Though Bronkhorst doesn’t really have only one street, but a few more, it is in fact considered as a city because Bronkhorst was granted city rights in 1482. It is commonly known as the smallest city of the Netherlands, which is not entirely true since there are even smaller cities! Maybe they remain unknown because they are not as beautiful or picturesque as Bronkhorst.

In Bronkhorst there was once a medieval castle, but as I understand not much remains of it. Currently you can find a lot of nice looking buildings, like houses and farms, a reformed church and a Dickens museum. Also, in december an annual Dickens festival takes place. It includes a Christmas market, people in costumes and various performances.  So much to see and do!

The best aspect of the Dutch landscape is one of my favorite animals: the cow! They are very curious and lovely creatures <3

Picking berries is the best summer activity 😉

My favorite berry is the sour cherry, which is also known as the morello cherry. So delicious!

What’s yours?

What to do when you live in the city and don’t own a garden? Well, you can place as many pots and planters as can fit on your balcony. That’s what is happening on mine and it is really wild like a real garden can be. On just 3,3 square meters there is so much going on that I wonder how it all can fit. To give an example of the flower selection I have, there are irises, daffodils, tulips, roses, pansies, echinacea, snowdrops and others I can’t recall. Other plants include strawberries, tomatoes, pumpkins and herbs. It really is a sight. No one else in the neighborhood has a balcony like that.

While it might seem unusual to talk about Keukenhof and not rave about the main attraction, I just think that sometimes there has to be a different perspective. Since I visit Keukenhof at least once a year, I get to look at it differently every time. This year I had the luxury to go twice. On the second visit of this season I went on the very last day and just loved how different the park looked. Most of the flowers were gone, there were some crates with yellow tulips to show at least some color, but the best thing about this was that it was very quiet. Usually there are a lot of people visiting Keukenhof, but that day there was no one around. It seemed so peaceful.

Even though there wasn’t much left to look at I did manage to find some flowers to show you, because as always the pavilions were taken good care of.

If you are not familiar with Keukenhof, it is a flower park situated in Lisse in the Netherlands. Mainly famous for its tulips and other spring flowering bulbs like daffodils and hyacinths.

Since I am studying in Rotterdam I find myself quite often in Kralingse Bos.  It is my favorite spot in Rotterdam along with the suburb Kralingen which is very beautiful with its 19th century and early 20th century architecture. Very charming compared to the modern city center.

To me Kralingse Bos is very inspirational. In any season and in any type of weather the park shows different, but equally beautiful, sides of itself. Especially at the lake, where it is possible to see the ever-changing skyline of Rotterdam. If you ever find yourself nearby I definitely recommend you to visit this place.

Following the previous post, In the garden, these are the flowers that grow in my grandparents’ garden. There are different types like white and red roses, heleniums, lillies, marigolds, clematis and others. The ones I included here are just a few of the many.

These are the photographs I took of my grandparents’ garden, which they created entirely from scratch. Many years ago they bought a piece of land where they built a house and everything around it. Throughout the years the garden was shaped into a beautiful piece of work with apple, pear and cherry trees; different fruits and vegetables; gorgeous flowers and a place for the animals. I spent a great part of my childhood here and I still remember running around the garden and picking all kinds of berries.

The camera that I used here is an old Zenit-E and in my opinion it captured the essence of the garden perfectly.