I'm Back. . .
Hello all, i’m back from my summer vacation / school trip in the Netherlands. I had a fantastic time and I’ll be posting more photos over at my little photo blog soon.
It was great spending a month in Utrecht and traveling all over the Netherlands learning about how the Dutch deal with issues of land use planning, transportation, historic preservation and governance – just to name a few of the themes we studied.
Thanks to the timezone shift I woke up early Sunday and took a walk around my neighborhood reflecting on my trip. My two favorite things right now that I’ll miss greatly and hope to somehow foster in Tacoma are:
Bikes and the bike culture of the Netherlands. One of my first orders of business when I arrived in Utrecht was to find a bike. I rode every day all over. Just like everyone else; mothers carrying two children, business men, college students, and even grandpa and grandma. It is amazing to see the infrastructure built to support alternative modes of transportation and to see it in such great use. In case you are wondering that is a picture of my ride and i did take it off some sweet jumps.
Cafe culture in the summer is number two on my list. My favorite morning pastime was riding my bike to a nearby cafe and enjoying a freshly squeezed glass of orange juice and a cappuccino. There are little cafes all over and I tried to hit a different one every morning. There was such a great social aspect to these areas and by evening – any day of the week – they were filled with people enjoying each others company and a tasty drink.
Posted By: James
| | Jul 30, 2006
