Mar's Great Adventure

Yesterday, I had a meeting in Almere for work. My meeting only lasted an hour and I had the rest of the day off from work since I will be going in on Friday, so I decided to take the train route home through Utrecht. I hadn’t been to Utrecht yet and thought I should see the massive Domkerk and tower. So, I took the train to Utrecht from Almere.

When I was arriving to Utrecht Centraal, I kept my eyes out for the tower; I knew it would be visible. I quickly spotted it and knew which direction to head when departing the station.

Utrecht also houses the largest indoor shopping mall in the Netherlands; the mall is attached to the station. I ventured onward and didn’t stop to window shop as I wanted to explore my new surroundings outside instead. I quickly maneuvered my way to the church hoping that I would be able to go to the top of the tower. After reading some material and speaking with a woman in the gift shop, I discovered I was able to reach the top by partaking in a tour. Seven euro fifty later, I purchased my ticket.

This was around 12:45 so I had about an hour to kill until the tour to the top at two. So, I took this chance to wander through the streets of Utrecht. I spotted quite a few cool music stores as well as other enchanting sites. It was a really fun Centrum to walk around. There were also tons of shops. I spotted Tivoli, a place I learned houses some decent concerts but have not been to any there. (There was a concert last Sunday I wanted to attend at Tivoli, but I did not.) Now, I know where it is located if I ever do go to a show there!

After wandering through the streets and canals some more, I headed back for my tour. There was a family in my tour that absolutely drove me nuts. It consisted of some children and their moms, aunts, etc. From what I gather, the mom of the annoying children was Dutch but had immigrated to the U.S. She had a Dutch accent when speaking English and her children were learning Dutch but live in the U.S. This part was kind of interesting to me for the obvious reasons, but this family really got under my skin.

I noticed them enter the gift shop immediately as the tour group was to meet at 2:00 here. The 11ish year old girl’s voice could not be missed. She had one of those snotty and loud voices I just know is accustomed to throwing temper tantrums in public. Come to think of it, she could have been a character out of one of Roald Dahl’s books. Perhaps, she was most reminiscent of Veruca Salt. She walked around with these astoundingly loud boots saying, “Mommy this and mommy that.” The mom wasn’t very pleasant either. Ew...

Other than that, the tour was nice and was in both Dutch and English. I listened to the Dutch trying to understand as much as possible and then listened to the English learning about how much I comprehended in Dutch. I understand quite a bit more than the amount I understood during my first month here. The stairwell progressively got smaller and smaller the higher up the tower we hiked. I initially thought it plausible for my mom to perhaps attempt an ascent to the top but after reaching its higher steps, I knew her claustrophobia would kick-in probably much like her episode in Delft. :) After the tour up the tower, I went inside the church for another euro fifty to look around.

After departing from the church, I stumbled upon the last hour of the Wednesday Markt in Utrecht. I had fun going down the stalls and gazing at all the objects and smelling the fish and frites. I wandered to a bit of the indoor mall while walking back to the station where I caught the busy intercity train back to Rotterdam Centraal. Due to filled seats, I stood next to the WC the whole ride. Yum...

Pictures from the Domkerk and the tower in Utrecht are posted...

# posted by Mar : 5:30 PM