the Netherlands' most Cheerful City

...is obviously Utrecht!

Rain or shine, the bright and shiny spirit of this city cannot be wiped away!

Maybe I should explain a little. Back up.

I am trying to get caught up to the present day in my blog posts. I like being able to write "Today I..." But I won't lie, writing about Rome put me a little behind. So this post is going to start with "Last weekend I..." And then maybe after that, I will have fulfilled my dream of at least being ahead of what I've already done.

It's the kind of thing you always hope will happen with your homework, but never does. Let's see if I can make it happen here. There is only one way to find out...

...

Last Saturday dawned gray and rainy, but that did not stop Sarah, Bonnie, Anna, and I from our plan of going to Utrecht for the day.

Utrecht (the city) is here:




















Utrecht is located in the province of Utrecht (Really, Netherlands? Really? You did this with Groningen, Groningen and now Utrecht, Utrecht. At least in the U.S. the worst it gets is Oklahoma City, Oklahoma!)

We spent our first moments in Utrecht trying to get out of the train station, which has fused with a mall to form the world's largest shopping complex (an exaggeration, but only slightly). Then we walked to the Domtoren and Domkerk.
























That's the Domtoren, or tower. Across from it, on the other side of a square, is the church:
























There is a large square between the church and the tower because of a freak tornado in 1674 that ripped a section of the church out. This diagram gave a good look at the before and after:
























After hearing about this freak tornado, I think I knew that Utrecht would be a fun sort of place.

Now, to fully understand our next moves, you have to hear about the guidebook.

I have this guidebook:
















This book and Rick Steves' pretty much have me covered, guide-wise, in the Netherlands. This book is the one that talks about Utrecht, and this book was the one in my purse on Saturday.

This book led us to the National Musical Box and Street Organ Museum.




















We knew when we walked in and heard the first street organ playing that this museum was special. And with our museum cards, it was also free. Nothing better.

Oh, and the brochure described it as "the most cheerful museum in the Netherlands." How could we go wrong?

We arrived right at 1:00 when a guided tour was leaving. The tour turned out to be a good choice, because only on the tour do you get to hear everything in action. And, let's face it, without the music, street organs and music boxes are kind of dull.

On our splendid tour, we got to hear and organ that sounded like a goat, watch a rabbit pop out of a cabbage -- sort of, have a group sing-along, see some violins being played automatically...

What was that? Oh, you want to hear it, too? Ok, good, because I took a few videos :)

The infamous guide book told us that "the highlight for everyone, young and old, is the tiny music box in the form of an ancient furry rabbit, which pops up out of a fading cabbage and beats time to the music with its ears." Needless to say, Anna and I were excited about seeing the rabbit for a good couple of weeks before we went to Utrecht. Probably too excited, in hindsight, because the rabbit either wasn't working right that day or was just naturally kind of a dud.

Here's a video of the strange, disappointing thing. I will warn you in advance not to watch all of it, because it does hide in the cabbage the entire time and never begins to beat time with its ears.




Something was up with that rabbit. Thankfully, there turned out to be plenty of excitement to be had on the tour besides the rabbit. For example, this organ (thing) actually had automatically playing VIOLINS. And in its time, it was considered the 8th wonder of the world by those who heard it. Oh yeah.

This video will help you understand a few things:

1) Just how automatic violins (and the entire museum sounded)

2) How our poor tour guide, Sophie, must go crazy having to listen to these songs multiple times every day. Watch as she tries to stand not-too-awkwardly next to the thing for the entire song

3) Oh, the entire song. Again, you will probably get the idea after a few seconds. But listen to it all, if you want!



We also got to have a sing-along! How many real-world situations have you been in that actually include unexpected sing-alongs? For me: this was about it.

Does anyone who knows Dutch have any idea what we are singing???



And, finally, a street organ that was supposed to have a "human voice," but everyone decided sounds more like a goat. Skip ahead to about halfway through, and you should be able to hear the goat very well.



There, did I get Old MacDonald stuck in your head? Now you know what the museum was like :)

I hope the videos have given you the impression that this museum was...pretty hilarious. It was loud and musical and full of happy little kids, and we did leave there pretty cheerful. The cappuccino in the museum cafe helped a little, too.

While we were enjoying lunch in the cafe, we opened up the guidebook to see where to go next. It told us about the Railway museum, which was described as having three "worlds," some of them involving time travel and others involving bright lights and billowing steam. Sold.

On the way to the museum, we got caught in a downpour and took temporary refuge in a convent/museum courtyard. (Picture credit to Bonnie!)



















The torrential rain just added to the idea that "Today is crazy -- what next?"

The railway museum was next!





















Of course, the amazingness all started when we once again saw these magic words at the ticket booth:



















Museum card, where would I be without you?!?

We walked into the main building of the museum and collectively went "wooooooah." It was huge! But the guidebook told us what order to follow: Worlds 1, 2, and 3.

I think the best way to describe the worlds is through a word collage. Ready?

World 1: audio guides, "elevator" (time machine?), village in 1893, animatronic mice, first steam engine in the Netherlands, fake trees, John Middlemis says "never forget me!", slightly educational.

World 2: theater show, will it be in English?, many small children in the audience, one-woman performance, completely in Dutch, based on the Orient Express?, dog puppet, poison (maybe), woman rips her clothes off???, the can-can, bear attacks, the show ends and I still have a lot of questions.

World 3: sign warns that people with heart problems should not ride, waiting in line, through a door to find four-person cars, roller coaster?, trains, darkness, a few bright lights, creepy mannequins, a drop in complete darkness, screaming, slow-moving cars but still lots of fun.

I hope that gave you a small idea for what the worlds of the railway museum were like. Worlds 1 and 3 were way too fun for our age level (maybe our enjoyment of them reflects our actual age level?), and World 2 was bizarre in a humorous way.

After that, we went outside and the sun was out! (Picture credit to Sarah!)



















After that, the weather was very pleasant, and we enjoyed our walk back to the train station (the two museums exhausted our kid-friendly entertainment options, and it was time to head back). Then at the train station, I got to enjoy something I haven't had in over TWO MONTHS!
























Utrecht - crazy, zany, amazing. Het was leuk!