Adventures with Jaap: friends

Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Monday, July 29, 2013

Home Sweet Home

Cafe con leche at Floridita= best coffee in NYC

My favorite New Yorker

Jaap and I spent the first two weeks of May visiting family and friends in NY. It's always good to come home and this time we got to celebrate the pregnancy (complete with a surprise baby shower!) with family and friends.

No trip to NY would be complete without an evening with Shannon, my best friend, and our NY buddies. After a night out on the Lower East Side we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Floridita. If you want the best coffee in NYC, go to Floridita and order a cafe con leche. It's up on the West side on 125th St and Riverside Drive.

Sculpture art on Park Avenue

My niece Elin enjoying the Baby Shower

Mastura & Mom

BFFs forever

The Pardo Family

What was planned as a casual lunch with my aunts turned out to be a surprise baby shower complete with Muppets! Thanks to my amazing sister and mother for organizing the day. It was such a great surprise to see our closest famiy and friends there. What a day. We got so much great stuff for the baby and Jaap was able to celebrate in Muppet style. We felt very loved. Now we just wait for the little Jansen-Pardo to arrive!

The Kermit Diaper Cake made by Catherine Pardo

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

In Bruges

Of all the places I have been, Bruges is still one of my favorites. This small medieval city is simply gorgeous. Jaap and I traveled there after Christmas 2010. It was nice to return and see the city with my friends who also appreciate good beer and chocolate! Go check out The Chocolate Line. It was recommended to us by a local. We were literally speechless.

We toured the De Halve Maan Brewery, sampled some brew, and afterwards walked through the Markt. The weather was freezing for August, but we didn't care. We were so happy for all of us to be together. It was the perfect day.

On top of the brewery

I'm glad we got to do some new things that Jaap and I missed our first time Bruges. We enjoyed a nice boat cruise to see Bruges by boat all while trying to understand the commentary by the driver. Apparently he was speaking in English, but we couldn't make out anything. Still fun though.

And no trip to Bruges would be complete without some mussels. Lekker!!!!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Monschau

When my friends from Boston were visiting us this summer we went to Monschau, Germany for a day. Maastricht is so close to Germany and being only 1.5 hours away, Monschau was the perfect little day trip for us. One of my German friends from Maastricht recommended it and it turned out to be everything that we were a hoping for. Monschau is what Americans picture quaint, little, German villages to be.

Michele strolling the path

We strolled through town, visited some cute little shops, drank German beer and wine, and ate some schnitzel. All with some of my best and dearest friends. What more could you ask for you?

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Musée de Rodin & Midnight in Paris

The Thinker

My friends and I watched Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris the night before we went to Paris. It totally set the tone for our trip. It gave us this exciting, romantic feeling before we even got there. We were inspired to visit the Rodin museum after watching the movie. Some of the scenes were filmed with The Thinker in Rodin's garden.

The Musée de Rodin was a little oasis in the middle of busy Paris. We arrived just 1.5 hours before closing time and enjoyed the quiet atmosphere exploring the grounds and Rodin's former place of residence. The museum houses a large collection of his work and his contemporaries. The house was beautiful, but seeing The Thinker in the garden was the best part.

Before heading back to our apartment in Montparnasse we enjoyed a late lunch with pasta salad and a huge glass of white wine. A nice quiet way to end our day of busy sightseeing

Friday, August 17, 2012

Visitors, Boston does Europe

Michele, me & Debbie

We've had a whirlwind of fun over the past two weeks. Some of my closest friends from Boston came to visit. Together we traveled to Amsterdam, Bruges, several amazing days in Paris, a quick day trip to Monschau, Germany, an airport drop-off in Brussels (complete with waffels & beer) and of course, Maastricht.

I'm lucky to have to such great friends that travel across an ocean to see you and come with an adventurous spirit! There were so many times that I wanted to freeze time and hold on to the moment because we were having so much fun. Lots of great memories were made over the last two weeks.

There's too much to write about and too many pictures to choose from, but here are some of the highlights of their trip.

Drinking lots of beer...