Utrecht

Well, we are definitely wearing down so it's good we're at the tail end of our trip. Unfortunately, Janet woke up sick this morning so she stayed home to rest. Libby also feels like she's coming down with a cold--she's getting stuffy. 

Today Libby and I went to a town south of Amsterdam called Utrecht. It was a good deal larger than I expected. We had originally planned to take the fairly grueling tram ride all the way to Amsterdam Centraal, and catch the train from there to Utrecht (like we did when we went to Arnhem), but I realized we could take the tube to Centaal from a tram stop just a few stops away. Then, on our walk to the tram stop I realized we could take the metro from that stop to a train station that is closer to both us and Utrecht. I'm annoyed we've been suffering this +40 minute tram ride into the city corner when we could be getting off at Leydan station, and taking the metro (a ~7min ride) to the same place. 

Live and learn. Hopefully we will remember this for next time.

Once at Utrecht we got off the train and walked through a fairly new and immense indoor shopping mall. We got lost a bit, but found our way to the historical city core eventually. Utrecht is home to a large or at least it was large) cathedral who fell victim to a storm, tornado, tempest, or hurricane--it really depends on who you ask--that destroyed the nave in the 1674. The nave had not been completely finished at the time of the storm, and everything from the transit (part of old churches that extends laterally from the main bit that makes it look like a "t"), to the huge tower was reduced to rubble and never rebuilt. Today there is a square in its place with different stones that indicate the location of the walls and support pillars. 

We wanted to do the "DOMUnder" tour which alleged to guide you through 2,000 years of history in Utrecht. After a somewhat awkward encounter trying to get tickets we were lead under ground to an area we later learned was where the original Roman stone fortress wall was. Since this was the our edge of the empire this location acted as an outpost and needed to be protected by more than a wood motte and bailey system. We were given a fairly long, and hard to hear, spiel on the history of the location, that was later repeated in video form in a different location. After the video we were given these flashlight audio companion devices and instructed to shine our lights on these small devices around this "excavation" site that was made up of layers of "natural" and clearly setup rubble to learn more about the history and historiography of the  location. 

I think the idea was that we'd been more engaged by "discovering" secrets with our torches.The devices were equal parts strange, clever, and annoying. The ear piece was a little speaker with something a kin to a soft plastic coiled stretchy keychain thing going from one end to the other. The idea was that would go around your ear. My ears are small and lobes don't protrude so it just kind of hooked on the top of my ear. I disliked his sensation greatly. 

About 15 or 20 min into us wandering the underground site, without warning our sensors stopped working. They announced there was another movie to watch. It was here that we learned more about the night of the destruction of the nave. Once that was over we were able to continue with our scavenger hunt of information.

We were feeling a little peckish but the place we wanted to eat at hadn't re-opened yet for the day so we went to the cathedral. It feels very tall but small since it's just the eastern third of the structure. There is not a whole lot in it, but what statutes there are have been defaced during the iconoclasms of the 17th century. There was a small mural that survived from the 1430s which was neat. The organ was imposing and fun to look at.

We found lunch at a place called Lebowski. Yes, it was themed after, "The Dude". Libby had two corn dogs, fries with a thing of nacho cheese, and I had "The Carnivore" that consisted of a sampler size of: hot dog, corn dog, chili fries, popcorn chicken. I also had the "Lewbowksi's Tarwe Triple" It had some Belgian notes to it, so Libby didn't like it but I liked it alright. I'd get it again. 

After lunch we wandered some down the canal until it stopped being as cute, and wandered back on the other side. We popped into a few shops and called it a day and headed home, retracing our steps. 

The surviving tower from the cathedral. 

Here's my silly beer tower

Lunch

The cathedral chancel. Note the bands on the columns? Those are small murals. I couldn't really make out what they were of though. 

The organ

Canal

Canal

Canal

Just gonna leave ya'll with this H.G. Wells looking picture

Tomorrow I'm going to the Rijksmuseum. Pray I get lost less than last time. :-)