Day 143: Kinderdijk/Utrecht

Monday, June 7, 2010: Kinderdijk and Utrecht

On Monday morning we got a late start and took the train to Utrecht from Tilburg, this time just Karu, Bali and I as Mateja had her exam that day. Utrecht is about and hour and fifteen minutes north of Tilburg so we arrived late morning and checked the bus schedule to Kinderdijk. We had to wait a few minutes to catch the next bus to Kinderdijk. While waiting in the Utrecht Centraal Station for our bus to Kinderdijk, we grabbed snacks at our favorites: Albert Heijn and SWIRLS. Then we boarded the bus and road to Kindedijk...an hour and a half bus ride!

Once we finally arrived, we roamed around a bit and admired the windmills from afar. We decided to do as the Dutch and rent bikes to explore the area. I was glad we did, as Kinderdijk is quite an expansive area. We cycled along the dikes and admired the molen (windmills), stopping to take pictures and explore. Although you cannot go in any of the mills, it was really neat to see and read the history of former functioning mills. As we cycled back, we passes a couple taking wedding pictures. Karu also ran into someone that he knew...small world!

When we were back at the shop that we rented the bikes from, we checked the bus timing and decided we had time for a snack. We ordered tosti's from the restaurant and waited (more or less patiently) for the bus home. The bus ride back to Utrecht was a little unnerving, as the bus drove on high, windy roads. I was comforted by Bali braiding my hair during the ride. I also continued working on the soduko puzzles we had brought with us (which I am apparently no good at!).

We got back to Utrecht with little time to spare. We had only an hour or so to walk around the city  and explore. We went to HEMA, Xenos and Blokker (our Dutch favs) as well as a used book shoppe and some other small stores. Mostly I enjoyed walking around and getting a sense for another Dutch city, especially the famous Utrecht.

We had to board the bus back home to Tilburg pretty quickly (and we had to run to catch it in time) so that we could make it back in time for dinner. Mateja and I had agreed to cook a nice parting dinner for everyone, and also to thank Arlette for her hospitality in allowing us to stay in her room. We made it back in time to help Mateja finish the taco preparation and enjoy a final meal with some of our exchange friends.