Went to Delft and Utrecht

It's no secret that I love Holland. I particularly wanted to go back to Utrecht after visiting it on a day trip a few years ago. We arrived on the ferry on Saturday morning of Easter weekend. I was right in the middle of a STUPENDOUS cold and couldn't walk more than about 200m without stopping for a rest. Not awesome. We managed to get to Kobus Kuch for some excellent and reviving apple cake. Seriously. This was worth the whole trip. It was hot out of the oven, we were sitting in the sun watching the world go by on the square.

Then the small cute bear wanted to have his picture taken with the Nieuwe Kerk. I obliged.

Then, this. The most excellent revelation of the trip. If you order Mint Tea in Holland, you don't get a little teabag of dried mint. NO indeed. You get a steaming mug of hot water (honey optional) with 3 or 4 stems of mint. I credit this entirely with my recovery from the Worst Cold Ever.

We spent the day sitting in a cafe with my friend and her husband, setting the world to rights. It was glorious.

On arrival in Utrecht, we found our Airbnb, I recovered from the walk from the station, and then we set off exploring (slowly). Found some canalside local beers. Oh, go on then.

The view around the corner from our flat:

And our stroll after dinner at Speck, which was recommended by our host. It was outstanding and one of the highlights of the trip.

The next morning, early, we set off for Amsterdam to go to the VanGogh museum and do some exploring.

Breakfast of champions: Starbucks soy latte and an appelflap.

Van Gogh was excellent as usual (although a few of my favourites are at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris), and then we wandered up through the city.

The Westerkerk (we were going to go to the AnneFrankHuis but couldn't get advance tickets and the line was CRAZY. Next time!)

Our feet got tired around 4, so it was back "home" to Utrecht, where we sat in the sunshine below the Domtoren and wrote our postcards (with a beer, of course).

Make note of how high that tower is, by the way...

Dinner that night was another recommendation from our host: the Sea Salt Saloon. The whole dinner was absolutely outstanding.

Monday morning we climbed the Domtoren. All of it. As my guidebook says, the tour takes you "alarmingly close to the top."

Not the top.

Not here, either.

Oh, ok, THAT's the top.

EEP.

Tiny Utrecht.

Miffy says GO!

It was an amazing trip - we saw a ton of sights and really loved Utrecht!