Blogs from Province of Utrecht, Netherlands, Europe - page 9

Leeds to Amsterdam and Utrecht Having made much of the band Within Temptation on the Iceland blog, we decided it would be a fine idea to go and see them in the Netherlands their home territory. For this trip we were accompanied by our good friends Ela and David. We got the train, a packed Trans Pennine unit to Hull, and then a taxi to the dock. The ferry crossing was good, we availed ourselves with the food on offer (david managed five courses for the evening meal) and entertained ourselves with some beer and cards. Next morning, the 6am call to breakfast felt a bit early so we were a bit bleary eyed. Once on the transfer coach to Amsterdam we we subjected to the most ignorant, toe-curlingly awful moaning and drivel from a ... read more

Collection of Utrecht Hi everyone!! So sorry I haven't written in a while but things have been crazy! Rehearsals are coming to a close so everyone is frantically trying to perfect things last minute. Anyways, I took a ton of pictures with my nice Nikon D40x while I was residing in Utrecht and have touched a few of them up and added them for you all to see. Utrecht was very unique and had so many different sides to it.. Shopping streets, little cafe's, canals, train stations, parks, and graffitied walls. It was a pleasure to stay there and discover all the fun places to visite or eat at. Hope you like the pictures and thank you all so much for all your comments I appreciated it and will get back to you! my email is ... read more

After 270 miles of riding, I'm certain that the Netherlands is the best place for one to try out bike touring for the first time. Here's why: 1. The Knooppunkt system and LF Route network: It is very easy to find your way cross country by bike in the Netherlands. The country is covered with a network of bikeroutes called 'LF routes'. Just check your LF map or a map online and decide which route number to follow. The routes are well marked with signs posted everywhere. Don't want to follow a route? Thats ok too! Holland is also covered with places called "knooppunkts'. These are basically numbered waypoints throughout the country. At almost every knooppuunkt location stands a map of the region showing all of these numbers. Just choose which Knooppunkt you want to bike ... read more

This morning Oom Teus took us to...wait for it...Dekker! Dekker is a massive timber drying/machining/manufacturing factory/plant. The guy that owns Dekker is the 10th richest man in the Netherlands. There are also five other outfits in the world (mainly in Europe). The place was huge! We first looked at the office area - it was very impressive because they even have their logo (an elephant) on the carpet! They even have this huge wooden elephant - to get it inside they had to remove the windows on one side of the building! We had a look into their board room which had a lot of sample products - including window frames, doors, mouldings, floorings, skirting, planter boxes, decking timber etc. We then looked at the factory/plant which consists of several huge buildings. Here are a few ... read more

Today we had to try and pack everything into a few bags that we would be able to carry with us to England. What a mission!? Apparently we must have gathered quite a few bits and pieces along the way - souvenirs, lego, my work clothes, lego, a handbag, lego...you get the idea! Anyway, we managed to get it into 2 big suitcases, two backpacks, one big camera bag and a laptop bag - manageable with 3 bags each! After Auntie Margareth and Uncle Albert came back from work, we hopped into our cars and headed back to Germany. So now that we have just mastered the art of reading maps, navigating Europe’s lack of road signs, driving on the right-hand side of the road, and U-turns, we sadly had to return our little car. Luckily ... read more