travelogue: den bosch, holland

at my in-laws place, it was all about relaxation. 

h & m always take good care of us...snacks to munch on, cupboard stocked with dutch chocolate sprinkles (called hagelslag), kettle ready for tea and a glass of wine at the end of the day.

of course, we popped into the city a couple of times. 

first, there was dinner at kakama for delicious indonesian food. i shared the veggie rijsttafe with my father-in-law while stefan, his mom, and kai enjoyed the mixed platter. my mouth was exploding with spiced flavour. loved it!

one afternoon, we found ourselves strolling, eating fries and drinking warm drinks. it was an especially cold day, so stefan and his parents ordered mulled wine to warm up, while kai had the biggest hot chocolate ever.

and of course, a stop for coffee at drab was in order after climbing the catherdral tower (more on the latter, just below).

the sint-jan cathedral is a gothic beauty that i have always admired during our visits. and getting to see it from the top was pretty cool. it was something i've been wanting to do with each visit but it just never seemed to happen, until now. 

we climbed the romanesque style bell tower with a guide. during the climb up the narrow and winding stairs, we were treated to tales of its history through the eras, given intimate details about the clocks and carillon too. who knew there were so many interesting things to tell about the cathedral; it was a really cool experience. stefan loved the task of translating for the non-dutch tourists climbing the six floors with us. 

the views were pretty nice too.

during our visits, there's always an outing or two with h & m. this time we explored breda. 

i knew nothing about breda, except it had a castle i wanted to visit. unbeknownst to us, the castle of breda is home to the dutch military academy (since 1826!) so there was no access. instead we were content to stroll the grounds around the castle.

wandering around the old town, we stopped for coffee and a bite to eat. finding the stroopwafel stand made us happy, especially kai and his opa.

stroopwafel stand!

new years eve was all about the fireworks. and, of course, ollibollen... a dutch pastry similar to a donut with raisins stirred in and dusted with confectioner's sugar.

new year's day, stefan and i took a meandering walk around ijzeren man, a lake in the brabant neighbourhood followed by some delish food at the strandhuys - it may have rained on us, just a tad, but we tucked ourselves under the beach umbrellas well enough :) it was a lovely ending to our winter break.

we'll be back in the summer to meet up with the lovely melanie and family; a house has already been rented just a five minute bike ride from the in-laws. can't wait!