It’s been almost 40 years since Doug and I lived in the Netherlands while he was doing postdoctoral research there. Our time in the Netherlands changed our lives in profound ways, and now we are back to reconnect with old friends, explore our old haunts and some areas we did not get to then.

We want to learn how the way of life we idealized then has changed and get a glimpse of how Europeans are viewing our world today. To this end, we have spent the past 6 months intensively studying Dutch and have surpassed the amount of Dutch we had when we lived here before. Though most Dutch people speak at least a little English, and some speak it better than most Americans, our fledgling Dutch it is proving very helpful for all the signs and info offered in museums as well as conversations with the near universally vendors one meets when traveling.

We landed in Amsterdam after the usual fatiguing flight and took the train down to Belgium for a few days to get our land legs under us.

Yesterday we trained it to Utrecht and discovered why the conductors we remembered were no longer taking tickets. You can get off the train to transfer among platforms (which we did three times) but you can not get through the station turnstyles at your destination without scanning your ticket. Clever system!

I would add that, exactly as we remember, if a train said it was departing at 2:03, the wheels are indeed starting to roll precisely at 2:03.

Downtown Utrecht is completely transformed. The cozy train station where our 3-year old daughter and I would go every week or so was calm and quiet. We had our little route that usually included the street organ museum and lunch of pannenkoeken – pancakes the size of big dinner plates and served with meat, cheese and other savory toppings as well as desert versions of same. I would do a bit of shopping in the little shops along the way, and then we would take the train back to Zetten, get back on our bike and pedal home to the 300-year-old farmers cottage that we were renting.

Utrecht’s train station has changed with the times and is now an ultra-modern multi-story complex.

A 20-minute walk (thanks, Google Maps) took us through narrow streets to our B&B. We will be spending 12 days in an apartment fashioned from an old canal warehouse along Nieuwe Gracht.

There are canals EVERYWHERE in this part of the world, but Utrecht has some that are two stories. They used the dirt from the canals to raise the land next to them. So today, the streets and sidewalks are lined with houses and businesses on the upper level, and paths lined with former warehouses at canals-basement-level sit below.

I imagine that the warehouses connected to the buildings above and behind them were shops that sold what boats had brought along the canals. I also suspect that the shopkeepers lived above their businesses in a very convenient arrangement.

Nieuwe Gracht, our canal, is just a little younger than Oude Gracht, a few blocks away, which was built in the 1300s. I have seen several info sites call Nieuwe Gracht one of the most beautiful places in the Netherlands, and I think it may be true.

Here is the canal outside our B&B. We scampered out at first light to get these shots because of the weather forecast for thunderstorms and unusually high winds.

And the interior does not disappoint!

We found a grocery near by and have eaten breakfast and lunch in today, which is good because of the inclement conditions.

I love it here! I was a little concerned that the ceilings might be too low to stand up – not so. Or that it would feel too dark and damp. Also not so. It is well-lit and cozy. We had our best night’s sleep since we set off.

We wanted to recapture the feeling of living in the Netherlands that we so enjoyed many years ago, and this seems like a good place to do that.