A Secret Garden

One of my favorite things about the Spring so far has been how warm and LIGHT it's been out at night. It doesn't get dark until around 10:45pm, which is a very big change from the 3:30pm sunsets during the winter. It's literally life changing. Instead of watching movies and falling asleep at 9pm like the in the winter, we've been spending the evenings post-dinner taking walks, riding around town, and drinking beers with the rest of Delft in the outdoor square.

So many Hogans in Holland

Our last visitors of the year were the Hogans - to - be, Jack's brother Tyler & his fiance Carleigh! We met them in Amsterdam and wandered the city a bit, exploring fun neighborhoods like Joordan and Nine Streets. And we had pie at Winkle, because duh.

The next day they came down to Delft and we showed them our some of our dutch favorites - sandwiches from Leo van Vliet, bike riding out to Delftse Hout, windmill selfies, lunch at Cafe Du Midi, wandering around Delft streets, a climb to the top of the windmill (!) , dinner at Pelicaan, sunset selfies at the Markt, and beers at 't Klooster. After having so many visitors the past few months, I have to say that we've nailed down the perfect Delft day.

 

The next day the boys climbed to the top of the New Church for some awesome views while Carleigh & I drank tea and caught up at one of the cafes in the square. I've always pegged them to be super touristy, but it was actually an awesome view and pretty nice. We then decided to rent a boat for an hour and wander the delft canals by water, and it. was. awesome. We stuck to the main inner canals but it was so much fun to see our favorite views in a new way. It was (almost) the perfect day, until Jack magically dropped his phone in the water as he was jumping out of the boat. It was one of those drops that you couldn't do if you tried (the phone dropped RIGHT between the boat and the dock), and for a second we were all shocked at what had happened. Everyone thought the phone was a gonner, but Jack ran home to grab goggled and a swim suit, and dove right in to try to find it. Everyone was staring and snapping photos - tourist and locals alike- and after 20 minutes of pulling up rusted beer cans and sludge, he gave up. He did one last "feel", and somehow emerged with PHONE IN HAND. It was a dutch miracle. 

Unforuntately, the phone was definitely water logged and completely broken, but we're still hoping insurance will cover it/ we can exchange it somehow. 

BUT, besides the phone mishaps, it was a pretty epic weekend and so much fun to spend time with C&T in Delft. 

Kayaking at Delflandhoeve

One main thing Jack and I wanted to do while living on the canals was to actually utilize living on water by getting ON the water, somehow. We originally wanted to learn how to row since there were lots of rowing clubs that frequented the outer canals, but that seemed harder and like more work than we were up for. When the weather started to turn summery in May, we discovered you could rent kayaks out in the country and row through a beautiful estuary in the countryside. We decided to test it out when we had our first friend visit and it was SO AWESOME. It was a bit of a trek out there - there was a camp ground about 30 minutes on bike south east of Delft where families would post up with huge tents and camping gear for a sunny weekend, and they also rented kayaks there. It was super cheap to rent them and it was really easy with tons of freedom and no restrictions on where we could go. We brought some cold beers and snacks and rowed through some absolutely stunning areas, floated next to gorgeous swans and little ducklings, and enjoying the rare sun on the water.

10 Must-Do's in Delft

1. Get a fresh stroopwafel on Market Day (Thursdays or Saturdays)

2. Bike to brunch at cafe Du Midi

3. Make friends with the old man that owns the clog shop at the corner Markt & Voldersgracht 

4. Wait in line for ice cream at De Lilie

5. Get a beer and some bitterballen at Beestenmarkt

6.  Enjoy a night cap at Wijndhaven

7. Beers and board games at t'Klooster

8. Grab a three euro sandwich from Slagerij Leo van Vliet and ride bikes to the Delftse hout park

9. Climb to the top of Old Kerk

10. Walk the entire town, wandering down alleys and along canals, looking up, down, and all around at every perfect little detail and view

Springtime in Holland

Spring blooms // Sunsets at 10:30pm // Picnics in the park // Warm breeze bike rides // Walking on flower petals // doorways covered in rose bushes // Lily pads in canal again // tons of baby animals // delicious cold beers in the square 

Springtime in Holland is a magical place.