Utrecht

After a few days at Gutman Villa, we felt we had worn out our welcome, so Marmar and I skipped over the Utrecht, a banking/student town about 25 minutes' train ride away, for a visit with the ridiculous Rogier Jacobse, of Rickshaw Run fame. Utrecht is in some ways more beautiful than Amsterdam, because the embankments that run down to the canals aren't just walls that you bump your boat into when you dock. They have restaurants, shops, and promenades. Which means the canal-pathways of Utrecht are both two-levelled and twice as wide. To illustrate:




I'm not going to lie, I spent most of my time in Utrecht drinking and playing guitar while Rogier made silly and misogynistic R&B songs (most of which were variations on Akon's subtle, yet classic "I Wanna F*%k You"...). I did take in a few things, however. First of all, it is tulip season, as you all saw above, and here's the word "tulip" in Dutch:



This is the archway of the 15th century church. It was surrounded by outdoor cafes and pubs, thankfully, which made it a worthwhile thing to sit next to while drinking...



Oh, and Rogier illustrated to us, in no uncertain terms, the mediocrity of Dutch cuisine, by ordering this dish for dinner one night -- an appetizer platter of kroketten brood (Dutch croquettes), liver, and some other sausages...



Mmmmm, look at dat liver!



And then, the weirdest thing. Many of my Baltimore readers might recognize this sculpture from the BMA sculpture garden called "Large Boxing Hare on Anvil" (if you've never been to that particular sculpture garden -- go; it's got amazing work by this guy and by one of my favorite sculptors, Pablo Gargallo). Well anyway, this weird but awesome sculpture is by this dude called Barry Flanagan, and one of my days in Utrecht, we were walking down the street, and I saw a large bronze rabbit thinking, like the Thinker, with its paw under its chin.


[Large Boxing Hare on Anvil]


It looked like this:



Turns out Barry Flanagan makes weirdo sculpture of hares doing odd things like kicking and thinking and boxing, all over the world. There's one in the middle of Dublin, I hear. Anyway, "Thinking Hare," was an excellent piece, and I've decided to buy a Flanagan for my future front lawn. I'll commission it specially. It will be disco-dancing.

Whattaya think about that, Rogier?



Nevermind, he's not paying attention.