Today I went in to Utrecht with my host mum to get the process for my visa started. It was fairly standard for most dealings with branches of government. Go in, wait, discover that the computer system is down so the agent who's helping you has to keep running off to check something on whatever is still working, find out that due to a recent rule change they need a fingerprint scan (I'm in a system now. Not sure how I'll feel about that in the long run, but right now I find it entertaining) so go do that, get temporary visa, and leave.
After we left, my host mum asked if I wanted to stay in Utrecht or go back with her. I said I'd stay, so she showed me which direction the station and center of the city was in and said "Have fun!"
So I set of on my adventure for the day. I was wandering down the street and ended up in a clothing store about halfway down the block. I thought "Well, I need some more cold weather shirts anyway so what the hell". So I wen shopping. Wandering out of the store later I turned towards the center of Utrecht and came across a street market so (of course) I wandered through. It was fairly standard as near as I could see, but they did have some cool stuff. Right on the other side of the market my attention was nabbed. I'd found a mall! I was surprisingly happy about this fact, which leads me to an aside.
I was having a conversation with a family member earlier this week about getting used to living here and some of the things I'd bumped in to or was having trouble with. After listening for a bit they said "You know, not only are you in a completely new country you're also from a big city and you've just moved to a small town, so you're actually going through two different adjustments at the same time so it's a bit like a double whammy." An I went "Oh my god. You're right. Huh." This was confirmed for me when I went to Utrecht. But more on that later.
Anyway, I headed up in to the mall, mostly just window shopping but I did pick up a few more things I'd been needing (There's an awesome store which has just about all the basic things you might suddenly go "Oh wait, I need that" about) and eventually found my way to a few of the restaurants. It was about 12:30 or thereabouts so I decided lunch might be in order. I had a very North American lunch except for the fact that I had mayo with my fries and the coffee always came with a tiny cookie. I had a short conversation with one of the servers there about learning Dutch, because I'd mentioned I couldn't yet and he asked me if that was why I was in Utrecht. At which point I remembered that Utrecht is a University town. He said he hoped they'd see me again and maybe next time I could try ordering in Dutch. I quite liked him.
After lunch I decided to leave the dark innards of the mall (They are similar no matter where you go. It was quite comforting, really) and headed outside. From the corner I could see the tall spire of the Dom which is one of Utrecht's tourist destinations and a lovely bell tower clock as well, so I headed in it's direction. It's a free standing tower and arch that's right across the street from St. Martin's Cathedral. And I found a bookstore right in front of it so I was happy.
St. Martin's Cathedral is a Protestant church and I think it's the only Gothic style church in the Netherlands. Or one of very few at any rate. It's beautiful. I need to go back just to wander through it again. There are wall murals and statues and gargoyles, and floor plaques that are huge and old. There's a big stone covered in runes and spiral carvings out in front and the doors are bronze with murals on them. Many of the statues and wall pieces have had their faces smashed off. It's all fascinating to me.
After I left St. Martins I headed down the street in the direction of the museum district, but got distracted when I found a comic store. I was so happy. I've decided I may become a regular over this next year, not least because when the staff noticed I was spending a lot of time going over the Asterix they had in stock (in both Dutch and English! Yaaay!) they mentioned that there was a new one coming out in October. Oh, and would I be interested in some Dutch and English Tintin? Or the English comics and manga downstairs? I was in a kind of geeky heaven and thoroughly enjoying myself.
I left with copies of a Tintin in two languages, an Asterix in two languages, and a new English comic one of the guys recommended, and decided now would be a good time to head to the station and go back to Blaricum. So I made my way back to the mall, which has an entrance in the station, and went to get my chipkart loaded up so I could get home. The chipkart is like the oyster card in London and the soon to be introduced compass card in Vancouver. Interesting thing about the chipkart. You can't use it if it has less than 20 euros on it. So there's pretty much always going to be twenty euros on the card that you can't use. Which just seems stupid to me. I got back to Blaricum alright, as it's fairly straight forward, and settled down for the rest of the evening.
So. To sum up. I love Utrecht. When I went to Amsterdam it was nice, but I didn't fall in love with it the same way. I've decided I need to give it a second chance, so I'll say the jury's still out but at the moment Utrecht is my go to city in the nearby area. There's a couple reasons for this. It's smaller than Amsterdam, and that's what I'm more accustomed to. It's a big city which to me is more like home but the general feel seemed slightly more relaxed and easy. I also found a couple of geek havens for myself all on the first visit, and I didn't manage that in Amsterdam. It's also a student city in some ways and I've always had a fondness for those. There's a special feel to them and an energy in the air that I love. The locals in student cities also seem to have large stores of patience for the younger and sillier members of society, (myself included) and can be incredibly helpful.
So I'll let y'all know what I think after I go to Amsterdam again.
I hope you are taking pictures! :-)
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