When we broke the news to Vanessa and Maarty that we may well be popping in for a visit, not only did they feign enthusiasm, but they also arranged time off work AND hired some bikes for us so they could properly show us the town, and what at town they live in.
We had wondered about the generous portions of cod and chips (with mayonnaise because that’s how it’s done in Holland) they ordered for lunch, but we needn’t have. By the time we’d circumnavigated the city by bike, crossed it on foot, then circled it by pedal boat (called a waterbike, because anything with pedals is called a bike in these parts), we had not only burned off every excess kilojoule from lunch, we’d also made a big dent in yesterday’s dinner, which we’d consider to be no mean feat at all.
Utrecht for those who think that the Netherlands only has cities ending in “dam” is its fourth largest city, a major transport hub with buildings dating back to the middle ages. It actually made the top ten list a few years ago of the world’s great unsung cities, but I suspect the humming we heard as we wandered the ancient streets and waterways was a whole new song in the making. Of course it helps when the weather magically turns in the space of a day, from a chilly sixteen to a cloudless thirty degrees, but none the less we have marked this place as one where we must spend more time when next we return.
No comments
Post a Comment