Another Amsterdam

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Utrecht is small city in Central Holland and one that I was keen to visit since it was only half hour drive, it's main attraction was its old medieval town and canals. We woke to pouring rain so took our time with breakfast in the hope that it would stop, well it didn't! We couldn't delay it much longer if we were to see Utrecht, we needed to get moving. The city was indeed attractive even in the rain! It reminded me of Amsterdam. We picked up a map and just wondered along its picturesque canal side walkways, it wasn't hard to find the cathedral you just followed the bells! Although it sounded like a music practice it was really pleasant to listen to. The cathedral's long beautifully painted windows were its most striking feature, along with its tall tower which was undergoing renovation. The rain eased when we emerged from the Cathedral, it was now just cloudy and quite warm. We had made sandwiches for lunch but we just had to try the long time favourite snack of Dutch fries with mayo, not healthy but tasty. We spent about 1.5 hours in the city, not really enough to do it any justice as there is quite a lot to see here but we still had a bit of a drive to Emmen.

My only visit to the Netherlands in the past was to Amsterdam but the drive to Emmen gave us a real taste for the country particularly its countryside which was flat with many canals and bike paths. I think Holland has the largest network of bike paths in any square mile, we had never seen such an extensive network and of course they are well and truly used. We reached Emmen around late afternoon and our Airbnb which was situated outside the town in the countryside. Our host greeted us and showed us to the holiday cottage at the back of his property, once settled in we headed to Emmen and the nearest big supermarket to stock up. Tomorrow we go shopping :-)

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