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: Big shopping centre, Great city centre Disadvantages: none
Utrecht is situated in the centre of the Netherlands. If you want to visit Utrecht, you best travel there by train. From the trein you walk directy in one of the largest shopping centres of the Netherlands : ?Hoog Catharijne?.
You will find many many shops there from various genres. Ofcourse many clothing shops, but also electronics, music, food etc. If you leave the shopping centre you will enter the city centre. This is one of the most pleasant centres of Holland. The shops are situated around canals. The centre is quite old. One of the most visited building is the ?Dom?, about 100 m. high. This city is certainly worth a visit. ...
Advantages: Fulfilled a dream of Mine Disadvantages: Claustrophobic, eerie atmosphere
Het Achterhuis - the house behind - what Anne Frank had planned to call her book she was in the process of writing when her life was cruelly cut short.
Anne Frank was a Jew who kept a diary during war town Amsterdam. She was in hiding with her family, another family, and a dentist friend on the Princengract , the same building that was used for her father's jam making company.
Today the house she hid in is a museum, a timely reminder of what happened to millions of Jews, and what we can never let happen again.
I walked to the Museum, and was easy to find on foot, although there is tram stops and the river taxis operate beside the museum too. We went last July, and there was a long queue, but it was worth the wait. The entrance is in a stark modern building beside the Westerkirk, often mentioned in Anne's Diary. It's a stark ...
