Adventures in the Netherlands continue

---

Well here I am again. This time in the fantastic city of Utrecht in Utrecht province in the Netherlands. I left Zwolle the other week and again rode my bicycle, for a bit longer this time, to Utrecht. The clouds looked threatening all morning, and it rained a bit but then I thought: plastic bags, they'll save me. After a few we splashes from the sky, the sun came out and I had a merry time. I rode across all different sorts of terrain, even some bits were hillyish, and through all sorts of different towns and communities- including a place called Putten, where TVs are banned; I didn't want to stick around and find out why. Anyway, after about 6 hours, including a half-an-hour quick whizz tour (take a few speedy shots kind of thing) through the city of Amersfoort, I made it to Utrecht, this time my brake cable held on but I arrived with a flatty (flat tyre for you non-Englishers)- no sympathy required.

So that was fun enough. In Utrecht, I met up with my good old sister and some friends who I'd met in Prague a few years back. The next day my first visitor arrived, yay!! - all the way from Brussels she came. We caught up on plenty of NZ talk and checked out the city in the rain. Utrecht is big enough (about 400K and 4th largest) and has a really nice (and large) dome in its centre and a canal rings the inner-city and has all sorts of outdoor bars along it. You have to walk down to them from the road, which makes the city look rather interesting. We went to a bit of a Polish party that night and then the next day took off to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam- also a very nice and interesting city. I'd been there quite a few times before (although you wouldn't know it from my poor sense of direction). It was yet another beautiful cloudy day with the odd splash from the sky and the annoying rain was coupled with annoying package tourists blocking the paths, we also had sex tourists doing their thing, drug tourists, American tourists and of course, my favorite, British beer drinking tourists. We also encountered a bit of cycle path-rage from the locals.

But anyway, we had a good old time. The city: its history, its culture, its thousands of canals and bridges, all the markets and museums, and of course had a walk through the red-light district. The constant smell of Marijuana is so pronounced (I often wonder how the oldies like it), there are also enough buskers and the place is such so culturally diverse. We did a bit of a boat canal tour, despite my companion sleeping through half of it, it was good enough, and there were plenty of places where you can avoid all those annoying tourists. Another highlight was biking along all the canals after dark, most of the bridges have lights on them- and there are just so many! The next day the sun kind of came out, again we walked around and also checked out the Van Gogh Museum. Then it was time to go. I went back to Utrecht and it was great. Amsterdam's nice but it's a bit over the top- and it doesn't really give you the feeling that you're in the Netherlands.

So yeah, that's the latest. I'm continuing my cycling, as a rough plan: next to Den Haag (the Hague), then Rotterdam, Zeeland, Brugge, Antwerp and Brussels. Sounds like an alright time? Well yip.

Also, I put on anther heap of photos onto by Banda Aceh blog if anyone can be bothered checking them out.

---

Photos

Back in Zwolle
with aunts and uncles

Schrikland in Flevoland
A former island that I went to the other week. Flevoland is a province that was literally created in the 1960s during the major Dutch reclamation period. The pole indicates that it's about three meters below sea level!

Schrikland
My little cousin is up there somewhere

Geethoorn
picture perfect but touristy little town from the other week

Comments

[Stephen]

Pennsylvania Dutch
Are you turning Amish again?

[emu]

if i could grow a beard like that would pretty girls hang out with me too?

[clint]

cheeky dutchy
nice little joke there, kees - writing Amersford, when the city is called Amersfoort, clearly - you old prankster.

[DestinationAlgeria]

sorry mate; no such

[DestinationAlgeria]

OK so every now and then it slips. I clearly don't have all day at your 'job' at the Canadian bullshit office to be on the net.

[Matty P (head)]

Hot Fuzz
Ah, I thought you'd hit the "fuzz" button on the camera, but you've clearly outshone Emu. Ingenious use of literally in the Flevoland shot, brought a tear to my eye. Keep it up, am enjoying your antics. I note you never mentioned what type of tourist you were in Amsterdam; no doubt some hybrid Amish/Beer drinking cross?

[Annick]

beardy stuffs
Enough about the flat and wet Netherlands. When are you going to action land (ie Algeria)? And is it the reason why you are growing a beard - to look more like the locals in North Africa?