The Netherlands

October 14, 2024August 16, 2024 Kirsten

Amsterdam strolls, June 2023

Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities, I’ve been several times and was happy to go back even just for an afternoon on my way home from Madrid last year. I had a 9-hour layover in Amsterdam which was a perfect amount of time – the plane landed timely and I was off super quick (because within Schengen zone, no passport control needed) and on a train into the city in no time. En route I bought my ticket for ARTIS, and then had plenty of time for a leisurely stroll through the city to get there. After visiting the zoo I then strolled back along the canals in the beautiful Summer weather to head back to the airport. A perfect way to spend an afternoon!

February 19, 2024January 14, 2024 Kirsten

ARTIS Zoo, Amsterdam – snapshots in Summer

On my way home from Madrid in June 2023 I had several hours in Amsterdam, of course I hopped on a train into the city and spent the afternoon at ARTIS! It was a Friday afternoon (at the start of June, so not Summer holiday time yet), and while there were a couple of school groups, it was actually relatively quiet despite the great weather. It had been a few years since my last trip, most things were as I remembered but there seemed to be some new additions, or perhaps just things I hadn’t remembered seeing previously – there was a new lion habitat being built and it looked amazing, so I think I’ll need to visit again to see that with the lions now living there! Most of the animals were up and about and active, I definitely liked seeing the elephants and giraffes outside and interacting in their herds which I hadn’t seen so much when visiting in Winter. I would definitely recommend a weekday visit in the warmer months!

February 12, 2024January 2, 2024 Kirsten

ARTIS Zoo, Amsterdam – snapshots in Winter

Back in the Winter of 2018/2019 I happened to be in Amsterdam on a couple of occasions and stopped off at ARTIS Zoo both times. ARTIS is a very nice city zoo, located right in the middle of Amsterdam, and is a great size for spending a few hours enjoying nature. I also find it a great year-round zoo and there were still plenty of animals to see out and about in the chilly Winter months. Today I’m sharing a small selection of the photos I took on these visits to ARTIS – I particularly liked seeing the camels (it’s been a while since we’ve had camels at Edinburgh Zoo for me to see regularly) and also the lemur walkthrough. And next time I’ll be sharing the pictures I took last Summer when I made another visit – look out for that!

June 17, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

Pictures from Ouwehands Dierenpark

Of course as well as seeing the pandas at Ouwehands, there were plenty other animals to see! I didn’t get nearly as many pictures as I usually take, so I don’t have many pictures, or of every animal that they have. But it’s a very lovely park, it really feels a little in the wilderness and it’s quite a big park, which was a nice surprise that I didn’t expect. So today sharing some pictures and a little info of what I have from Ouwehands. I was really hoping to visit again this year, even before the baby panda was born, as they have a pair of polar bear cubs which are just adorable in the videos posted on their social media pages! Our visit was on a weekend in February, and actually the weather was great, it was sunny and not too cold, and whilst there were a lot of people at the zoo, it wasn’t so busy that there were too many people.