The One with the Past 8 Days

I just returned home after a whirlwind 8 days: teaching in Prague, driving to Amsterdam, windmills, clogs, canals, bikes e'rywur, Van Gogh, Vermeer, tulips, Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, french fries, the most delicious chocolate I've ever tasted and am already scheming ways to get more, Belgian waffles, Manneken Pis, neon graffiti, the cutest and quaintest town centers, amazing views, followed by a weekend of teaching in Frankfurt for Heidi Swapp and riding the Deutsche Bahn ICE train for the first time! You can see why I've been MIA for the past few days. And the fun doesn't stop! In just a couple days my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and brother are coming for two weeks!!! Life is so crazy busy, so crazy good. It's going to take me a heckuva long time to hash out these latest adventures (blogging definitely gets put on the backburner!) but I can't resit sharing my most favorite photos from the past 8 days. Yes, I've shared a few already, and I'm probably going to post them again :)

Saturday April 11th - drove to Prague early in the morning and taught a workshop!

Every nook and cranny of Prague is picture perfect.

On the 2.5 hour drive home I came upon the most amazing sunset which reminded me of the quote, "Whenever an artist dies, God lets them paint the sky."

Sunday April 12th - we left home around 8am and drove 6 hours to Amsterdam. And yes, I rented this airbnb apartment SOLELY for the pink couch. And whatdoyouknow I totally spaced getting a picture of me on it! But I did snap cute Jane so it's all good, nay, even better - I like scrapping pictures of her more than ones of myself :)

We drove straight to the windmills at Zaanse Schans.

Picturesque much?!

We got to go into that center windmill and actually see it cranking huge and intimidating wheels crushing powder used for making paint. So fascinating!

So Dutch.

Loving on these aqua buildings.

On Monday April 13th we drove into Amsterdam - it was my #1 goal to find the buildings that are on this patterned paper by Maggie Holmes in the Open Book collection. 

We didn't have to look long or hard at all! They're right outside the main train station woot woot!

h.o.l.y. b.i.k.e.s.

I was all about the architecture.

Exactly what I pictured in my mind's eye whenever I thought "Amsterdam."

The cutest courtyard in all of Amsterdam where single ladies live.

We went to the Van Gogh museum and in this display they had an actual palate and paint tubes used by this amazing artist.

Everyone and their dog surrounding the Vermeer paintings in the Rijksmuseum.
Stripes.

Those buildings once again. And yes they really are that crooked!

Bikes as far as the eye can see.

A fancy organ inside the St. Nicholas church.

Beautiful stained glass also inside the St. Nicholas church.

Us in front of the Rijksmuseum. The "I AMsterdam" sign is almost visible.

Tuesday April 14th we drove out to the famous Keukenhof tulip festival. Sadly, the huge fields of tulips weren't in bloom yet, but we did get to see a few patches of lovely color.

We did see tons of tulips and flowers though, just not in the fields.

Wednesday April 15th we drove down to Belgium and explored Brussels.

Her shirt says it all. This was while waiting for the tram to take us into the city center.

The world's first mall.

More chocolate shops than I can even count!

Delicious french fries on every corner. The curry ketchup sauce is divine.

Don't forget the Belgium waffles! I love this picture because all four Evans family members are trying to partake.

Classy :)

Thursday April 16th we drove to Bruges. I ran to the top of the Bell Tower to get this view of the town square. I used the "tilt shift" feature on instagram to blur out everything else, hence it looks like a miniature village.

From our walk around town. Like Holland, Belgium is very flat with rivers that are almost the same level as the ground. Then we drove to the beautiful city of Ghent.

What the?

Fox - our happy camper (most of the time :)

Enjoying the details.

Neon graffiti wall.

Can't get enough of these old-time buildings. They just don't make 'em like they used to!

My favorite view in Ghent.

On Friday April 17th Chris and the kids dropped me off in Frankfurt so I could teach 6 workshops for Heidi Swapp. THE Heidi Swapp! 

I taught Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning. It was a whirlwind and a blast and I'll share a recap as soon as I can. 
Then I did something I've never done before - I traveled home solo using the efficient German trains! If they say the train is leaving at 12:26, they mean it's leaving at 12:26, to the second. Love it.

Lots of blog posts and recaps to share hopefully soon!