Amsterdam: Highlights (October 28-November 3)

After our big week in Denmark and Sweden, I thought it would be a quieter week back in Amsterdam. But, the truth is, we continue to live a make-the-most-of-it sort of life here and we had plenty of reasons to stay busy this week.

First, while I was in London, Eli and the kids celebrated Halloween. It isn’t really much of a holiday in the Netherlands, but school celebrated with a disco event and Eli was invited to join a Northwestern friend in a neighborhood in The Hague where residents make haunted houses and give out spooky treats. So, we had a pretty full “Halloween dance card” in the end.

What’s refreshingly simple is that the spirt of Halloween that is embraced here is the spooky part – witches and vampires and mummies and killer clowns pop up here and there. We didn’t see a single “sexy-fill-in-the-blank” costume, which was extremely refreshing.

 It also narrowed the field in terms of the kid’s costume choices. Although Ben wanted to be Hans Christian Andersen (how am I gonna make that?!), he did settle for being a vampire skeleton. And, Norah made the theme her own as a glam/goth vampire. A trip to H&M and a little bit of face paint and we were basically ready to roll.

Over the weekend, in addition to Samantha’s visit, our mutual SoulCycle friends, Katie and Brian, also stayed with us as a first stop in their three-stop visit to Europe. This was a great chance to introduce them to a bunch of my favorite spots – think appeltart and bike rides to see goats and a boat on the canals and Indonesian Rijstafel.

Safe travels Katie, Brian, and Samantha! I will see you in January on a bike.