Utrecht Spring Bok

I've been remiss in visiting other parts of the Netherlands. The country is not that much larger than the Phoenix metro area, but I've only left Amsterdam a few times (in fact, I've traveled abroad more than I've gone to another city in the Netherlands). It's especially silly that I haven't been to Utrecht yet. It's only about 25 miles away, and the train costs a little over five euros for the twenty minute trip.

It's renowned as a beautiful city, and a little more traditionally "Dutch" than Amsterdam, with a moderate population (300,000). It's also quite old for the area, with ruins suggesting that the Romans settled in the area, and the Catholic Church having a presence in the area as early as the seventh century.

I technically made the trip to attend the Lentebock Festival (lente meaning "spring"), a beer festival hosted in Utrecht. Breweries from around the country served their spring bok beers, which were generally light, crisp, and unfiltered (with few filtered exceptions), and between 6.0% and 7.5% ABV. It was windy and mostly cloudy, and the temperatures hovered just above freezing. The area between the taps was packed with people drinking beers and eating the meat snacks sold at the event.

I asked one of the pourers if she minded me photographing her during the pour. She said that she didn't mind, but she wanted to make sure that the picture isn't going "on the internet." I told her it was, but that under 20 people would see it. She was OK with that.

Kathryn, Johannes, and I took our beers inside the bar, which was warm and packed with others who didn't care to stand outside in the cold.

The city itself had a few canals similar to what you'd see in Amsterdam, with similar architecture framing the water. The area in the historic center of town reminded me of the Riverwalk in San Antonio, with plenty of restaurants, lots of pedestrians, and city lights glimmering in the teal gray water.
















One highlight of the trip involved a visit to Media Markt, a local electronics chain (picture a smaller version of Best Buy). After picking out a pair of headphones, I got into line behind a man who looked to be in his mid- to late-60's. Kathryn was with me in line, and we were talking while the man was paying with the 20 year old female cashier. The conversation between Kat and I came to an abrupt halt when we noticed that the man was purchasing two DVDs of hardcore pornography. At the equivalent of Best Buy. I dropped my headphones in surprise. And then giggled a bit for the next three hours.