Musings and Moments

This post is part of our Europe travel series. If you missed it, you could read the first part  here  and the previous post  here . Rotterdam is another city in the Netherlands. Its name, like Amsterdam, has an interesting origin. When a dam was built on the Rotte River, the area was called “Rotte Dam,” which eventually evolved into Rotterdam. In the 17th century, Rotterdam flourished as a major trading hub. But during World War II, heavy bombing destroyed much of its historic center. Rather than rebuilding the past, the city embraced the future choosing modern architecture over restoration. That decision is what gives Rotterdam its unique and striking skyline today. On the fourth day of our trip, on May 16th, we checked out of our hotel in Amsterdam in the morning. We took a train and reached Rotterdam in about an hour and a half.  We stored our luggage in lockers at the train station and set out to explore the city. Even the railway station’s architecture stood out...

This post is part of our Europe travel series. If you missed it, you can read the first part  here  and the previous post  here . We were both very interested in exploring the Dutch countryside, especially the charming village of Giethoorn, the windmills of Zaanse Schans, and the harbor town of Volendam. On the third day of our trip, May 15, we set out to visit Giethoorn. The name Giethoorn has an interesting origin. In the 13th century, immigrants from the Mediterranean region discovered hundreds of goat horns in this area. In Dutch, “Giet” means goat and “Hoorn” means horn, and that is how the village came to be called Giethoorn. The land in Giethoorn is mostly marshy. When early settlers arrived, they couldn’t easily find firewood for cooking, so they dried the peat and roots found in the marshland and used them as fuel. To transport these materials from one place to another, they dug canals. Over these canals, they built small wooden bridges. On the firmer patches of ...

This post is part of our Europe travel series. If you missed it, you can read the first part  here  and the previous post here . On our second day in Amsterdam, May 16, we headed to the Van Gogh Museum in the morning. The gates were not open yet, but a long line had already formed outside. Like us, everyone in line had booked their tickets online. Vincent Van Gogh was a 19th-century Dutch painter known for his Post-Impressionist style, which focused not just on objects or scenes, but on the emotions they evoked. This new approach opened a whole new chapter in art. However, during his lifetime, Van Gogh’s innovative style was not widely recognized. Despite creating over 900 paintings, he managed to sell only one of them while he was alive. Today, his works are worth tens of millions of dollars. Van Gogh’s brother, Theodorus van Gogh, was an art dealer in Paris and cared deeply for Vincent. For a while, he brought Vincent to Paris, where he met French painters and learned new te...

This is part of our Europe travel series. Catch up on the first part  here. Our journey began on May 15 from Charlotte, with a layover in Washington, D.C. After a long overnight flight, we landed at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol the next morning. One thing that immediately impressed us was how efficiently everything was organized. The train station is located directly beneath the airport an incredibly convenient design. From there, trains connect to every part of the country. Within ten minutes, our train arrived right on time. That was the moment it truly felt real our European adventure had officially begun. We got off at Zuid Station and stepped outside. The air was cold, and the wind blew across the flat land. With no hills to stop it, the breeze moved freely. Thankfully, our hotel, Innside by Melia Amsterdam, was nearby. We could see it when we stepped outside, and it was only a quick two to three minute walk. After checking in, freshening up, and downloading the GVB app, we...