Postcards From Amsterdam
I thought that today, because I’m still unpacking and settling into my usual routine, that I’d share a few postcards from Amsterdam with you. They are not really postcards, but shots that I took on my iPhone using Instagram and I decided to upload them to my MacBook so that I can share a few impressions with you now. I will talk more about Amsterdam and the amazing Meet The Blogger + Decorate book signing event there, and I have photos of me decorating the shop window at the American Book Center there as well as lots of photos from the event itself… but for now I simply want to share a few inspirational impressions from the road along with links that you may enjoy. Make sure you click on the music links below from my playlist, I have some fun videos for you to watch.
Me on the train and some shots of Amsterdam. I listened to Sia, Adele, The Smiths, Jordan Knight, Ellie Goulding, Florence & The Machine, Eliza Dolittle, BT, Amy Seeley and The Ting Tings on the ride there from where I live. It takes about 4 hours on the high speed train, a direct train from door-to-door, which I loved. When I think of that Amsterdam I imagine flowers, canals, train rides, bicycles and beautiful architecture. What do you think of when Amsterdam comes to mind? Now I wonder…
Here’s another view of the same waterway using a different photo filter. And then you can also catch a glimpse of the full house we had at the Meet The Blogger + Decorate Book event, it was packed! You can also see a spot where I enjoyed a smoothie break at Lite/Dark and a fabulous dinner with friends at Roots.
The Hotel V is where I stayed and where we had the event. The light looked like a disco ball above our bed, which made me smile just a bit as I have a thing for them. I really liked this corner ice cream shop but cannot recall the name of it but found it almost as sweet as the frozen pleasures that awaited inside… I ate at the Italian-owned Uliveto cafe shown above with all of the containers of olive oil against the wall on industrial metal shelving. In fact, I ate there several times, with friends and without, since it was 2 blocks from our hotel. And of course, to prove I was there in Amsterdam, you have a kooky self portrait. For fun, I decided to try to take one of myself that wasn’t posed or of me looking directly at the camera. It’s a challenge to look to the side and take a good photo of yourself, you should try it if you’re looking for a fun creative challenge, you’ll see!
Lots of people made my stay in Amsterdam special. I wish I had thought to use my iPhone to collect photos of all of them, and it inspired me to do that next time when I uploaded all of my photos from this trip and noticed that I didn’t photograph those I wished I had. The next time I travel I’ll make it a plan to photograph every person I share a meal with, everyone who makes an impression on me at all… because it’s the people who make a place and not the place itself. Nice cafes, pretty canals, gorgeous buildings may be what Amsterdam has but those things are not the soul of the city, or any city, but it’s those whom you mingle with while there and those who make an impact on you that forever shapes your view of a place.
Above you can see my sweet husband Thorsten with my friend Yvonne, Rick Lightstone from the American Book Center and my c0-author Joanna Copestick. I also spotted a hotel with a brilliant name, Thorbecke. I thought that if Thorsten Becker, my husband, owned a business, this could very likely be a great name for it. The place with the red awning was taken from my hotel window, it’s a pub called Cafe Kale (great food by the way and make sure to buy the local brew produced in a real windmill). I got to share meals there with my husband a few times and then, since Victoria from SFGirlByBay was in Amsterdam, we had drinks and snacks at Cafe Kale together as well.
You can see a glimpse of the shop window that I decorated with pages from Decorate. If you walk by the American Book Center in Amsterdam between now and mid July, you will see the Decorate window that I made. I hope you like it and I do hope that if you see it live, that you’ll tell me and even share a photo of it with me on my wall over on my Decorate Facebook page. It was my first window ever so I felt really shy about it but when I was finished I felt really proud of myself. Funny how that happens! I also enjoyed shopping at a beautiful interiors store called Nunc and of course, hanging out in cafes. Many of them. And aren’t the lights over the canal tunnels so lovely at twilight? I spotted a swan beneath the tunnel just seconds later… gracefully floating by creating ripple effects in the water that gave me a slight chill to see it. There is something so magical about swans, twilight, canals and twinkle lights and before that moment, I’d not known of that magic before…
Many other lovely buildings and shops that I visited, one shown above is Sissy Boy Homeland. I felt so charmed by the many streets of Amsterdam and while my hotel wasn’t in the best location to explore my favorite part of Amsterdam, the Jordaan, I made the best of it and tried to find things local to Hotel V that were nice still.
