Our cousins visit: Amersfoort

We knocked at the door of the medieval town of Amersfoort. We were told the town was very pretty and we wanted to visit it.

From Amersfoort 2012

A gentle Amersfoort host...

From Amersfoort 2012

 invited us to enter and sit down ..."Make  yourself comfortable." he said.

From Amersfoort 2012

" Welcome to Monnikendam! The watergate Monnikendam was built around 1420 as part of the second city walls (1380-1451). The gate consists of two towers which have been connected by an arch. We believe that the port is probably named after the Augustinian monks of St. Andrew's. In 1840, some ancient city walls were demolished and Monnikendam was included in the construction of the new park designed by the landscape architect JD Zocher Jr. "

From Amersfoort 2012

"I hope you enjoy our town and its many interesting streets. Look carefully at the buildings and you will find signs of our past, like the ones of the ancient guilds..."

From Amersfoort 2012

Our host also told us that our cousins came during a very special moment for the country: "Many students have finished their high school studies this month and that's why we are seeing so many flags with school bags in front of the windows. These families are sharing with us their joy with their teenagers school achievements."

From Amersfoort 2012

Lovely town, isn't it? :-)

Amersfoort is situated in the Utrecht province and it's easy to reach by train. Enjoy your day! :-)

The Life in the City

Today I had a photography lesson.
The theme was "Het leven in de stad" (The Life in the City/A Vida na Cidade).
Some of the pics didn't turn out very well and I've only these ones to show you.
...

This is my story. In the city of Amersfoort.

Shall we have a coffee op dit gezellig terras?
Such a nice terrace, don't you think? ;-)
I like very much all this public art we find in The Netherlands.

From Amersfoort

What about a slice of Multi- Vlaai?
Vlaai is typical from Limburg.

From Amersfoort

Shall we go to the winkeltjes? I love cute, small and traditional stores! They are also so easy to find in The Netherlands!

From Amersfoort

From Amersfoort

We can stop by the open air market, if you wish to buy some Dutch cheese.

From Amersfoort

Or some beautiful and colorful fabrics...

From Amersfoort

Funny, this market stall! "Goedkoper" means "cheaper" or "mais barato". According with the crisis, you see? ;-)

From Amersfoort

Then we can go to the boekenwinkel.

From Amersfoort

After all, we are celebrating the boekenweek (Books Week/A Semana dos Livros).

From Amersfoort

Dutch streets are always full of life, don't you think?

From Amersfoort

From Amersfoort

From Amersfoort

I hope you have enjoyed this day in the city!

Have a nice weekend! :-)

Bastiaan Ragas, Dit is mijn stad



De stad is van steen,
maar gebouwd met de liefde van het land eromheen.
Ze bespiegeld gevoel, ze kleurt je gedachte,
geeft woorden een reden en je daden een doel.

Dit is mijn leven, dit is mijn stad,
hier voel ik me veilig, hier ligt mijn hart.
De straten en de pleinen
Ik ken ze allemaal.
Dit is mijn verhaal.

Laat me maar gaan,
Ik kijk over grenzen die lang niet meer bestaan.
Ik voel me hier thuis,
Want je proeft hier de vrijheid.
Ben een man van de wereld,
maar hier staat mijn huis.

Dit is mijn leven, dit is mijn stad.
hier voel ik me veilig, hier ligt mijn hart.
De straten en de pleinen
Ik ken ze allemaal.
Dit is mijn verhaal.

Dit is mijn leven, dit is mijn stad,
hier voel ik me veilig, hier ligt mijn hart.
De straten en de pleinen
Ik ken ze allemaal.
Dit is mijn verhaal.

Ik wil nooit meer iets anders,
Mijn hart ligt hier verankerd.
Ze begrijpt me als ik haar zeg:
’t is de plek waarvan ik droom,
waar ik bid en werk en woon.
Ik wil hier gewoon niet meer weg

Dit is mijn leven, dit is mijn stad,
hier voel ik me veilig, hier ligt mijn hart.
De straten en de pleinen,
Ik ken ze allemaal.
Dit is mijn verhaal.

En het werd me gegeven,
Als een dag in de zon.
Hier ligt m’n verleden waar ik ooit begon.
Je kunt hier oud en jong zijn, want ze spreekt dezelfde taal.
Dit is mijn verhaal
Dit is mijn verhaal.

Amersfoort in the mist

Hello! :-) Welcome to Amersfoort!

Please, have a sit! :-)

From Amersfoort

What a nice view of Monnikendam, don't you think?

Two towers linked by a gateway arc on the East side of the downtown.

From Amersfoort

Monnikendam was built between 1380 and 1480 as part of Amersfoort second citywalls.

From Amersfoort

This beautiful place is generally a common hotspot for marriage photos.

From Amersfoort

Monnikendam gets its name from the Saint Augustin monks.

From Amersfoort

Amersfoort is a Medieval town which has celebrated its 750th birthday in 2009.

From Amersfoort

As you see by the photos, Amersfoort medieval centre is well-preserved and protected...

From Amersfoort

From Amersfoort

From Amersfoort

From Amersfoort

Remember the first time I visited Amersfoort? Almost a year ago...

Christmas Market in Amersfoort

Hello, there! How are you? ;-)

From Coisas Minhas

Let me show you Sandra's Christmas preparations :-)

She went to the Christmas Market in Amersfoort and look what she bought...;-)

A little pillow to put her cup of tea when she is studying, reading or... writing Christmas postcards ;-)

From Coisas Minhas

When the cup of tea is on the pillow, it begins to smell like pepernoten. Mmm, so nice! ;-)

From Coisas Minhas

She also found very cute postcards,

From Coisas Minhas

like this one, a gift's package!! ;-)

From Coisas Minhas

From Coisas Minhas

Or this one, to display on a shelf,

From Coisas Minhas

wishing Merry Christmas to all the visitors, friends and family ;-)

From Coisas Minhas

Sandra was enchanted with this box with God's Promises ;-)

From Coisas Minhas

From Coisas Minhas

Each card has some quotes from the Bible...

From Coisas Minhas

She displayed it like this...do you like it?

From Coisas Minhas

Of course, the aim of the box is to let her find spiritual comfort in God's words :-)

Finally, she has found this card to wrap candle cups.

From Coisas Minhas

Beautiful, isn't it? ;-)

I wish you all a Merry Christmas! :-)

Until the next meeting, Aledys ;-)

I had this kind of feeling...that we know each other not from now, but from other ages...

Maybe from the seventien century... ;-)

From Amersfoort

We prefer dark beer to pilsener, but most of all we prefer to drink red wine...
We don't like to use watches...we see the hours in the mobile phone...;-)
We don't like to live only for the work...we already have been there...
We dont't have great crafty skills, but we want to improve a little bit...
We like to enter in bookstores...and bring many, many books...
We like to visit historical places, photograph them...and today we did it together...

...in Amersfoort...

where we arrived by train, not by bike..;-)

From Amersfoort

around lunch time...

From Amersfoort

During our stroll, we have searched for good terraces...:-)

From Amersfoort

We opened our souls to each other and we found out that we share some live stories...:-)

From Amersfoort

She is a very strong girl... for example, she crossed an Ocean to share her life with her soulmate in a completely different country...

From Amersfoort

Her smile has a very special light...

From Amersfoort

She is a very sensitive and interesting person...as I could see when I opened her soul's door a little bit...:-)

From Amersfoort

We were two girls in a medieval city...

From Amersfoort

We crossed old and new paths...I enjoyed it very much, I must say ;-)

From Amersfoort

;-)

Until the next meeting, Aledys ;-) See you soon...;-)

From Amersfoort