A trip to Utrecht, the shops that is, not the town.

I have just looked up Utrecht on Google search, and the current mayor of the city stated that Utrecht is the fastest growing and the most healthiest city of The Netherlands.   Plus it is one of the most happiest city in the world, according to the United Nations.  Interesting!

But I digress here, as the first trip we made into Utrecht was to the shopping centre which was attached to the railway station.    

It is a short journey in, with only two stops, and takes about 15 minutes, plus there are trains running every 15 minutes, although that can seem a long wait on a cold day.

A photo of our block of units, Joinn!, taken through the glass panels of the railway station.

Walter always has a seat with him.   The walker comes in very handy at times like this.   

Utrecht Centraal.    Utrecht is the hub for most train journeys in the Netherlands, as they come through here, on their journeys to other parts of the country.

The transformation of the shopping centre next to the railway station was amazing, and one that we have watched over the past fifteen years.     

in 2010 the shopping centre was attached to the station via a corridor, which contained shops on one side.   Now there is a large paved area, with a fancy roof overhead, and an area where people can gather together, meet friends and generally sit and relax, as long as the wind is not tearing through.

The shopping centre, Hoog Catharijne.

The view of the canal which runs under the shopping complex.   In 2010 this was a major road,way.   Now it is a serene space.   Interestingly it started off as a canal, which was drained some years ago in order to provide a road to cater for vehicles, and then it was reinstated back into a canal.  It certainly is an improvement.    

A view of the cafes on the ground floor, which is where we drank a fairly nondescript cup of coffee.

However, we ate lunch back in the area between the train station and the shopping centre.   Our favourite, hot chips in a paper holder, and mine with a huge dollop of mayonnaise, even though I asked for a little mayonnaise!    Luckily I had a little wooden fork so I could keep the mayonnaise off my fingers.   This can make the fingers a little slimy.   The chips were very hot, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and so delicious.

My lunch on the second day.     Pea soup from Hema.   The orange juice and roll was healthy but the pea soup was probably highly processed but still delicious.    It was worth the indigestion that followed afterwards.

The doorway of the new Hema shop in Houten.    I love to shop in Hema, which appears to stock everything!

The next blog.    About Utrecht.