Ode to Tacheles

I came across this article recently in the NY Times.

R and I went to Berlin for his birthday in July. He's a Berlin expert and made sure to show me (a first timer) Tacheles as one of our stops.

Here a result of that visit...

Dutch news: Anne Franks's tree

from NY magazine:

Tree Immortalized by Anne Frank’s Diary Topples

It was the rare indication of nature visible from Anne Frank's attic window in Amsterdam, but earlier today the 150-year-old tree was felled by a heavy wind. "Our chestnut tree is in full blossom. It is covered with leaves and is even more beautiful than last year," Frank wrote in an entry dated May 1944. Her hiding spot was discovered the following August. [Reuters]

Kamperen in Noord-Holland

R has the month of August off and since we are spending most of the time visiting family we thought we'd do something new for just the two of us first. So we spent a fun afternoon running through the aisles of a large camping store and experienced our first camping trip together.

We chose North Holland as our first destination. It's been so easy to travel from where we are now, needless to say we love doing it but I haven't been able to land work yet and our mileage points for free hotel stays are dwindling. We kept our fingers crossed that we'd love our camping experience; it would allow us to continue to travel and save us money on hotel rooms.

We booked a spot at the Kennemer Duincamping Geversduin and took a train up to Castricum, North Holland. At the train station we rented bikes and biked the rest of the journey to our campsite. The only camping gear we had was our tent, sleeping bags and a camplight so traveling without car was manageable.

Kennemer Geversduin is situated as close to the dunes of the North Sea as you can get. The area (Nationaal Park Zuid-Kennemerland) is protected and we had miles and miles of trails winding through the dunes to bike (horseriding and hiking are also options). We loved the area and spent our first day biking through it until the rain clouds started threatening.

On the second day we explored some of the smaller villages in North Holland. We visited the Alkmaar cheese market on our last day. Those photos to follow. Until then, enjoy these shots of our camp ground, the dunes and the North Sea...

Oh, and good news re camping, we are hooked!



this reminded us of Northern California
sheep grazing in the dunes

our bikes parked at the beach

offshore windfarm

storm clouds gathering