Spring and Autumn are my two favorite seasons. I would be entirely happy if we just switched back and forth between them. Spring reminds me that there are always new beginnings and new adventures around the corner. I recently celebrated the Spring Equinox (Ostara) as well as my 43rd birthday, usually we take a trip to Paris for my birthday, but this year my husband had a work trip planned to the Dutch city of Utrecht and I got to tag along. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Utrecht and we even took the train into Amsterdam a few times to explore the city. This was my first time visiting the Netherlands and I very much enjoyed my time there. We are actually going back next month to see the Keukenhof gardens when my husband’s mom comes to visit, so I will have tons of photos of beautiful tulips then.

On our last full day we visited the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam’s Botanical Garden. It’s one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. It was established in 1638 by the city municipality as Hortus Medicus, an herb garden with medical plants for Amsterdam’s doctors and pharmacists. The reasons for establishing a specialized medical garden were very serious: at that time the cities of Leiden and Utrecht experienced the plague epidemic (1634-1637) with thousands of victims. Additionally, several monasteries moved out of the quickly growing city and there was not enough space in Amsterdam to plant herbs.

Of course I had to wear a floral print dress to visit a botanical garden. I love botanical gardens and this one did not disappoint. If you are in Amsterdam I recommend you take a few hours and stroll through these gardens.

Dress ~ eShakti
Belt ~ Amazon
Shoes ~ Soft Spots