Outings from Utrecht

So continues the tale of our European outings. These past few days, launching from our base in Utrecht, we've seen quite a bit of Holland. Friday found us in Den Haag (The Hague) for another visit to a FabLab (very cool location in an old cigarette factory transformed by the city in to a center for innovation) - as well as a partly cloudy trip to the beach at Scheveningen (pronounced s'CHay-fuh-ninger - try that on for size!), which is a neighborhood of Den Haag.

Scheveningen is not our favorite spot in Holland. It felt a bit like a run down version of Atlantic City - but with bikes and frites on the North Sea. However, as it was partly cloudy and previously rainy, the beach was deserted and Samuel got to play in one hell of a big sand box making it, most likely, his favorite part of the trip so far.

On Saturday we made our way through Utrecht with a stroll through the Flower Market and along the canals in the old part of the city to the Central Station for a train ride to Weesp, a lovely town half way between Utrecht and Amsterdam.

On the train we introduced Samuel to his first Kinder Surprise. And as you can see here, the SURPRISE was as much fun for Jack as it was for Samuel. I believe that we'll see a lot more father-son moments like this in the future.

Weesp is home to our friend Klaas' sister, Janneke, and her family - one husband and two children (3 years and 11 months). They took us on a bike ride that is, thus far, one of the highlights of my trip. The route made its way over a drawbridge in the heart of Weesp, and then along a canal past two windmills dating from the 1690s. As luck would have it one of the windmills, which is maintained and operated by a volunteer group, was open and milling corn meal. We were allowed right up to the top floor to see the grinding at close range. And not only that - they were selling their flour in a small store at ground level...and they had a pannekoeken mix made right there in the mill. I went a bit over board and purchased quite a bit, which we now have to lug home...but I'm sure it will be worth it.

This first shot is a view from the grinding level (about 25 feet up from the ground) of the open windmill we toured, looking at the second windmill which is a private home (for sale by the way). Jack may have to post a bit more about how the windmills operate because it is such a clever system.

Our route continued on through some of the most beautiful countryside - full of canals, rich green fields with cows, sheep and horses, adorable canal-side homes, and extremely bike-friendly drivers. Not to mention a bike ferry to cross one of the canals that was operated for us by a teen aged boy FOR FREE!

As Samuel did not have his afternoon nap on Saturday, he enjoyed a wee snooze on the back of Daddy's bike. If we hadn't stopped to adjust the straps that appeared to be cutting off his windpipe, he probably would have continued napping quite happily.

We spent this afternoon in Amsterdam - getting a little preview of the city before we transition there for a couple of nights at the end of this week so Jack can participate more fully in the FabLab conference, which kicked off this evening with an "Open Source BBQ". Images and tales of Amsterdam Outings to follow later in the week.

Utrecht Old and New

We've had some great opportunities in the past week to explore Utrecht and take in some ARCHITECTURE. Our generous host, Gerrit, is a part-time tour guide, and he took us on his official tour of Utrecht on Tuesday. At the heart of the old city is the Cathedral, which was partially destroyed by a tornado in 1674 or so. The nave was obliterated, but the crossing and choir at one end and the great entry tower at the other end remain, with a large square where the nave used to be. The statue on the centerline of the nave is to commemorate the end of the War and the Resistance.

From inside the cloister, looking back at the tower, the missing nave is no longer apparent, and you get a sense of the scale of the original church.

Utrecht's canals are unique in that the water level is a story below the street level, giving direct access from the canal into the cellars alongside. Originally, the Rhine ran through Urecht, and the houses were built on great dikes to contain seasonal flooding. After the river was tamed by an upstream dam, tunnels were bored through the dikes for easier access to the cellars, and the dikes were eventually hollowed out into cellars themselves.

We were fortunate to have a guide who know all the tiny passages and alleys in the old city. Utrecht is quite beautiful; big enough to be a real city, but still compact and beautiful, retaining the character of the old city.

