Day 3 - Utrecht

---

Today we ventured into Utrecht which involved taking public transit! What a great system. We parked just on the edge of the city and got parking plus 4 two-way bus passes for 4 euro dollars (about $5 CDN)! We would have had to pay 28 euros to park in the city! I've attached one picture of bikes by the central station. There were thousands. I've never seen so many bikes. They were literally stacked two high in racks! And up and down every street! Well, we were on foot this time and headed to the Dutch Railway Museum. After awhile I had to stop Nigel from taking pictures of every canal we passed over; but they were quaint. It was fun for the kids (movie and a train adventure ride) and interesting for the adults. We saw a special exhibit of many trains that Royalty owned (Queen Beatrice of Netherlands (which looked like a fancy Via Rail train and was quite modern), Queen Pia of Portugal, Queen Juliana from Netherlands, King Edward VII of England, King Leopold, King Franz Ferdinand, etc. At one time, before modern highways and airports, trains were the only way that Royalty would travel).

Funny translation story - a friend of the family we are exchanging with said (before we were to meet his sister) "Have fun with my sister!" Nigel replied, "That doesn't sound so good in English!" We laughed.

If we thought roundabouts in England were challenging (with lights half way through the roundabout sometimes), well, here there are also plenty of roundabouts but this time with the additional challenge of an outer circle just for bikes! They even have their own signal systems with a picture of a red bike to stop and green bike to go! You have to always keep your eyes peeled for cyclists. But when riding, we always feel safe. Drivers are very careful and considerate to cyclists. Nigel even put a lovely basket on the front of his bike so he can easily carry his groceries home. What a sight!

Nigel noticed a lot of (rather cute) dutch girls checking him out but then realized that it's not because he's so tall (we see several Dutch men over 6' 7" every day! And they are the average tallest height nation in the world); not because he's good looking (he ain't). Nope, it's because he's got a pot belly. Everyone here is sooooo skinny. They ride their bikes to work, to the grocery store, to their friends' houses. They only use cars for inter-city trips. It's the opposite of America here where every 2nd person is obese. Here, Nigel is the obese one, no joke.

---

Photos

In the streets of Utrecht
Lori and the kids in the old part of Utrecht (which is most of Utrecht).

Lovely canals
I couldn't stop taking pictures of these. This shot shows some boats; other places had little restaurants, picnic sites; even a restaurant.

Great on gas
We have the Smart cars in Canada but this on is about a foot shorter and has the same tires on it that my lawnmower does.

Inside Franz Ferdinand's Train
The Royalty travel(ed) in style.

Bikes, bikes, bikes
There are at least twice as many bikes as cars in Utrecht. Just outside the shopping mall downtown they are literally two deep and two high.

Comments

[Ed]

Pot belly... hee hee..
We still love you though Nigel!

[Elke Campbell]

Nigel is not obese!
Check out the guy behind Lori and the kids in the Utrecht picture. He must hae a motorized bike.