The Utrecht Cathedral

Is it really possible that I am BUSIER here in Amsterdam than when I'm home in Atlanta? YES! I can hardly believe it but I can hardly catch my breath, going from one thing and one person to another. BUT I'm NOT complaining!!!! I am loving every minute of my life here in this fair city/country! I'm even learning Dutch!

Last week, BEFORE all the shenanigans from my last post with Tracy (from England) and Astrid and Scarlet from Holland, I went by train to Utrecht and met up with Astrid to take photos of the city. It so happened that it was raining the entire day, so all we could do was take pictures of the inside of the city's cathedral, the Cathedral of Saint Martin or the Dom Church.

This is Astrid, snapping away. And in spite of the fact that we were on each other's heels, we both took very different photos throughout the day. That's the fun about being photographers. No two ever see exactly the same thing at the same time/place!

Outside the church is this statue that stands in front of a HUGE banner on the side of the church that is a painting of the renovation they plan to do inside. Can you believe that's a backdrop painting?!

Inside is a treasure trove of art, some of which was defaced in 1572 during the Iconoclast Fury in which statues in a house of God were considered idolatrous images which had to be destroyed. So sad.

After lunch, we had reserved spots for an hour's tour of the Dom Tower that happens to be Holland's tallest church tower at 112.5 metres (368 feet) in height.

In the belfry, after 221 steps up (49 m/161 ft), is a set of 14 bronze bells weighing 31,000 kg (68,343 lbs) total. This is one of the smaller bells. The set is the heaviest in Holland and, after the set in the Dom of Cologne, Germany, is the heaviest in Europe.

At 318 steps (70 m/230 ft) we reached the Latern, which is an open, octangular-shaped room housing 50 carillon bells. While we were in that space, the wind and rain came howling through the open windows, nearly making the taking of photos impossible.

A handful of us continued climbing yet again, 465 steps by now (95 m/312 ft), to the highest platform where we stood outside in the wind and rain to see the city. What you see here is Utrecht's water tower, and a fancy one at that!

Even though we could NOT take photos of the outside church/tower, because of the rain, we felt very lucky to get the pictures we got! One day, when the weather clears up and sun is predicted, we'll go back and walk the city!

This week I had the chance to visit Astrid in Arkel again for a full day of seeing the REAL Holland, out where the polders are (the dikes, you know!). Once I get those photos ready, I'll show you what life outside of Amsterdam is like!

Last night I walked to the Portuguese-Israeli Synagogue here in town to take photos of the lit candles from 5-7p. THOSE photos are also to come.

And tomorrow I meet another blogger friend, Philine, who is my age. Well, she's not a blogger, per se, but a commenter on our Shutterchance blogs. She happens to be in AMS from Germany this weekend and was willing and ready for a meet-up. I'm beginning to think all roads lead to Amsterdam! :)

See what I mean about being busy!

Back at the ranch, Donica is in the thick of a bout with bronchitis, caught while in Brussels this week. She came home today and was so weak that I had to meet her at the train station to help her home with her suitcase. Poor thing! We're glad for the weekend now and hope that these next 2 days of rest will be just what the doctor ordered!

Hopefully YOU are busy with life and healthy. Be safe, stay warm, and PAY ATTENTION as Mercury Retrograde goes into effect from Jan. 28 - Feb. 19. Just HAD to end with that, you know. It'll slow us all down...even me!