I grew up in a very suburban Ottawa and after my college move to Montréal I labeled myself a city rat and deemed to never return to the suburban life. Nico, who grew up mainly in the gated communities of bougie Southeast Asia craved the safety and quietness that came with North American suburban lifehood. As I joke with my friends - he was born a suburban dad.
Thanks to emotional and financial support from my own dad - when Nico and I began having our turning 30 freakouts earlier this year he guided us towards settling in The Netherlands - at least for now.
At the start of our house-hunt (house is a generous word for whatever tiny apartment we could afford in one of the most exorbitantly house-priced countries in Europe), I was determined to not leave our current neighbourhood. I had grown extremely fond of Amsterdam West, a neighbourhood with some of the best new cuisine in the city (or as good as it can get in The Netherlands - no offense…), humble natural wine bars, beautiful parks and amazing bakeries. Maybe a bit rough around the edges, but most great neighbourhoods are. After a couple months of dismal apartment visits in our price range, our search radius grew wider across the city. I was in Hungary when Nico alerted me to a shoebox with a garden on one of the quietest streets in Amstelveen.
days are now spent relaxing in the forest
Amstelveen, located literally right beside Amsterdam South is it’s own municipality. Referred to as the suburbs here, it runs along the Amsterdamse Bos (forest) and gushes fresh air, wide sidewalks, great schools and is where Nico lived in student residence during his Master’s at the VU a few years back. Most of the biking consists of green paths that weave along a rarely used train line and the headaches of rush hour in Amsterdam are only a painful memory. You’re more likely to stumble upon a lost crayfish or two instead of swerving copious amounts of crushed Heineken glass along the paths.
Having shelved the town as out of our price range, we hadn’t even considered looking at properties there. So when Nico sent a video of the affordable (by 2023 inflation standards apparently) one-bedroom shell with so much potential two steps from a famed French bakery and the forest - we put in an offer within a week.
All of a sudden we were thrown into new home ownership, filled with tasks I had no idea how to handle, paperwork we did not understand and the slowest mortgage process ever. All other plans were halted as we struggled to stay on top of everything. Grateful but overwhelmed. Eventually a couple months after our offer was accepted and we had sufficiently reduced our stress levels by way of a vacation by the sea in France, which you can also enjoy here - we found ourselves getting into the suburban groove.
The shift back to the suburbs has been much easier than I anticipated, perhaps because the city is only 15 minutes by bike and the proximity to nature is incredible. Nico is overjoyed because we finally live very close to his work and the commute runs through the forest.
Here are a few of the places Lulu drags us to on the daily, if you find yourself in Amsterdam and want to see some easy nearby nature, rent a bike and you can easily check all of these out in an afternoon.
Maybe you remember my article about the cherry blossom park from last year? This is what that park looks like in Autumn <3
The Goat Farm in Amsterdamse Bos, an adorable place where you can shop for cheeses, hang out with goats and bottle feed the babies.
The park nearby - I will send you the name if you are visiting but won’t put it here for obvious reasons :) It looks straight out of a fairytale, I am obsessed.
Unfortunately doggos are not allowed to walk directly along the lake so Lulu waited (kind of) patiently for me..
And a cameo of Bobbi the hedgehog (that’s a hedgehog right?) who lives under our deck. We will eventually start the process of guiding them into a hedgehog specific home (complete with a cute sign and their own hole in the fence for easy access to the backyard). But we are pretty sure she had babies recently so we are waiting it out. If you live in The Netherlands and just so happen to know of a hedgehog expert, please share their number, we don’t want to fuck up somehow.
Looking for a new magazine to read? Broccoli is one of my favourites, it began as cannabis-centric magazine and now covers a wide range of mainly plant-inspired topics. It always has entertaining articles and artistic spreads to fawn over. You can catch a piece of my work in their latest issue, join the waitlist here, or find a copy at your local too cool for school bookstore.
Thank you so much for being here! I’ll see you next time for a trip to Calabria in Italy, Nico and I are currently here exploring the region. Have a great week <3
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