopping, there are many interesting looking small shops everywhere and also one bigger shopping street with all well-known chains. Food, wine, beer and coffee are not difficult to find. We enjoyed so much, because we did not have to try to find something. If you want to relax without following the map all the time..this is a place you are looking for.

   

We climbed up to over 600 hundred years old Saxon gate (Sassenpoort), which is the only one left from total sevent town gates. During the history this gate was used as customs and it was one of the seven spots where you could enter the town, which was surrounded with stone walls. Sassenpoort was also functioned as a prison for a while a long time ago.

Positive surprises are always welcome. This trip gave me some energy and the autumn time showed its best side in the sunny weather. Even the rugby game at the Irish bar with a pint of beer was entertaining. Something not so usual for me, but a good atmosphere with a good company! 

A piece of cake

I have to say that I've been waiting for the autumn. Every season has something different to offer and I am also a little bit different then. Like I am part of the nature too, experiencing the environment in a new way. Maybe it has something to do with the light. The evenings are getting darker and I seem to need more dramatic colours in my life. More burgundy red, more black, more dark green. For me these months before the new year are important.I look back, I think what I did and which things during the year brought me the joy and which things I learned about myself and other people. In a way the nature gives me the rhythm that I need to follow. 

I have been hunting for the signs of autumn. Wanting so badly to see the trees in different colours. Remembering how everything looked where I come from, when I was a child. I guess that is something that you never forget. How the seasons looked then, how they smelled and how they sounded. That is what I miss the most living abroad, the same feeling as in those familiar places. I think how we adapt to our environment, is the first thing that we learn as a small children...using all our senses. That is also something you want to give to your own children. The freedom to explore, to adapt and the feeling that you belong to that place and with those people where 

you come from. 

Playing at the playground...

Dipping to the sea...

And eating the burgundy coloured cake together. 

Festival feeling in Rembrandtpark

This morning was very foggy in Amsterdam. I was admiring how four swans were swimming quietly on the water in almost white looking landscape. While drinking my coffee, I was also hoping that the sky will get clearer and I can walk to Rembrandtpark in the west side of town. I had read from the newspaper that there was going to be the 10th Rembrandtpark Festival outdoors with performances, flea market, food, drinks and activities for the children. This happening is organised every autumn. Nice way to spent time on sunday with my two kids.

You can easily get to this park from the centre just taking the tram   number 1 or 17 to Surinameplein. From there is only few hundred meter walk to this green area. It is much more peaceful park than for example Vondelpark which is also close by.

There was a nice village atmosphere at the festival. A lot of local people and small businesses presenting their products. The festival area was between building playground "Het Landje" and "kinderboederij". This green area beside a little water element on the middle has been lately improved by the town. There are also some future plans to make this part of park more inviting for the visitors.

This wild west- lookalike view under is from the building playground "het Landje". Here the children can be architects and build their own houses. This is a great spot to spend time with kids. There is also many other activities like horse back riding with ponys, table tennis and little boats by the water. It is like a creative centre without all news technologies. Back to basics!

Every festival has of course also the usual entertainment for little  ones. Like this plastic shark with a slide.

The highlight of the day for me was our visit to the restaurant "17th floor" at Ramada Hotel, which is located just beside the festival area near the motorway A10 in Rembrandtpark. Here you have the most amazing view: you can see very far away in every direction. You can admire the silhouette of whole Amsterdam. There is not so many high spots in Holland as we know, so this is like being on top of the mountain in a local scale. In the wintertime you can even ice skate here on the roof terrace. I will make a report about it later this year! 

The building itself is quite depressing from the outside, but the roof terrace and the restaurant upstairs is nice and cosy. The food is supposed to be good too.

We had a good time together. Kids were creative and there was so many things to eat at the festival. I had to say "NO" for my children after a hot dog, pancake, popcorn and soda.