On Wednesday, we joined up with Rob Corser's Amsterdam class on a tour of the buildings of Utrecht University. The university moved from cramped quarters in the center of town to a new campus on the polders on the outskirts. The campus plan (most recently revised by OMA), tries to retain the verdant ground plan of the polders by building up and connecting through 1st floor pedestrian bridges. There are quite a few buildings by significant architects, and noone seems to be afraid of a little color. This is the newest dorm, called Casa Confetti (supposedly it's REALLY Smarties House, but they didn't want to pay for the name).

Some converted shipping containers comprise another set of dorms; they're looking a bit shabby these days, and are apparently pretty lonely places to live.

This older dorm used to form a gateway from the campus to the polders, but the ground plane has been filled in with some newer, low-rise housing.

One corner of the 16-story tower straddles a bike path.

And the center is occupied by a pub (in a dorm!) and lots and lots and lots of bike parking.

The University Library, by Arets, is organized around a very tall central volume. The vertical surfaces are all black and very weighty, but the horizontal planes are white, making it feel much bigger when you're at the top looking down than it does when you're looking up from the ground floor.

The building is clad in black concrete panels cast with a bamboo pattern in relief, and with glass panels silkscreened with the same pattern. Many of the panels open on hydraulic actuators for ventilation and daylight control.

The most well known buildings on campus are probably the Minnaert building (which I'll get to in a minute) and the Educatorium by OMA. The Educatorium is a prime example of OMA's brand of Dutch functionalism, with a program-driven organization and a collage of spatial and material approaches. The details can be a little rough, but I suppose it's impossible to hire enough interns to work out ALL the details when every room and corridor is completely different from the last.

Samuel enjoyed all the ramps.

We also visited the Schroder house (HORRAY!), which was totally awesome. Better than I expected. I was very familiar with the exterior of the house, but the interior organization is really what this place is all about. We had a very quirky and wonderful guide, who started the tour with all of the sliding wall panels closed up and the house partitioned into individual rooms, then told the story of a day in the house while opening it up until the whole first floor was an uninterrupted volume. Really beautiful, and full of fascinating details. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside, and the tours are too short to do any real sketching. Still, one of my favorite ARCHITECTURE sightseeing experiences.

Post-Rietveld, we headed back into the old city and had a beer on the canal. Rob didn't really enjoy his fruity beer, but suffered through it nonetheless. That's Ann and Will in the background; Will is quickly turning from baby into little boy.

Samuel and I also enjoyed the respite (that's Clifford, Rob's coteacher, in the background).

The next day, we went back to the University campus to visit the Minnaert building. I've always been very interested in the building, and was disappointed the first time I saw it to see how much the exterior finish has degraded. It looks like shit.

The interior study carrels are very nice, with superbly finished concrete portals into pretty luxurious red leather banquettes.

The centerpiece of the building is the cooling pond, which USED TO collect water from the roof, absorb heat energy from the whole building, and send it back outside for cooling. Unfortunately, the University has decided that they need more classroom space in the building, so the pool is being ripped out and replaced with enclosed rooms. I couldn't find out for sure whether the cooling system was problematic or not, but as you can see, they're collecting the water from the roof and routing it outside rather than letting it freely fall into the pool. Well, it was a good idea (I think). Too bad I never got to see it in action.

I also took a trip to the FabLab in Utrecht (back to the research). It's in a great industrial area, right across the street from this sweet old factory.

The lab was busy and in full swing. Pretty great.

The beating heart of every FabLab is the coffee station. This one is particularly fine.

Utrecht by Bike

Now we're in Holland - Utrecht to be exact. Utrecht is about a 40 minute train ride south east of Amsterdam and is absolutely lovely.

We have the good fortune to be staying with the parents of our good friend Klaas in his childhood home. We have the whole of the third floor of this 1928 town house to ourselves - plus delicious meals from time to time prepared by Klaas' mother.

