Amsterdam...the land of canals and bikes!

First off, apologies for our ridiculously long hiatus from blogging...we're finally back!  Our lives have seemed to speed up this fall.  Our summer came to an end with one last trip across the pond to watch one of my best friends get married in Virginia!  It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding with a stunning bride, and oh so much fun!  Here are a few pics from our wonderful, yet WAY too short, visit to Virginia.

The reception looked like something out of Pottery Barn, so pretty!

Family portrait :)

"Call Me Maybe" was playing...we even got my Dad into it!  haha

After returning to London, it was back-to-back trips over to the continent, followed by 5 back-to-back sets of visitors!  Whew!  So, with that said, I promise to keep it short, and let the pictures do the talking (I know that’s what you’re most interested in anyways!). 

First up is Amsterdam!  Note – I’m skipping over our amazing trip to Switzerland in order to let my talented husband finish that one up.  He’s quite the author, and likes to take his time, so stay tuned for his post on what we would probably consider our favorite trip to date :)

Amsterdam is really a lovely city.  Quite honestly, any conversation I have ever heard about Amsterdam included the following phrases, “red light district” and “coffee shops”.  What I never knew was how absolutely beautiful and charming it is!  I seriously fell in love with the city as soon as we hopped off the train…BIKES, bikes everywhere!  Cars are actually more rare in this city than bikes.  I truly enjoyed seeing the thousands and thousands of bikes lining the streets of the city, and as they leisurely whipped past you, seeing how creative you can get with a bike as your mode of transportation (at one point I think I saw a family of four on one bike, no joke). 

If I lived in Amsterdam, I would be riding this bike...LOVE!

Look closely...that is a 4-story car-park, but for bikes

 We soaked in all that was Amsterdam…

-Wandered along its many canals (100 to be exact)

-Took a little cruise to see the city by boat

-Visited the Van Gogh and the Rijksmuseum

-Intimately revisited history with a walk through Anne Frank’s House…such an emotional experience, something I will never forget. 

-Partied with a local…one of Grant’s coworkers from the London office was on rotation from Amsterdam, and has since returned home, so he accompanied us on a night out!

Anne Frank House

yummmmm