Haarlem & Rotterdam

We are continuing our journey here in the Netherlands...
so far we have managed to find an apartment in the city and start looking for work; we are not really vacationing but we do find the time to do a bit sightseeing. It's such a great feeling to take a train or a bus to someplace you've never been, get out of the central station to find a whole new place, with a completely different vibe.
We visited Haalrem last week (many places in NY are named after dutch cities- such as Harlem and Brooklyn) which is a very picturesque small town just 20 minutes from Amsterdam, and unlike the image of its NY counterpart, seems quite rich as well...
today we went to Rotterdam; the train ticket was insanely expensive but the trip was worth it, Rotterdam is a very modern city, with numerous interesting architectural buildings and Europe's biggest harbor!
we just loved walking on the boardwalk, sitting in the sun, watching the boats go by...

New Beginnings

After what seemed to be a very long process we moved to Amsterdam last week.
we've been preparing for this move for a long time and the time has finally come. it was a scary thing to do and when we walked into the travel agency and asked for a one way ticket to the Netherlands i was really shaking. but we got so much support from our great families and wonderful friends, which made it much easier for us to finally take the plunge!
the city is as beautiful and as serene as i remembered (we were here last year too), although much more cold that i would have thought it would be in the summer.
our days have been mostly filled by apartment hunting but we have plenty of time to walk around and enjoy the beautiful streets and tunnels.
these are a few selected photos we took. naturally, there will be plenty more to come:)

I have to say I really stood out in this yellow skirt,  most of the ladies here are still dressed in winter clothes so I definitely got some stares and even a few compliments...