Blogs from Province of Utrecht, Netherlands, Europe

This is a very ambitious trip. 15 countries, 16 flights + a cruise and many, many opportunities for plans to go awry. The first came when South African Airlines cancelled our flight from Frankfurt to Johannesburg with no warning, resulting in a missed connection and hotel booking in Cape Town. But following a 3 hour rest stop in Cape Town we got back on schedule. This 1st installment takes us to Amsterdam then on into South Africa. From here we move on to Hermanus, on the coast, to spend some time with Gaye & Jonathan, daughter-in-law Claire’s parents. Panoramas: It takes 5-6 seconds to move to the next pic. 1. Lambert’s Bay 2. Sunset from our accommodation, Lambert’s Bay. 3. Vineyard view, Paarl 4. The beautiful Franschhoek Valley.... read more

Today I went to Utrecht for a tour of the city. I spent a lovely afternoon in the main city center. One of the thing that marvelled me about the city was the city station. It is a modern vibrant train station, filled with Dutch people and tourists running around and stopping for a coffee or a meal in this wonderful place. Once I left the train station, to connect to the citiy center i had to cross a mall and I was in the beutiful streets of utrecht. It is a big city but at least is not overpopulated by bikes like Amsterdam. You can walk thorogh the cannals or visit old building like the town hall or the multiple historic sites within the city. One of those is the Dom tower, this was part ... read more

From much of the city of Utrecht the very tall Dom Tower is visible. This tower is part of the Domkerk (church) complex including a nice enclosed court-yard for this old church compound. There I found a small open air market with live intertainment with many nice Dutch people enjoying the afternoon. According to Wikipedia there were other churches built on that site that were destroyed. The construction of Domkerk (St. Martin's Cathedral) started in 1254 and was completed in the 1500s. The 109 metre Dom Tower was constructed in 1321 through 1382, and for years it was the largest church in the Netherlands. Later in 1674 church nave collapsed and now that is the Dom Square (Domplein) or court-yard. In time there were a number of denominations that worshiped there. A restoration in 1910 the ... read more

After a great visit to the Spoorweg Museum on a sunny day; I had to see more as my time was limited in Utrecht. It was a very short walk from Spoorweg to the very nice free Lepenburg Park. I interacted with some nice Hollanders and enjoyed my own nature experience here in this nice city. I sat for a break for hydro and a munch. I continued walking towards the City Center. Walking down a (unknown) Straat, I had a quick chat with some nice local passer-byers. I visited a nice canal. I was pooped out for the day; and started to have a nice walk back to my hotel.. I did pause a while to enjoy Lepenburg Park again. (Everywhere in Nederland the people were very friendly; and I enjoyed the positive "vibes" in ... read more

The owner-manager of my Hotel B&B told me about the University Utrecht Botanical Garden and showed me how to find this very nice place. I paid the reasonably priced entry fee and was not disappointed. First thing I walked up the hillside steps and sat on a bench to enjoy the view. Then I walked the garden and saw many colourful flowers that were growing everywhere. I liked the carniverous plants that had different ways to capture flies and other insects. (These plants are in the USA, but are seldom seen.) The building by the exit was covered with beautiful flowering vines. I had a delightful visit to Botanische Tuinen. This botanical garden was established in 1639 AD; making it one of the oldest gardens in Europe. Walking back to my hotel I passed some very ... read more