An Enthusiastic Traveller

During the rainy days and with the current restrictions, my only consolation is writing about magical places I discovered in the past months in Netherlands. The subject of this post is De Haar Castle, a place rich in stories!  The joy of exploring this flamboyant castle De Haar is the largest castle in the Netherlands, once the private residence of the Van Zuylen family, whose descendants still stay there yearly. In the last century, the castle also frequently hosted members of the international jet set with their lavish lifestyle; from Coco Chanel to Roger Moore, they too left their mark on the sumptuous rooms of the most opulent spot in Utrecht. I visited the castle a couple of weeks ago, together with my dearest friend, Ioana, and it was a lovely Sunday, even with some warm sunshine!  This year I bought  Museumkaart  which allows free entrance to about 400 museums in the Netherlands, De Haar Castle included! Despite the months when the museums were/are closed, I got to use it a coup

 It's been a while since my last post in March. Despite the pandemic, in May - June, when the restrictions loosened up, I started to go on short trips in Netherlands to explore the nature and iconic places, such Zaanse Schans. You may wonder why I waited so long to visit this place. Well, I've never been a big fan of crowded places, and according to the statistics, Zaanse Schans attracts nearly a million visitors per year and it's one of the Netherlands' best loved attractions. I seized the moment and when I visited the place it was almost deserted, for my own content. Additionally, I did a return journey with my bicycle! From Amsterdam Oost (where I live), is approximatively 20km one way. The route includes a ferry. I took the ferry from Veer Hempontplein because I stopped in West to surprise my friend with a delicious cheesecake that I baked the night before. And also this route went through Zaandam! I had to stop to capture this Who let the ducks out! This is not the