The Hague and Haarlem

On Wednesday we took an afternoon jaunt to The Hague. Although it was blustery and cold, we walked around for a while, visited the VVV (tourist info office), and decided upon the M.C Escher art museum. Escher is famous for his tesselations (interlocking figures that take up the whole canvas) and his mathematical perspective-changing pictures (like the one with an unending river/waterfall or the one with an impossible stairs). Housed in an old royal palace, the museum showed Escher’s progression from realism to surrealism. It was neat to see his works, including woodprint blocks and photos. I particularly enjoyed a virtual reality (headset) experience that took us “into Escher’s worlds,” and a series of computer games where the objective was to arrange blocks in some of Escher’s impossible shapes. As I walked down the grand staircase to the first floor, I distrusted every step, unsure of my visual perception anymore.

Besides being the administrative center of the Netherlands (and some UN offices, like the International Tribunal of Justice), The Hague is a huge cultural center, with dozens of museums and even more music venues and theatre shows. Only a few weeks and a bunch of money could do that justice. So I walked around.

In Haarlem we met with two more of our group for dinner at a small (but evidently popular) Italian restaurant. Besides walking around a beautiful town, I enjoyed being with my friends. We have great conversations about theology and worship and stuff. We headed back to Utrecht relatively early, because the trio of French delegates invited us to their room for a third night of wine and cheese. Tr�s bien!

Long lost family

I have been in contact with a distant Dutch cousin, Rob Jongejeugd. We’ve arranged an evening at his house in Heerhugowaard in the province of North Holland. I am looking forward to it! In the meantime, I checked out his website and found that we share a common love for hiking. Take a look at his photos to get an idea. The rest of the site is in Dutch.

Utrecht on bike

I just experienced the city of Utrecht in a whole nother light. After walking along the canal from our guesthouse to the downtown, a charming 20-minute walk in its own right, I tried it out on bike. Erin, Chris and I borrowed bikes from the stewards (youth who do the grunt work of the conference). Everyone was out on a bus tour together, but we weren’t interested in doing touristy things. So we got on our bikes and rode, with no map or apparent direction in mind. We turned new corners, rode down narrow alleyways, on gravel paths beside canals, down shopping streets, across main avenues, under the train tracks, and through the brick roads of the downtown. We tried to climb the large tower in the center of town, but ticket times weren’t convenient. It began to rain, so we found a caf� and carried out our original plan for the afternoon: sit and read. I am now reading Debra Rienstra’s new book, “So Much More” (see the website). I’ll write a review when I’m done.

Utrecht afternoons

Besides singing, one of the greatest pleasures of this trip remains introducing my friends to the euro-life. Kent and Asher are both new to Europe, so I have tried to infect them with a more relaxed attitude. We have spent a few afternoons in downtown Utrecht just hanging out at a caf� under the pretense of reading our books.

Picture this: A canal cuts through the main shopping district, and a story below street level dozens of cafes spread their tables across brick terraces along the bank. Kayaks and pleasure boats vie for space in the narrow canal, floating along as slow as possible. It’s a sunny afternoon, and our friendly waiter who already brought us a round of coffee and another of Heineken, suggests we try the local summer favorite, a light white beer. It’s as good as he promised: light clouded yellow, a small cap of foam, and a slice of lemon to balance the hint of sweetness. Excellent conversation on quantum physics and philosophy ensues, courtesy of Elise, bound for graduate studies at Notre Dame in Philosphy of Physics. Dean reads a chapter of Fleming Rutledge, Kent digs up a great quote from Abraham Heschel, and I read two pages of Milan Kundera. Life is good.

Utrecht 2

Yesterday we had little to do, which was nice. I started off the morning with a solid european breakfast of bread, cheese, yoghurt, and granola. Then Asher, Kent, Paul, Sheila, and I went to the supermarket five minutes away to buy some stuff. And by “stuff” I mean alcohol. And by alcohol, at least for me, I mean spending ten minutes in front of the wine section deciding which red Cabernet Sauvignon was best.

We walked downtown for a few hours, across canals and down narrow streets with quaint three-story houses and shops. The church in downtown Utrecht is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen, and less than half of it remains from a tornado a few hundred years ago.

I took a nap in the afternoon, and for lack of a watch or an alarm clock, I slept too long and was 15 minutes late to our choir rehearsal. I walked in with a sheepish grin on my face. That evening, we had an informal worship service and taught people some songs. As I walked out of the chapel, the sun was setting and so Elise Krull and I sat out on a brick wall and jammed. For the next two hours a dozen people gathered and we sang songs in English and French. It was good.

I am currently reading Milan Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” a postmodern Czech classic. Unable to sleep, I read this morning from 3am to breakfast. Today, we have a public worship service at a church nearby; also an audience at the City Hall.