Utrecht, The Netherlands.

It was so good to have trains back running again after a day of strike action by the Dutch rail workers. Just like back home, I totally understand the need to fight for fair pay and working conditions but it would be nice if everybody could work out the issues a bit faster with less inconvenience for everyone all round. This little trip was back in mid June this year 2025. I had been to Utrecht 30 odd years ago when I was a young back packer. I was interested to see if I could remember more than the big old church in the middle of town. I was staying with a pen pal way back then, in a nearby town and they showed me around. This was sort of a similar trip we were on our way to visit one of @consciouscat 's friends and we had a couple of hours to spare, Utrecht was on the way and looked like the perfect stop for a coffee. We only really had time for a snack and a short walk around the middle of town. The tourist information centre was great. I even learnt in Roman times, there was a fortress here. The fortress was named Traiectum, because of its location at the Rhine river. Traiectum was translated to the Dutch "trecht". The "U" comes from the old Dutch word "uut", which means downriver. Utrecht can be roughly translated to "the fortress down the river". That was one more thing than I learnt last time I was here.

The church was just the way I remembered it.

The coffee was good.

Utrecht is the fourth largest town The Netherlands

See ya next time.