These (and other) fun wall decals are available through Dutch webshop Zuuz. (BTW, I love the combination of these wall decals and the pendant lampshade I wrote about earlier!)

xxx Esther

Broer&Zus is located in the Jordaan here in Amsterdam and is worth checking out when you’re in town, but they also have a web shop and they ship internationally (just contact them for shipments outside the EU).

xxx Esther

Broer & Zus
Rozengracht 104
1016 NG Amsterdam
tel: 020 4229002
email: info@broerenzus.nl

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Open: Tue – Fri 10.30-18.00
Sat 10.00 – 18.00

xxx Esther

Over one hundred years old, this market is open six days a week (closed on Sundays) and offers everything from fresh fish, vegetables and cheeses to clothes, wigs and incense.  But I love this market most for it’s cute fabrics and haberdashery!  It’s best to go on weekdays, as on Saturday it can be very busy.  And don’t forget to try one of those freshly baked syrup waffles, they’re to die for!  (But be careful not to give them to your kids too quickly;  they’re piping hot!!)

xxx Esther

Albert Cuypmarkt
Amsterdam

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Open Mo – Sat  9:00 – 17.00

xxx Esther

Bazar Amsterdam
Albert Cuypstraat 182
1073 BL Amsterdam
Telephone 020-675 05 44

*Map*

Open seven days a week, check website for exact hours.

If you’re interested in a pair of Shabbies, I suggest emailing this shop to ask if they would ship to your country. Or, of course, come to visit the Netherlands soon!

xxx Esther

If you happen to be in Amsterdam and have a few hours to spare for some coffee and shopping, Utrechtsestraat is a good place to go.
The Koffiesalon, a lovely coffee-shop (in the true meaning of the word), has good seating, great espresso, yummy cakes and sandwiches and you can help yourself to as much water as you like. I brought my daughter here for some mummy and daughter time before and we both greatly enjoyed it. It’s also a good place to meet friends or even have an informal meeting (there’s free wireless).
Not far up the road, at number 74, you’ll find one of my favourite shops in Amsterdam, Jan. The shop owner, Janna, who obviously has great taste, has gathered a fantastic selection of products. Lamps, cushions, dinnerware and cutlery are amongst the stock, but the shop also features fashion accessories such as bags, belts, jewelery and watches, and some lovely toys and kiddie books. If you need a present or want to treat your own family (= yourself), don’t miss it.
Next door you’ll find Bellerose (they have good kids’ clothes). Funky ladies fashion can be found at Jan Lensen, beautiful French and Italian ceramics at Kom, great interior pieces at Mobilia, and there are many, many more great shops and restaurants. Maybe you’ll need more than a few hours!

xxx Esther

Utrechtsestraat
Amsterdam

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So, what is HEMA?
HEMA is a Dutch chain of shops that only sells HEMA-brand products. No luxury products, but products that are meant for daily use and that are functional yet fun. The assortment is wide and prices are low (we like that in the Netherlands), designs are trendy and fresh, simple and colourful. The quality is good, and overall the products are seriously so much fun that you can’t help bringing home yet another cool tea-towel, notebook or cute cookie-cutter set for the kids!

The baby and kid’s products of HEMA are seriously adorable. Great onesies, lovely toys, fun towels, wonderful sheets and pajamas (with matching pajama for the doll), perfect party products (from garlands to cakes), great craft projects… I can go on and on, and I didn’t even start about the Jip and Janneke range yet!

If you happen to travel to the Netherlands, MAKE SURE to step into a HEMA. You will like it, I am sure! Just ask a random person on the streets for the nearest HEMA and he/she will direct you…
If you’re in Belgium, Luxembourg or Germany you probably already know what I’m talking about, and when you’re in Paris, you’ll be able to find out soon, because HEMA will open it’s first shop in the shopping mall of Créteil-Soleil in mid January!

xxx Esther

P.S. The real online HEMA shop unfortunately only ships within the Netherlands…

P.P.S. This un-official online HEMA shop is as cool as everything else HEMA!

For people living in NY or London, where fancy food experiences (we don’t call them supermarkets any more) such as Whole Foods are around your corner, this concept might be nothing new. But to us here in provincial Amsterdam, organic shopping used to be limited to a couple of over-prized, sexless bio-shops where the shop assistants were as slow and un-enthusiastic as the food they were selling. But with Marqt in town, Amsterdam is back on the organic map!

xxx Esther

P.S. When you go shopping at Marqt (BTW the bread is divine), you can leave your cash at home, because they only accept cards.

I love soap. And, much to my husband’s chagrin, I love soap shops! A beautiful soap shop here in Amsterdam is La Savonnerie, where soap is being made by hand, the traditional way — all with natural ingredients and all hand-stamped!

Many, many, many beautiful bars of soap can be found here, in the most gorgeous shapes, colours and scents. And, if you are you looking for a cute give-away for a birthday or other festive occasion — La Savonnerie can stamp any soap with your own special text!

A visit to this lovely shop is totally worth it (and it is very close to one of my favourite shopping areas in Amsterdam, the Nine Streets). Next to the soaps they also carry a nice selection of lovely bathroom articles and… they have a small collection of the cutest toys imaginable!

xxx Esther

La Savonnerie
Prinsengracht 294
1016 HJ Amsterdam
Nederland
Telephone 020-4281139

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Opening hours
Mon – Sat 10:00 -18:00

Traditionally, children living alongside the many rivers or canals in the Netherlands would be very pleased when they could skate to school instead of walk — it would save a lot of time! (And, of course, not everybody owned a bike like in modern times!) Their parents would strap on their wooden skates with leather thongs and skate for miles to go and see family they hadn’t seen in months.
On weekends big tours would be organized, and alongside the canal one could find little stands selling ‘koek en zopie’ — cookies and hot chocolate (or gin for the dads). After the tour, the family would come home to a big pan of ’snert’, the traditional Dutch pea-soup…

It’s been a while since it has frozen in the Netherlands, at least enough for all the natural waterways to freeze. In fact, the last ‘Elfstedentocht’ (Eleven Cities Tour), an ice-skating race that takes place in the north of the Netherlands and keeps every Dutchmen captivated as soon as the temperature drops under zero, was in 1997!

