+ FC Utrecht vs. Zwolle July 18, 2009
The Dutch government has a lot of paperwork... especially for people who aren't European Union citizens! Fortunately, MARIN has been very helpful in setting up appointments and letting me know what information is needed and when. I had to make a trip to the beautiful city of Utrecht to get a stamp on my passport that indicates that I'm legally residing here. This appointment was rather conveniently on a Friday afternoon, so I was able to visit the city a bit after my appointment.
This is a typical Dutch city street - note the multitude of bicycles!
Utrecht is also known for having many canals! This is the first canal that I strolled along.
While walking along the canals, the weather started to turn, so I headed for the water tower. The Dutch weather seems even more variable than Michigan's! Short, heavy rainfall seems quite common.
I visted the Waterleidingmuseum (water system museum). I found it quite interesting - there were good explanations of how current city water systems work as well as historical artifacts. The development of potable water systems is particularly important in the Netherlands, where the water table is very close to the surface and easily polluted. Private water boats - flat barges or river boats carrying clean water - were popular before the development of piped systems.
Model water boat in the museum.
The Utrecht/Arnhem water works even had a poster at the World's Fair in Paris!
After the museum tour, I went back to my canal-walking ways...
The weather also cooperated with this plan, it's getting lighter out as I go on.
Since it was a Friday afternoon, the streets of the old town were pretty busy with shoppers. The church in the background is the Domkerk of Utrecht, which is beautiful inside and out. I enjoyed my visit there. The strange thing at the church was that recorded organ music was playing, which was fairly pleasant, but there was also a room for hymn karaoke! No one was singing, but there was a TV with the words going along with the music.
More canal pictures!
And a final, sunny moment in Utrech on July 10! The restaurants along the canal started to be crowded about 15 minutes after this picture was taken. The sign warns caution around the uneven paths along the canals.
Another adventure in Utrecht was a trip with Drew, another University of Michigan NA&ME student who is interning at a yachting company near Amsterdam this summer, to see the FC Utrecht vs. Zwolle training match on July 18. The day started out somewhat inauspiciously, with a combination of rain, delayed trains, and the fact that the stadium was nearly deserted a half hour before the game...
The stadium (Galgenwaard).
We went in the shop and looked around and finally asked the shopkeeper, who informed us that the game was on the training fields. We then went for a walk - the training fields are close, but not visible from the stadium due to a little forest - and found the crowd. We got to our standing room places on the sideline just before kickoff.
Handshakes before the game! The red team is FC Utrecht, the green players are from Zwolle.
A little action in the first half! It was very fun to be so close to the field (although my height is a bit of a disadvantage in a Dutch crowd). You could hear a lot of what was going on on the field - including the referee instructing the players not to move the ball any further forward for a free kick, the players calling out to each other for the ball, and even the collisions!
Proof that I was really there! As you can see, we were standing near the FC Utrecht bench. You may also note that I found some small children to stand behind.
After the game, we walked around town and back to the station. We also stopped for some tea along the canals...
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