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7/18/09

Tourism: The Netherlands - Day Out - Haarlem Is a Lot Like a Small Amsterdam - by Beth Greenfield

For the complete report from the NYTimes.com click on this link

The Netherlands - Day Out - Haarlem Is a Lot Like a Small Amsterdam - by Beth Greenfield

It could be argued that one of the best introductions to Amsterdam actually lies 20 minutes outside of its borders, in the tiny jewel of a city called Haarlem. There, you’ll find bustling global restaurants, smooth-as-glass canals, ornate 17th-century architecture, a thriving bike culture and museums rich with both art and Nazi-resistance history. But in Haarlem, you’ll be able to experience it all in just a single day.“It’s just like Amsterdam, only smaller,” declared Dion Meinhardt, 23, who was cutting hefty golden triangles of aged Gouda for customers at Kaashuis Tromp, a Haarlem cheese shop whose walls are lined with yellow-wax-encased wheels of the local specialty. “It’s more like a village here.”

Make that a highly sophisticated village. Haarlem — accessible by frequent trains from Amsterdam’s Central Station — is home to not one but four must-see museums, the most renowned of which is the Frans Hals Museum.

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