I didn’t get photos of Fifteen where I had lunch, but it is the restaurant that belongs to Jaime Oliver and the interior was quite nice and very large. Other links of places I’d visited: The Handbag Museum, Leuk (great clothing), DR Wonen and the Athenaeum book store with its tons of many amazing magazines! Of course, I popped into a million random places that I didn’t have time to snap a photo of, but when you’re traveling for mostly business it’s hard to spend that quality time shopping as one would like.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed a few of my postcards from Amsterdam today. When I travel I rely on my iPhone more and more these days to freeze moments in time into simple snapshots made pretty thanks to the Instagram app or Photo+ on the iPhone. It’s fun and effortless and well, it’s a nice way to remember everything you’d seen once you are back home and ready to blog your travels.
(images: holly becker for decor8)
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June 27th, 2011 at 11:11pm
How adorable. My dream is to travel Europe with my 3 year old as my backpack.
June 27th, 2011 at 11:14pm
I love Amsterdam! I have been there 2x. Your photos are lovely. :)
June 27th, 2011 at 11:17pm
I just started using the postagram app to send images from my instagram/iphone in a postcard format to family and friends… the image is die cut to keep the print and it only cost 99 cents for shipping/print… I do not work for them I just enjoy the product.
June 27th, 2011 at 11:29pm
I just so love to read the stories that people tell visiting the city where I was born and have always lived (Living in the Jamie Oliver restaurant Harbor area;) Thank you for describing it so nicely ;)
From Amsterdam with love,
desiree
June 27th, 2011 at 11:33pm
Brought back many memories of my year in Amsterdam as a postgrad student. LOVE Amsterdam… so many fabulous things to see and do.
Your photos are great and have just made me want to go on a trip there… sigh!
June 28th, 2011 at 12:39am
I love Amsterdam. I’ve been twice and really enjoyed it both times. We rode bikes and wandered all around. I could go again, there is so much to do. I’m with you on the whole iphone photos thing. It’s so simple and easy and I love love the instagram app, probably my favorite photography app I’ve tried. Thanks for sharing your photos.
June 28th, 2011 at 12:53am
Dreamy photos & sweet reminiscing! Your trip sounds wonderful, it’ll be fun to hear more. Love your idea to take a photo of each person you spend some some time with (next time)! Cities and landscapes are great, but having the faces of the people mixed in sends it over the top!!
June 28th, 2011 at 1:06am
Thanks for beatiful pictures and sweet music tips.
What comes in my mind about Amsterdam i green canals… :)
June 28th, 2011 at 1:37am
Really beautiful images of your trip. I love what you have done!!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
June 28th, 2011 at 1:49am
Oh wow, such gorgeous photos of a beautiful city that I have to visit someday!
June 28th, 2011 at 2:14am
These are awesome shots! Looks like a blast!
June 28th, 2011 at 2:17am
I’m going to Amsterdam in a few weeks and I’m definitely going to go by the shop to see your window! I’ll take a picture with my Instagram app too! Ha, are we all this predictable? Thanks for the lovely pics, they made me so excited!
June 28th, 2011 at 3:34am
This makes me want to go and visit Amsterdam! Love all your photos, Holly. So many beautiful buildings there..I’m sure you had a blast! thanks for sharing :)
June 28th, 2011 at 3:38am
Sounds like you had a great time in Amsterdam. Thanks for sharing the picture’s. Looks like a lovely place to visit.
June 28th, 2011 at 5:19am
Holly, I love the way you share about the city. I follow you at Instagram (and I really love using it my self) to enjoy the beautiful picture that you posted and now complete with the story that you share :). Thank you it was really nice reading it.
