kiwibird: A long walk around Utrecht

This was a very long walk around Utrecht! Kylie asked us to buy bread at a certain bakery, and she gave us very precise details on how to get there but it took ages to find it. And when we got there they were sold out of bread!

However we had a good look around Utrecht, and trying to get our bearings at the same time. We were relying on a very poor tourist map, made worse when we could not access Google maps (no internet, no data). Interestingly, we both are too reliant on Google maps.

A little bit of history. Utrecht was chartered in 1122 and had a city council as early as 1304. In 1579 the Union of Utrecht was signed and this laid the foundations of the Dutch Republic. It was then the most important city in the Netherlands but was surpassed by Amsterdam in the Golden Age (1588 - 1672)

A tourist boat navigating the canal that runs under Hoog Catharijne. The canal that started off as a canal, then was drained and became a road, and now made back into a canal again. A lovely setting.

A view of the Dom Tower in the distance.

A New Zealand shop.

Lunch time. The Dutch people love to sit in the sun, while drinking coffee or eating lunch or having drinks in the early evening. They just lap it up (the sun that is). I feel sorry for the people who have cafes without sunshine. Perhaps they have cosy areas inside that people seek out in the winter.

And on the subject of inside cafes. The Dutch love their cosiness, or gezelligheid, and it is so important to get this right. The setting, the furniture, the ornaments, the indoor plants and indoor lighting contribute to the feeling of gezelligheid. The expression of 'this is gezellig' when sitting in a room is quite a compliment. However, the fact that you probably cannot see what you are eating in a restaurant, due to the dim lighting, is not important.

One of the old canals.

Walter trying to work out where he is while looking at the terrible map. Behind him is a 'coffee shop' where you can legally smoke marijuana or eat cannabis in cakes. Coffee shops are not cafes as such and it is important to realise there is a difference. I did recognise the shop, although I still did not know precisely where we were, map wise. This is not due to frequenting such places! More of an interest really.

A Miffy shop. There is also a Miffy museum in Utrecht. I am sure everyone knows the Miffy books, written and drawn by Dick Bruna. He lived in Utrecht.

The Dom Tower. Someone must have straightened it up during its recent renovation, as it was always on a lean in my photographs. The lines on the pavement show how far it would fall, should that happen.

The Dom Tower is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands. It was once attached to a church called St Martin's Cathedral which was built between 1321 and 1382. The Cathedral was never finished and the nave finally collapsed in 1674. Another church was built after that but it wa further away from the Dom Tower.