Stephanie Dijkstra

The Utrechtse Castle Route takes you through an area you could explore for days. In this issue of The XPat Journal, we take you along the manors, mansions and castles of this Route. You can do the whole tour on… read more >

Following in the Footsteps of an EmperorThe Utrechtse Castle Route takes you through an area you could explore for days. In this issue of The XPat Journal, we take you along the manors, mansions and castles of this Route. You can do the whole tour on foot, by bike of by car. Online, you will find a variety of routes to print out (just google: Kastelenroute Utrechtse Heuvelrug). Here, you can read about a few handpicked, special places along the way that you can visit. Last, but not by any measure least, is Kasteel Sterkenburg. Here you can rest your weary head in one of the rooms befitting an emperor and wake up to the sound of nature as you mentally prepare yourself for a satisfying breakfast of croissants, fresh bread and eggs. Even Prosecco in the evening and breakfast in bed are among the options! The owners of the castle have gone out of their way to give the rooms – which all have been named after birds – authentic details, such as ancient tapestry on the walls, antique bureaus and chairs, and an ageless copper bathtub, lending every room its own style and atmosphere. Be sure to take the time to enjoy the view of the canals (with fishers in the summer and skaters in the winter), the fruit trees, the stork’s nest, and Utrecht’s Dom Tower in the distance from your windows. In the evening, as you go for a stroll in the surrounding nature, if you wait till twilight, you can almost always count on spotting roe deer on the edges of the woods as they start venturing out to the fields in the safety of the nighttime dark. www.kasteelamerongen.nl www.huisdoorn.nl www.kasteellunenburg.nl www.hindersteyn.nl www.kasteelsterkenburg.nl www.kasteelduurstede.nl www.sandenburg.nl read more >

If Spring this year proves to be wet and cool and you are looking for something to do (with or without kids), then Leiden is an excellent place to start with the following three museums:   Museum of Antiquity Visiting… read more >

Meet Socrates, the Camarasaurus and BuddhaIf Spring this year proves to be wet and cool and you are looking for something to do (with or without kids), then Leiden is an excellent place to start with the following three museums:   Museum of Antiquity Visiting the museum takes you on a tour of Egypt, the Near East, Greece, Etruria, the Roman Empire, prehistoric Netherlands, Roman Netherlands, and the Netherlands in the Middle Ages. The Egypt collection is one of the largest and most complete collections of Ancient Egypt – and will be on display starting April 1 in their new exhibition Egypt, Land of Immortality, when you will be told how the Egyptians dealt with life after death, through 150 objects, including mummies, mummy cases, bronze figures of gods, and sculptures – a great deal of which have never been on display before. However, its Greek/Roman/Etruscan exhibition – Classical World, a permanent exhibition which opened December 15, 2015 – is at least as impressive, with its mythical heroes and gods, and its selection of amphorae, vases and dishes depicting mythical tales – running from the earliest period of Greek culture, through to the rise of Athens, and on to the civilizations of Crete and Mycenae. www.rmo.nl   Museum of Ethnology The Museum of Ethnology is a place to go and become lost in time, surrounded by beautifully preserved, well-lit and lovingly displayed objects – many of them donations made from private collections by people who had a story to tell. Besides an extensive Japanese section, it also has objects from Korea, as well as the Ainu and Ryukyu people; Africa; China; the Polar areas; Indonesia; Central and South America; North America; Oceania; and the Middle East / Western and Central Asia. Until August 14, the Museum has organized an exposition on Buddha: the exposition takes… read more >