This past week has been spent exploring the city and experiencing ARCHITECTURE (which Jack will post more on at another time)...and riding our bikes. Not only are the Hesselinks providing us with a roof over our heads and food in our bellies - but also two fine (well, Jack would argue that his isn't so fine) Dutch city bikes, mine equipped with a child's seat on the back similar to what Samuel is used to in Seattle.

You'll notice that we aren't wearing helmets. Yes, there was a moment of hesitation there but having noticed that the roads are primarily travelled by other cyclists and that those who are in cars are used to navigating around bikes safely, I decided it was just fine...not to mention that NO ONE else wears a helmet here so we would have stuck out like an obnoxious American family. And we don't want that.

It is such a delight to ride around this city. In addition to the novelty of the wind in my hair, there is the amazing infrastructure developed for cyclists here and the amusement of watching very well dressed men and women (suits / briefcases, skirts / heels / shoulder bags) casually make their way to work on bikes. My favorite cyclists, however, have to be the mothers with one, two, sometimes three children conveyed to day care or to the park under their own pedal power. And again, most of these Mamas are very well dressed (as well as tall and blond). There are a number of ways that they do this - whether with a seat behind (like Samuel's), or both a seat behind and in front (like the one we have in Seattle), or with two behind and one in front...or with a Bakfiets (see below), that can carry a whole gaggle of children. And these kids aren't all young - we saw one mother with an 8 or 9 year old balanced on a front rack and a 6 or 7 year old balanced on the back. All with their white blond hair flowing. Very impressive.
We'll try to capture some shots of these cyclists before we leave...in the meantime, here is our local grocery store around the time when everyone is getting off of work and thinking about dinner.
And here are the cargo bikes for a local 2nd hand store in the old part of the city (right on the New Canal).
And here we are at the end of a jaunt out towards the university and back this afternoon.

And just to prove that we are diversified in our athletic pursuits - here is a shot of Jack and me engaged in a heated game of ping pong the night before we left England. (Jack won two of the three games...but I was a little tipsy. Otherwise, I would have had him!)

Kentish Outings

Hello from Kent. Jessica here. From time to time I will be allowed to have a guest appearance on this blog - authoring posts full of details and photos of our outings and Samuel's antics rather than ARCHITECTURE and culture. I'll leave those bits for Jack.

Our time here in the Garden of England has been lovely. Each day is structured around two naps and one outing. A few of our highlights are included below.

At my brother Ian's urging we set off to find some uniquely carved gravestones that are specific to New England, but simultaneously appeared in small pockets of Kent in the 18th century. I have heard them referred to as both soul effigies and masks of orthodoxy. They take the skull shape as their basic form and are stylized from there. These were found in the tiny (and I mean tiny) hamlet of Luddestown, which we reached via some extremely dodgy (read narrow) roads and almost run-ins with Royal Mail vans.

In true tourist form, we paid a fortune to spend our Friday at Leeds Castle with its beautiful gardens and black swans (which, I learned from the guide, are native to Australia and those brought to Leeds Castle by the 20th century owner were the first to appear in Britain).
There was duck viewing at The Duckery...
...egg salad and water cress sandwiches with lemonade and burdick soda for lunch...
...and a fun time at the playground.
Just this morning we headed along the coast for breakfast in Whitstable where we found very familiar weather conditions to Seattle. It felt just like home - confused.
Its been decided that we could absolutely live in Whitstable (and we are in fact hoping, sincerely, that Emily and Ali manage to let a place there before too long), with its charming beach cottages,
its brisk business in oysters (we hear that there is a local beer brewed specifically to accompany oysters - which, alas, we didn't get to try as Samuel needed his nap),
and its beachside strolling. Here you have the little man with Daddy and Uncle Ali.
Here he is with Auntie Em.
Samuel could definitely be content in Whitstable given its expanse of rock strewn beaches. Jack and I both received a nice selection from Samuel.

We head to Holland tomorrow for the next phase of our adventure...but this respite in lovely old England has been a real treat.