Views of the "dom", the cathedral in the middle of Utrecht.
The train from Gouda to Utrecht was easy and fast and we were in the big city in no time. Our taxi took us out to the residential part of the city and dropped us off at Hotel Admiraal. I wasn't even sure if it was a hotel; it looked like a city apartment. All of these "houses" are connected through each block. We got there just as the workers were trying to set up the fire alarm for the rooms. But Marc, the owner, was very gracious during the little confusion. As the alarm was sounding off and on, he showed us to our room in the back with a balcony, overlooking the canal. But he said, "it is going to be warm here for the next few days. Perhaps you would like the room with the air-conditioner???" I jumped at that one and asked to see the room. It was perfect. And such big rooms! This hotel was just the opposite of that one in Gouda; I was in heaven.
Evidently Holland does not have any zoning for residential or business; most of the hotels we stayed in were mixed right in with the houses. The Admiraal was such a hotel,located in a residential area. It was a beautiful spot and so quiet. Just down the street was a school; I am not sure how quiet the neigborhood is during school days, however. We were there during their month long holiday, so maybe the atmosphere was a bit different at other times. I don't know, but now it was very pleasant, with very little traffic.
We quickly unpacked and set up our things: open our suitcases, set up the electric toothbrush and our computer notebook - oh, yes, among other things this hotel had free wireless - and which side of the bed we wanted to sleep on etc. It is amazing how quickly one can get used to a new environment: the bed, the bathroom, the space itself, the bed lights, how the sun comes through the windows. Once you are in a new space you can adjust in a few hours. And then it is yours, until the next place.
The room itself was pretty large and the ceilings were very tall. Marc had interesting art on the walls, mostly local artists. It had a mini bar, which is a very nice touch, and a Nespresso machine! Oh, did we get hooked on that the days we were there! And, as the owner Marc told us, he offered a cocktail hour at 6:00pm. This was a great place, and we hadn't even explored the city yet.
We could walk either way from the hotel to a bus stop which went to the central train station via downtown. In every Holland town, most buses go to the central train station, and most bus stations are right next to the train station. The buses are great; they have a small screen in the front and throughout the bus, showing the names of the bus stops. A voice also announces the stop, so you can figure out how to pronounce the names of the stops. The bus stops themselves lists all of the buses that stop there and their time schedule. So you can hop on almost any bus and it will take you somewhere downtown. We bought a card which has fifteen rides on the card, so we wouldn't have to worry about buying a ticket, though it is very easy to buy from the bus driver.
We went downtown and looked around, noting all of the stores and the cafes along the main street. Our first job was to find the tourist office to get a walking tour of the town. Then we looked for a post office, an ATM machine and an Albert Hein store - this is the Holland grocery store, like Tom Thumb. Every town has several of these stores and we can get everything there: water, snacks, instant coffee, fresh fruit, supplies like toothpaste, deodorant, hand lotion - whatever you need. And they are always air conditioned, so you can relax in there for a few minutes before going out into the sun.
Utrecht has a very large university, so usually the place is packed with students; again, since it was holiday time it was not nearly as crowded, but there were still lots of young people throughout the town. It is not a large town, like Amsterdam, but it was certainly larger than Gouda.
It was nice to sit out at one of the cafes and have a coffee and a tosti - a toasted cheese sandwich, in the late morning, before it got really hot. I know that at the same time Dallas and even St. Louis and Chicago were suffering from high temperatures, but I was used to being able to escape into the air conditioning at home when it got hot. Here in Holland, they are just not used to this heat, and nothing is really air conditioned. They just sweat, and they love it, because most of the year it is so cold. Everybody wears flip flops and shorts and just endures the heat. It was close to 90 degrees that week in Utrecht and very sunny. I was pretty miserable being a tourist.
But Jack was as enthusiastic as usual, so we planned our walking tour for the days we were there. They have an interesting church, the dom, in the middle of downtown, when, in the 1200's the town had some sort of cyclone or tornado and blew down the entire nave of the church. We could see the black stones in the pavement where the columns used to be.
They have several churches in Utrecht; most had started out as catholic but were transformed into protestant during the reformation. One was still a catholic church and they even have a Mennonite church. I noticed one of the churches was hosting an English choir for a concert, so I suggested that we attend. Poor Jack has been to so many choir concerts, but he agreed so we went downtown early, had dinner at one of the cafes and then walked to the church. It was old and all stone so I thought it would be a great place to sing.
This choir was just terrible. It was a typical church choir: at least twice as many women as men. Their program listed pieces by the usual English composers: Tallis, Byrd, Purcell, etc. But as soon as they started singing I winced. First of all, before every piece, the assistant hit a very loud note on the organ to give the choir the first note. Most choirs I have been in give the first note quietly on a pitch pipe. That jarring sound before the piece was startling and ruined the whole piece.
They should have been able to sing these tunes by heart, being an English choir, but they hid behind their music folders the whole time. The choir director, who did not impress me at all, since he was swinging his arms around like a band director, was working away and not one of the choir was paying attention to him. By the end of the first half I was ready to go. But Jack said, oh, let's support this choir. I don't mind staying until the end. I reluctantly kept listening. This guy was an egomaniac; he talked too much between pieces of music, and then every few minutes he would run up to the choir loft and play a little tune, while the poor choir stood at attention.
I suffered through the second half, and as it mercifully ended the heavens opened up, as if in relief, and poured down rain. I had not brought the umbrellas, so we got soaked running to the bus stop. I wish we had left an hour earlier. Was I disappointed.
The next couple of days we spent downtown, walking through the historic part, finding the old canal, the new canal, the house where the only Dutch pope lived, the former monastery and its lovely cloister, and many other points of interest in Utrecht. We did find a Catholic church which had a beautiful museum. The pieces on display were the chalices, the monstrances, the wardrobe of the priests and bishops, and other artifacts of the old church. And the place was air conditioned; I was in heaven.
I really liked this town and was looking forward to seeing more of it in the coming days.
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