One Friday I convinced Shannon to take off work and head up to the Polish Pottery Outlet in The Netherlands. I've been itching to go back ever since I went there in April. They have such a great selection and I always have fun rummaging through the aisles. Reagan was very patient with my indecisiveness, but after 2 hours, I think I was wearing on both her and Shannon! Below you'll see pictures of our newly acquired pieces ranging from coffee mugs to entertaining dishes. I found a new pattern that I really liked this time around, so I hope they continue to carry it in the future as I'd like to add to my collection. I also bought my friend Stephanie some mini teapot shaped teabag dishes as a belated Birthday gift. I think I'm going to have to head back there and get some for myself now since I opted out after seeing what damage we had already done!
Once we were finished at the Outlet, we headed in the direction of Utrecht where one of Holland's nicest medieval castles is situated, 'Kasteel de Haar' (here is Frommer's review in English). It's only around 5 minutes Northwest of Utrecht and probably around 30 minutes from the Outlet. It was a lovely Fall day, so we toured the grounds, just missing the last tour of the castle by 30 minutes. The castle is currently being renovated, but it still seemed quite immaculate; though, we hope to see the finish state in the future. The grounds were beautiful with bridges, canals, flowerbeds, labyrinths, Autumn colored trees and more. It was all worth the small entrance fee. If you haven't noticed from early blogs, Shannon and I love castles and try to hit as many as possible...you just don't see these kinds of things in the States, let alone in our home state of Nebraska!
Entrance to 'Kasteel de Haar'
When the renovations are complete, it's going to be quite nice!
Reagan and I posing near the gardens in front of the castle
Structure in the middle of the gardens
Little canals were everywhere
Reagan seems a bit annoyed with me here!
Part of the moat around the castle (some of it was filled up with dirt due to the construction)
Reagan loves to be lifted up and down
I believe this is a section of the back of the castle
A knight was situated on one of the castle's spirals
The church next to the castle with a brilliant yellow Autumn tree
Reagan and I strolling across one of several quant bridges. I loved the Fall colored trees surrounding the bridge.
Look at those massive trees! (this is just on the other side of the bridge)
Part of the castle and moat's walls
We were amazed with the beauty of the Autumn colored trees since we haven't seen many in Brussels.
Luckily there was another lady walking around the grounds taking pictures, so I snagged her to take a quick photo of us.
Shannon and Reagan on one of the drawbridges
Reagan and Daddy being silly
I believe this is the back of the castle
Another tree-lined waterway 
Below are some of my Polish Pottery purchases. Since we didn't ship over any of our new coffee cups that we received for our wedding, we decided to buy a few along with saucers. We thought it would be fun to get an assortment of designs. We drink a lot more tea these days and I tend to have some ladies over every once in awhile, so it's nice to have some unique mugs.
Here are some of the other items: muffin tins, tart pan, square dip dish, and side dish bowl
Teapot shaped teabag holders which I gave my friend
2 comments:
I love it Ali! I was just in Poland this weekend and thinking how much I want to return to this outlet. Now I will have a fun castle side trip to duplicate. I think the photos of you in the autumn leaves are some of your very best! Reagan seems very happy.
I visited this castle last week and fell in love with it! Wish I saw it before I got married, I would have my wedding there :-) I told my husband will have our daughter's wedding there ( she's 6 months old now)! Gorgeous piece sitting on a beautiful land! Love it :-)
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