June 28th, 2011 at 8:39am
so lovely! i’ve been wanting to travel to amsterdam for such a long time, but still haven’t – maybe next year, finally! thanks for renewing my inspiration to go there. (:
June 28th, 2011 at 8:48am
Hi Holly, it is so nice to see you on Saturday. Amsterdam is really a charming place to live. I moved here 11 years ago and never left since.
Admire your efforts and talents. During your busy visits in Amsterdam, you still can put efforts to write such a nice blog. It is truly amazing.
June 28th, 2011 at 10:11am
Hi Holly,
Loved seeing you at Meet the Blogger. You are so down to earth, nice and inspirational :) You surely visited some great places in Amsterdam. But there’s so many left to discover, so come back soon okay? ;)
June 28th, 2011 at 10:13am
My two favorite spots in Amsterdam are a lovely grocery shop right off the main town square and a delicious pancake place up the street from Ann Frank’s house. Amsterdam is one of my top five favorite cities.
Fondly,
Glenda
June 28th, 2011 at 10:23am
Gorgeous images!. I spent a fabulous week in Amsterdam a few years ago and absolutely fell in love with the people, stunning architecture, food and styling of the city. Every corner is a photo opportunity. Can’t wait to go back again!.
June 28th, 2011 at 10:27am
I LOVE the way you captured my city in these photos!
Looks amazing! Thanks for sharing.
June 28th, 2011 at 10:55am
The pictures of the flowers and canal make me want to drop everything right now and hop on a train to Amsterdam! How gorgeous. It sounds like the trip was a fabulous success!
June 28th, 2011 at 1:07pm
Those photos tell such a great story!
June 28th, 2011 at 2:33pm
Love the pictures – looks like a great trip!!
June 28th, 2011 at 2:45pm
@Nathalie – This was my 4th trip to Amsterdam so I will definitely be back! Nice to meet you too. :)
June 28th, 2011 at 3:37pm
Thanks for all the photos and inspiration. I hope to visit there in the next year.
June 28th, 2011 at 3:50pm
I’ll be leaving for Amsterdam (from Toronto) on Sunday for my cousin’s wedding…wish I could have been there for the blogger’s meet-up too. I love what I can see from the window you did!
Thanks for sharing your photos, Holly, it’s nice to see the city through your eyes! They’re also making me even more excited for my trip…
June 28th, 2011 at 4:28pm
It looks like it was a wonderful event! I keep seeing everyone’s photos and it makes me so bummed that I couldn’t make it. Hopefully there will be another blogger meet up since this one seems to have gone so well!
June 28th, 2011 at 7:26pm
Wow, sounds like you had a wonderfully… er, full trip! Thanks for all the details, being new to the city I’m always on the lookout for new places and things to enjoy!
It was really lovely to meet you, Holly. Hope to see you in Amsterdam another time!
June 28th, 2011 at 9:11pm
Bonjour!
Wowww, such beautiful photos you captured on your trip!
They remind us of the ones we took while there as well…
Take a look :)
Jessica & Holly
June 29th, 2011 at 10:03pm
Thorbecke is a renowned 19th century Dutch politician!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Rudolph_Thorbecke
June 30th, 2011 at 11:32am
I live in Amsterdam, and think it’s just the coolest I’ll get to see your touch on it before I move to Los Angeles to pursue my acting career! I feel like I have an inside joke now when I’m walking past the American Book Center!
It’s always fascinating to hear foreigners opinions of Amsterdam, and all my international friends made me appreciate my hometown that much more. It is one unique, charming place, and I will certainly miss it!
June 30th, 2011 at 12:02pm
@Stars in the Eyes – Shanice thank you, I am happy to hear this. :) And all the best to you in LA.
July 4th, 2011 at 9:41pm
Very nice pictures! In early September we will also travel to Amsterdam. Now I like to see it a lot more. Right now I’m looking for a hotel. Can you recommend the Hotel V?
P.S. I love your blog!