Thankfully every city in the Netherlands will make sure there is an artificial ice-skating rink in their centre. And in Amsterdam there will be five!

- Skating Rink Museumplein: 17 December 2008 – 22 February 2009, open daily from 10 am until 8 pm. My absolute favourite Skating Rink, to be found at the foot of the wonderful Rijksmuseum!

- Skating Rink Beursplein: 11 November 2008 – 4 January 2009
Not far from the central train station. There will also be a little Christmas market!

- Skating Rink Leidseplein: 1 November 2008 – 11 January 2009, open daily from 10:00 to 23:00. Not far from the Vondelpark. Set up in the middle of the cafés and restaurants of the Leidseplein.

- Skating Rink Wittenburgerplein: 6 December 2008 – 19 December 2008, open daily from 11 am until 4 pm.
Near to Amsterdam’s lovely city zoo, Artis.

- Skating Rink Westergasfabriek: 5 December 2008 – 4 January 2009
West of the city centre. There are loads of other wonderful activities in the Westergasfabriek area!

Well, we say: when in Amsterdam, do as the Dutch. So take your children for a skate on one of the many skating rinks (but don’t be afraid to show off your own skills as well)! Skates are for rent at the rinks.

Enjoy!

If in Amsterdam, make sure to step in to one of the many cheese shops (don’t worry — although they are certainly ‘cheesy’, they are not at all ‘just for tourists’)! They will gladly let you taste cumin cheese – and any other cheese you would like to try (and there are many)!

The first exposition in the museum is called Heldenstad (’HeroTown’) and is inspired by the famous Dutch children’s book, ‘Pluk van de Petteflet’. There’s a 6-meter-high building envisioning the ‘Petteflet’ (see picture), with all sorts of great things to be explored: various little bedrooms furnished by children from different cultures and backgrounds, dress up clothes, dolls, trains, etc.
There is even a kitchen with ‘Mrs. Helderder’ (’Mrs. Clearer’ – a character of the book), who vigorously tells all the children to help her clean, because ‘it is all so filthy’. My daughter was polishing shoes and mopping floors for nearly one hour; she had rosy cheeks and a big smile on her face!

Pluk van de Petteflet is probably only familiar to you if you are Dutch, or have lived in the Netherlands for a fairly long time. I don’t think it has ever been translated! But if you’re interested, you can read our friend Irene’s review of the book on B:Kids.

There are also ‘laboratories’ in which children can experiment with only natural materials — they can make their own shadow-theater, there are plenty of dolls, books, toys, and little corners to be explored.
The museum is directed toward children from 4 to 8 years, but my children (1½ and 3½) had the time of their life!
Really, I highly recommend this place.

Also, the museum happens to be located in a wonderful area of Amsterdam, Westergasfabriek, where there is a park, playground, tons of cute cafés and restaurants (de Bakkerswinkel amongst them), and a city farm, all within walking distance.

Enjoy!

xxx Esther

Picture: polishing shoes in Mrs. Clearer’s kitchen

The beauty of this goat farm is that it is really, in all reality, a goat farm! So besides it being a city farm, with the mere purpose of giving city kids the opportunity to get closer to animals and to teach them ‘where the milk is coming from’, the main purpose of this farm is to produce (organic) goat’s milk and make it into cheeses, yogurt, ice cream etc., all for sale at the little café, where you can also get a nice goats’ cappuccino!

Even though the work, as in any other farm, never stops, the doors of Ridammerhoeve are open 6 days a week for the public, and most specifically for kids, who can help feed, brush and cuddle the baby goats, clean their stables, see how the goats get milked, and, if they are lucky, witness the birth of a baby goat!
It is so very cute to see all those children, each with their little bottle of milk, adopting a little kid (who are always very happy customers) and feed them as if they gave birth to them!

When my ‘kids’ are done feeding the goats, caressing the pig, horse and chickens and eating the delicious goat’s ice-cream, they still don’t want to leave as there is still a lovely, all-wooden playground to explore (and a real tractor to play with)!

Ridammerhoeve was started over 20 years ago and is still as popular as ever – I’ve spoken to many ‘older’ mums in Amsterdam who have told me that they too took their children to the goat farm!

xxx Esther

I can spend hours in ‘Keet in Huis’, and have an especially hard time staying away of the downstairs bedding area. My kids don’t mind, because there is a lovely little play area where they can meet little friends whose mums are in a similar situation (stuck with the choice: which duvet cover to pick?).
Courtney, who has been a few times (it’s always on her list of things to do in Amsterdam), finds the bedding to be extremely Dutch. This means, according to her, that there are loads of very bright colours, and tons of gingham. This is probably true, as there are loads of bright colours in our kids’ bedroom – and loads of gingham!

Making your way to KNSM island (not that far from Amsterdam Central Station) is certainly worth it, not only for a visit to ‘Keet in Huis’, but also to find some other fantastic design shops in the area (and a little playground at the other site of the street). Make sure to check Sissy Boy Homeland out too – they have great houseware, and a cute little café!

xxx Esther

Keet in Huis
Knsmlaan 297
1019 LE Amsterdam
Telephone 020-419 59 58

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Open:
Tue – Fir 10.00 – 18.00
Sat 10.00 – 18.00
Sun 12.00 – 17.00
Closed on Mondays