The city of Utrecht is in the center of Holland, just about 20 km from Bilthoven, the village where I grew up (and 20 minutes by train from Soest where I am staying these five weeks). I lived in Utrecht for one year (1983) when I worked for an industrial design consultancy (before starting at Fokker Aircraft in 1984 and moved to the city center of Amsterdam to live for four years). Today I purchased two tickets for the Tina Turner Musical to bring my sister Han there on Nov 13. The theater is right next to the Central Train Station. During the past 30 years the city center around the train station had a complete facelift, and in the shopping center next to the train station they have a nice photo gallery of how it was in the past ("Toen...") and how it is now ("En nu...").
What was once a road under the railway, has now been transformed in a waterway connecting to the older city canals and adding to tourism opportunities for the city. As seen in Amsterdam, the city of Utrecht now also has its canal tour boats ("rondvaart boten").
Still existing in the Dutch city centers are the classic moveable street music shows ("Draaiorgel"). The owner/operator asks the passing people for a small contribution to this entertainment.
Slowly catching up on the traditional Dutch comfort foods: today a few "oliebollen" (Sue, Mary and Joe will remember that Opa Vandenboom used to make this in late December for New Year's Eve).
The city of Utrecht has a variety of old churches, among them this cathedral originally built in the 17th century. The city center has many places for people to enjoy a drink or bite to eat at terraces...
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