Blogs from Utrecht, Province of Utrecht, Netherlands, Europe - page 3

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Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht January 24th 2012

there is lots more to discover...... read more

Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht December 31st 2011

After sleeping in this morning, we went out to do a little grocery shopping to get ready for New Year's Eve. Sander and Mike bought Oliebollen (basically very big Timbits) and Appelflappen (basically apple turnovers) from a few local markets. Those are both traditional New Years Eve foods in the Netherlands - they are also both deep fried and artery blocking (but, hey, who are we to break with tradition?!?). Annelie and Elysia went for a short bike ride to the Vuurwerk (pronounced Vvvuur-verk) shop to buy Vuurwerks. What are vuurwerks, you ask? Fireworks of course! On the way to the firework shop, Annelie ran into a bit of trouble with a fellow country-woman... Suffice to say that she sorted it out with a few sharp comments! Later in the day, we walked through downtown Utrecht, ... read more
Fresh Appelflappen
The Fireworks Begin
More Fireworks

Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht December 30th 2011

Today we boarded our British Airways flight in Toronto to start our latest adventure! Our plane left about an hour late because it was snowing quite hard in Toronto, and the plane needed to be de-iced. We were worried that we would miss our connection in London, but luckily, we made up most of the time in the air. Unluckily, once we arrived in London, the plane had to circle the airport a few times waiting for a chance to land... so we did miss our connection. They booked us on the next flight though, so we were only an hour late getting into Amsterdam. And, British Airways gave us £20 to spend at Starbucks, for our inconvenience, so we loaded up before we got on our next flight. Sander and Annelie met us in the ... read more
Who's that beautiful chap in front?
Some WWII Bunkers

Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht July 29th 2011

I did not realise just how long it's been since I posted- a whole week! Sorry, guys... we've done a lot of driving and stuff. Saturday, July 23. We headed north to Scotland. We took a coastal route along the Scottish waters, and stopped at Sweetheart Abbey, an old church from 1273. We got a look at tidal plains- a few km2 of sea bottom in one spot. We also stopped to see a lighthouse and walked on the rocky, shellful beach. We stopped at a restaurant for- scones! They were FANTASTIC! We were given buckets of jam and cream to drench them with, which mom happily did. Sunday, July 24. We took our time and headed to the lovely rocks on the beach- it's very sunny for once. We drove for 8 HOURS all the ... read more

Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht March 12th 2011

Wednesday 9 March to Friday 11 March 2011 John started work in earnest on Wednesday, with a meeting in Brussels which went well. Ali recuperated from the hectic schedule by staying in the big round bed all day - reading and eating John's share of the Pim's biscuits! Once John finished work, we spent the evening wandering around Brussels a bit more, including the flash Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (in the Wallonian) or Koninklijke Sint-Hubertusgalerijen (to give it the Flemish name). It gets really confusing sometimes when there are two names for everything! We finished the day with dinner at La Fin de Siècle - a very cool cafe style restaurant that is obviously popular with locals and visitors (thanks again Lonely Planet). Off early next morning by train to Utrecht (in the Netherlands) via Rotterdam. We ... read more
Chambres-en-Ville
The [i]Domtoren[/i]
The [i]Domkerk[/i]

Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht October 26th 2010

I had become weary of my travelling whilst in Zagreb, the endless churches, castles and ‘sights’ - but how can something extraordinary suddenly become ordinary? The answer is when see it every day for weeks at a time. So whilst in the baroque masterpiece of Mozart’s Salzburg I bought a train ticket to Amsterdam - 700 kilometres away. It would the longest single overland journey of my trip so far and also my last before arriving back home to Britain. I looked at stopping over in Germany somewhere along the way and I noticed that Munich’s Oktoberfest was on. However, when I looked into it hostels were asking for a minimum of 50 Euros for a single night in a youth hostel dormitory; I didn’t love beer and thousands of Aussies - that much. Besides, it ... read more
AJs gaff 1 (9 Oct 10)
Me, signing off
Sailing Frisian 1 (3 Oct 10)

Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht September 4th 2010

Our final stop in the Netherlands was the university city of Utrecht located around 40 min south of Amsterdam. This is a large university city and we happened to turn up on a weekend when the sun was shining so it was extremly busy but with a great atmosphere. Also during our time in the city a large gothic festival was on as well so a wide range of people were scattered around the city. The city is just like the other Dutch citied we have visited with canals, tall people, bikes and pretty old buildings everywhere you look. Utrecht seems to us a a party town as it is all we were seeing from the time we arrived to the time we left, maybe a cheaper alternative than Amsterdam as in 30 minutes we seen ... read more
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Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht August 17th 2010

Early morning start, which meant buffet breakfast at 6:30 to start our tour promptly at 8:00. We got on our designated bus and drove from our quiet mooring in Utrecht. (In Amsterdam there is a tall-ships festivalso we had to move away.) We drove to a small demonstration site where one fellow showed how wooden shoes are made, and another explained how Dutch cheese is made. Items for sale, of course. After a longer drive into the country, we came to "Zaanse Schans ”, a “Heritage Park” for windmills, established when windmills were falling into disrepair. The little village actually houses people, some of whom work there. It was interesting – one business was set up as a sort of general store with many historic items. Unfortunately the windmills each required a five euro entr... read more
Windmill Park
Wooden shoes
Homes on display

Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht July 26th 2010

Today we went back into Utrecht for the second time. I can't believe it has been exactly 2 weeks since we went there the first time! We headed straight for the National Museum of Musical Clocks to Street Organs. This is a museum that houses the world's largest collection of automatic musical instruments such as street organs. This was a really cool museum. We first walked around the second floor viewing area which had all sorts of displays. There were even cardboard discs used to play music on these machines! Then we took part in the guided tour (he did an abbreviated English version for just us) which was really cool! The guide demonstrated most of the instruments on display. They also had an activity room just for kids. One activity the kids both did was ... read more
Utrecht streetscape
N'er far from home
Mini mini

Europe » Netherlands » Province of Utrecht » Utrecht July 15th 2010

Today was a quiet day for the family Robertson. We packed up our picnic lunch and headed to nearby Barneveld. They were having a market day and it was packed. We bought some fresh sausages, some souvenirs, and tried oliebollen (sort of like a small raisin doughnut). We also did a short tour of an Alice in Wonderland Museum which was pretty cool. Later we played some soccer at the park and rode bikes around for a while. I wanted to pass along the most annoying thing I saw so far this trip: we were on a canal boat in Brugge and it was breathtaking (not like on Seinfeld but really breathtaking), and I look over and there is a lady on the boat chatting on her cell phone. Was the call THAT important?? Seriously! We ... read more
Alice in Wonderland
Street vendors
Enjoy the ride




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