A trip to Utrecht

In mid-January, I got up quite early (armed with my travel coffee mug - not something one sees here...marking me as an American) to take the bus into Den Haag to Central Station, and meet the girls for a day-trip to Utrecht. I made to the station early, so bought myself another coffee, and 16 of us boarded the train to Utrecht. Imagine being the one guy sitting amongst us (at rush hour the choices were limited) with all 16 of us gabbing at once!

Our first fun discovery about the city (shameful, I know) was that Central Station in Utrecht is inside a shopping mall :) First stop - Starbucks, of course! And then a short walk into the city's center.

We found our way to a restaurant where we'd pre-arranged to meet our tour guide, but not after first enjoying a warm drink (more coffee!) and a koekje (little cookie).

Our storytelling tour guide was charming and engaging - taking us through a tour through the narrow lanes and beautiful streets in the heart of the city. In some of his stories we played the roles of some of people he described - I was Pope Adrian VI :) I ended up dead (perhaps a suspicious death) pretty quickly after a short stint as Pope - but we all had a laugh.

The city gets its unique charm from the old city centre and its canals and canal-side cellars, old churches and of course the Dom Cathedral - over 600 years old and the highest medieval tower in the Netherlands, and is naturally the symbol of Utrecht.

Now, Nancy, I know that your favorite art supply store is called Utrecht - but I'm afraid I don't know why - perhaps the founders were from Utrecht.

We climbed the tower (on a cold and gray day, so the view wasn't really, well, viewable - but it was still incredible). In order to climb the tower, you must go with a guide, so he is the only other man you'll see in the pictures - young, and fit and thin from giving several tours a day climbing up and down the tower at a jogging pace (him, not us)! We climbed of all 465 steps in the (very narrow stairs of the) tower. It is VERY high (368 feet)- particularly when you consider that you have to climb the narrow, steep and wet stairs whilst circling in the same direction the entire way - and only three places to stop on the way. Climbing down was no picnic, either! But it was definitely worth doing. Thank goodness for my Wii Fit! One friend made it a challenge to climb as way to combat her fear of heights!

We returned to the restaurant for some lunch, a few of us lingered about the shopping streets of Utrecht, and eventually headed back home - worn out from the climb and the early morning start. I was just a great day with the ladies.