Month: February 2026

Another sleepless night, my watch told me my sleep score was 53 last night. Needless to say, I did not get out of bed until almost 9am.

No gym today. 😊 I thought we were going to hike up the Dom Tower but… that did not happen. We did tour through the Dom Kerk and its courtyard. It was beautiful. So crazy to think how long this has been standing.

On the way over we spotted these bikes that were just pulled out of the canal!

Apparently, they pull out about 3000 bikes from the canals in Utrecht every year. What are you doing, people lol 😂

Coming up on the Dom Tower made me audibly gasp. It’s enormous, intricate and I was in awe.

We spent about an hour in the church part. Heads up, if you have to use the restroom, it costs .70 euro so make sure you bring some coins 😅

The cost to get in to the church is a donation n a denomination of your choice.

Back outside, we took a left to check out the courtyard. Pretty sweet architecture here too.

With that we were done. I was ready but not ready to tackle the tower and all 465 steps however my traveling partners do not seem too into. So we walked back to the apartment where we brainstormed dinner ideas.

At 4pm. Like true US residents in their 50’s. 😂

We were the only ones in the restaurant, we walked in and they were cleaning. Specifically, mopping the floors. A black cat with white spots ran past us while I asked if they could seat the four of us for dinner.

He looked confused and then asked someone if it was ok. We must have passed the test because we were seated .

The… best… food I have had this trip.

The cuisine is Balkan and i am a new fan.

What I love about dining in Holland (I think it also true for other EU countries) is that they seat you, take your order, feed you, then leave you along until you ask for the check.

That said, we stayed a while to let our food settle, then you walked back to the apartment. We all just chilled for a while and then Shannon and Brian went out to a bar, Jason and I hung back not really feeling the bar scene.

I am looking forward to an early night of sleep!

Friday the 13th, Thursday was galentines with the friends. There were 5 of us,

We each brought 4 gift bags of items we each like and use daily. It’s a cool theme that introduces our friends with things we love and can’t “love without”.

There was a full on delicious spread of food and drinks. Amy made a tasty and gorgeous charcuterie boards with all the meats and cheeses and grapes. Tracy brought cookies and chocolate covered strawberries, Jessica (?) brought carprese salad and toasted baguette. Amy also made a non-alcoholic sangria. So good! Cherry juice, sprite, lemon and limes, I added a splash of seltzer water and it was bomb.

We opened and shared gifts, snacked, talked and watched Pitch Perfect. I didn’t get to finish because I wanted to leave early to make sure I had all of my stuff together and ready for our flight to the Holland the next morning!!

I had packed the majority of my bags a couple of days before hand, after all, in Arizona the weather has been in the 80’s I did not need anything i was taking with me. I picked up around the house a bit then went to bed. I did not sleep much. Alarm was set for 4am, I woke up but did not get out of bed, just watched some TV for an hour.

Shannon and Brian came to our place, uber doober picked us up super early but it was fine, we had it in our heads this whole day is only for travel. 👎🏼

First flight to Salt Lake City.

The second leg of the flight, from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, was lonnnggg. 9 hours and 35 minutes. I watched 2 movies and flip flopped in my seat uncomfortably. I won’t bore you with too much detail here, most of you know how it feels to fly coach.

Passports stamped, luggage retrieved we headed to arrivals where we met our family friends, the sun and a burst of ice cold wind!! It was enough to give us the energy we needed to wake up after a long flight.

The 30 minute drive to their house went by fast enough, I wasn’t paying attention to anything outside because I can’t even tell you what I thought about the landscape.

At the house, we had coffee, pastries and caught up on the little things.

It was gezellig ☺️

After a couple of hours it was time for us to head to the train station. Just a five minute walk from the house.

Another 30 minute ride to Utrecht we go!

We hoofed it to the air bnb which was not the easiest to find for us in our current mental state of exhaustion. But we did it! side note, when I say we I meant my 3 companions, between the 3 of them, they figured it out. I’m shit with a map.

Down a steep flight of stairs to canal level we found our home for the week.

From floor to ceiling the little cave is 7 feet tall. I just measured it with my phone.

A quick walk to the grocery store and we had dinner.

Too lazy to cook, too tired to go out to eat, we had boterham, kaas and brood.

Another walk about because…. Sneeuw!!!

Back at the air bnb we hung out and tried to get sleepy… it took forever. 1130pm, and then I woke up every hour until 2am then sleep until 5am and then sleep until 745.

Coffee time! Took some me time and went to the gym next door. 15 euro for a day pass. Super cute and functional space.

The place was an amazing maze with multiple levels. Side note, their weights are in Kilos so, to me, when I was lifting them it looked like I was lifting soooo much weight 🤗

After gym.. shower time then lunch

We took a little walk around the canal and found a not so busy kitchen & bar called, Quignon. Of course I had krokette and frite .

Snarf, snarf, snarf, we ate, we paid, we left.

Stopped at some shops where I bought nothing 😌

Back to the grocery store for foods for the apartment, then a luxurious nap!

I don’t know if I slept for one hour or two but I do know I needed it and I feel like I need more. This jet lag is real.