Holidays in Holland

After Ronda, the next stop on my travels was the Netherlands. I landed in Eindhoven and was there for three days over Christmas (overall, a miserable place). Then I spent a day in the unpronounceable city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, home to medieval painter Heironymous Bosch. The highlight, however, was a week spent visiting friends in Utrecht, a seriously underrated city. Here are photos from my week y pico in Holland.

In Utrecht, I stayed with some friends who were living in a house built in 1663 right in the center of town. By just going around a corner, I would come to the Domkerk, a church built using indulgences, and in an ironic twist of fate, the nave collapsed in a windstorm. The apse and transept remain in use as a church, and the tower – the tallest in the Netherlands – is now the symbol of Utrecht.

The centers of all three towns were filled with bicycles, the preferred form of transportation for the Dutch. Bike lanes are everywhere, and there’s no need to where a helmet. I was lucky enough to get to borrow a bike for much of the week and feel like a Dutchman myself (Thanks Pieter!). Let me tell you, as a New York cycle commuter, these guys have got it down!

Another reason I love the Netherlands is their excellent design sensibilities. I almost forgot that the Rietveld Schröder House was in Utrecht, but now I’ve had a chance to visit it – at least the outside. This is one of the most important buildings in architectural history, and the only building that completely embodies the elements of De Stijl. I also got to visit the University of Utrecht, which my friends attend, and see several of their really cool buildings.

My friends Theo, Maarten, and I borrowed a car and went out to two places straight from the Dutch Cliché Corner: Kinderdijk and Gouda (actually pronounced “how-dah”… my whole life has been a cheesy lie). Kinderdijk is one of the first places where the Dutch began to pump water to above sea level – in 1740. It’s an open, windswept site with several 18th-century windmills. Beautiful. Gouda is – you guessed it! – the gezzellig (I think I’m using that right) town famous for it’s cheese of the same name.

I happened to be in Utrecht for New Year’s Eve (or “Old Year’s Day” as they call it there). It may have been the best New Year’s celebration I have ever been a part of. First, we had a fancy five-course potluck dinner, followed by a party. Turns out that the only time it is legal to set off fireworks is on this holiday, and we took advantage of that as much as everyone else in Utrecht. About the same time, some of our party decided to start a bonfire in front of the house. The police came by, riding bicycles, of course, to tell us we couldn’t do that… not because it was illegal, mind you, but because the smoke in the middle of the city would be too much. Just as they were telling us to put it out, two of my friends were bringing a couch out the front door of the house.

“What are you planning on doing with that couch?” the police asked them.

“Um, we were going to sit and watch the fire,” my friends replied.

Needless to say, they dropped the couch, pulled a fire hose from the house and put out the fire. We went back to partying.

Later, though, we came back outside, pushed the couch to the middle of the nearby intersection, and set it on fire by throwing fireworks at it. Neighbors down the street, who were also out with fireworks, pulled out their hose and tried to put out the couch fire. A tiny, friendly battle ensued, as some of us pulled the couch out of their range of fire to shouts of “Nay! Nay!” Soon enough, the whole neighborhood was enjoying the bonfire on the cold night. One guy even came by later – when the police had come back to observe – and added a bookcase to keep it going. A fire truck pulled up, watched for a couple minutes, talked to us for a bit, then wished us a Gelukkig Nieuwjaar and were off.

After a while, we went to the Navigators Student Union for a dance party that we were at until 4AM. Good times. Thanks again for having me, guys!

On my last day in Utrecht, I went up the Dom Tower. On the way up, the sun set and it began to snow. Although it was freezing, the view was great from the top. I’ll leave you with some of those pictures. Many more from my time in Holland are in a Flickr set.