After a week in Amsterdam and a weekend in Utrecht, a few first impressions of the Netherlands:
- Bicycles are everywhere, and everyone bicycles. The infrastructure here is approached with the thought that bikes are a legitimate and primary form of in-the-city transportation, and are to be respected. Separated, well-marked bike lanes, signage, crosswalks, more bike parking then I've ever seen anywhere. I will refrain myself from saying this too much, but it really is the way we should be viewing and using bicycles in the States.
- Every single part of the streets, canals, and buildings are intricately, beautifully detailed. All the streets and walkways, all of them, are paved with brick and stone. All of them. Walking on surfaces like that makes you notice the little details more, and subsequently appreciate your surroundings in a way that poured concrete does not.
- I am blown away by the diversity of waterfowl here. The geographic location of the country combined with the intricate latticework of canals and waterways that criss-cross it, make for a perfect stopping point for waterfowl on their journeys between the Arctic (summer nesting grounds) and Africa (wintering grounds.) Some of them stay here as well, so there's always a shifting diversity of species. Ducks, geese, coots, grebes, cormorants, pieweets, herons, and egrets everywhere along the canals, in city and country alike. If only I had brought a bird guide book, or binoculars.
- The children here are exceptionally well-dressed, and adorable. Parents, like everyone else here, ride their bikes everywhere, and have tiny seats attached just behind their handlebars where their happy children sit, clearly full of joy to be there. The children here are so endearing in fact, that they make me want my own children right now. Which is kind of frightening.
- Cats are allowed everywhere. Even in restaurants. Which, should seem a little unsanitary, but really, it just makes me feel like I'm at home.
- Easy to find delicious cheese and fresh bread. As well as tiny, high-quality coffees (koffies) and fresh, muddled mint tea. Perfect fare for sitting in a cafe for hours while sketching.
More impressions to come.
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