Advantages: transport, language ease Disadvantages: the rain
Utrecht was the first city I visited as a lone traveller from England. I was worried about many things; getting the transfers from the airport, finding the hotel and above all I spoke not a scrap of Dutch.
Stepping off the plane at Schipol - the airport in Amsterdam- I was greeted by easy to follow signs pointing me where I needed to be, to collect my luggage, then booths to buy train tickets, which I'd managed in under 2 minutes, and was quickly off on my way to get the train to Utrecht. Located right in the airport, the train station has ever so friendly staff that appear delighted to help you and will enter into a bit of friendly and polite banter with you too; so (after figuring out very quickly I was English) they helped me find the right train platform and off I went with a smile on my face.
The train came in the next 5 minutes ...
Advantages: an interesing little museum Disadvantages: not groundbreaking
Familiarity breeds contempt so they say, but sometimes it can also be very comfortable. Recently whilst in Ghent I visited the Huis Van Alijin Museum of Folklore and found it to be very much the latter.
The Huis van Alijin Museum is housed in some charming almshouses that surround a central courtyard located opposite Ghent's main canal. These medieval almshouses came about in a very romantic but tragic way. In the fourteenth century there were two rival families in the cloth trade. These were the Alijins and the Rijms. The Rijms murdered two of the Alijins and due to this the Rijms were sentenced to death but were pardoned as long as they founded almshouses to provide shelter for poor elderly women. The houses were bought by the city council in 1959 to house the museum of folklore's collection.
I found my welcome to ...
Advantages: Great for learning about time and there is a clock with movable hands! Disadvantages: None
This a great book for anyone whose child is showing an interest in using clocks and telling the time.
~ DickBruna ~
From the Netherlands, DickBruna has written and illustrated approx 100 books for young children which have sold 80 million copies worldwide.
Some of his famous creations are:
* Snuffie the dog
* Poppie Pig
* Boris and Barbara (bears)
* Miffy the white bunny
There is an official DickBruna website where games can be played, screensavers can be downloaded and lots more can be learned about DickBruna and his characters.
~ Who is Miffy? ~
Miffy is an adorable little white bunny, who goes to nursery and then school, plays and generally does most things that young children do so it's easy for them to relate to Miffy.
There is an abundance of Miffy merchandise available which I have found at www ...
