Utrecht: Rode the Train to See the Trains

On Sunday, September 6th, we decided to make a visit to Utrecht - mainly to visit the Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum (Railway Museum). I happened to meet an American mom and her 7 year old son at a playground one day this summer, and the little boy asked if we'd visited this museum yet (because he saw Ben carrying around his Thomas trains). He loved it, and I thought that it must be pretty great for a little boy to talk about loving a museum! Utrecht is only a 30 minute train ride from Amsterdam, so Ben was running up to the doors at 10:30 a.m. :)

As you enter Maliebaan Station, the clock turns back to how the station looked in the 1870's. We walked through the back doors, and Ben was face to face with some big engines...he was in heaven!! He could hardly contain his excitement, and it was pure torture to get him to stand still for 2 seconds to take a photo with Daddy. It was awesome - we were able to climb onto the trains, and there was even coal in the coal car! (Ben wanted to take some with him...) It didn't take long before Ben started to give 'Thomas' names to all the trains he was seeing. Even though this first one was black, it was 'Thomas'. The green one he's pointing to was 'Percy'. It was like getting to visit his best friends in person... :)

We were finally able to tear Ben away from Thomas and Percy to explore the rest of the museum. Well, the Workshop anyways. As we headed towards the Workshop, Ben made sure to look both ways to see if Thomas was puffing down the tracks. Nope, so we kept on going...

The Workshop is just one of the "Worlds" to discover, and it happens to be the only "world" we discovered. There were so many trains to look at and climb on, Ben was quite content to just run back and forth, greeting all his 'Island of Sodor' friends. (Sorry for those of you who don't speak "train" or "Thomas", but that is what my life revolves around these days, so ask me anything!). You can see Ben pointing to 'Neville's' buffer, and 'Emily' sat right beside him. It was so cute, he would say, "This one is just like Spencer!" He climbed aboard Neville and even got to blow the whistle! Seriously, this kid was squealing with excitement!

Some smart people are running this museum. They also have a couple "rides" for the little ones. The green one was "just like Smudger", and of course, Ben was thrilled to ride on Thomas. That scowl is for another sweet child who got too close to "his" Thomas. Oh brother! At this point, I can see that we are going to have to move in to the Railway Museum, because Ben is not going to leave willingly!

The weather was cool, but we were still able to enjoy the children's play area behind the museum. First, Ben had to throw some rocks through the grates, naturally. A little after noon, the Junior Railway started giving short rides on a little train for the kiddos. We weren't sure about putting Ben in with no adult or seatbelt; we didn't trust that he wouldn't try to make a leap overboard. But, he loved it and sat relatively still too. I think he rode at least 4 times before we ate our picnic lunch on the tables outside.

We coaxed Ben inside and had a potty break. I couldn't help take a photo of the kid's potty - what kid wouldn't want to be the conductor on this cute train? ;) We shopped a little, looked around a bit more, and slowly tried to make our way to the exit. Before we left, we did peek in a few more trains. I thought the mail train was fun; there was even mail to sort! It took quite a while to personally say good-bye to all of his friends, but we finally made our way out of the museum around 1:30. Ben was not very happy, and he didn't go quietly. I don't blame him, it was a pretty fantastic place - so glad that little American boy shared the idea with us!!

It only took a matter of minutes before Ben was fast asleep in his stroller. We walked back towards the city center, to the Dom Church (aka St. Martin's Cathedral). The first chapel was founded around 600, but the church was repeatedly destroyed by fires and rebuilt. The construction of the church standing today started in 1254 and continued well into the 16th century. We walked around a beautiful courtyard garden. On the other side of the church was the Dom Tower. The Cathedral and Tower have not been connected since the collapse of the nave in 1674 due to a thunderstorm (the nave was still unfinished and not sufficiently supported). It was never rebuilt, and the site is now a square lined with trees, the Domplein. The Tower is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands at 368 feet high! It was built between 1321 and 1382 and is the symbol of Utrecht. I asked Greg if he was interested in climbing the 465 steps to the top, and he declined. I wasn't sure I could handle that with Tulip - at least not in a timely manner. :) We were up for a visit inside the church, but we would have to make our way back to the Cathedral, as it was not yet open to the public due to Sunday services.

We walked through the city center a bit, lots of people out and about shopping and eating. We passed by a gyros restaurant, and the smell was too much for us. So, Greg ordered a couple of gyros, and we went back to Domplein to sit and enjoy - my first gyro, and it was really delicious! We noticed all the gravestones in the square, as they used to be inside the nave of the church. After 2 p.m., Greg and I were able to visit a church at the same time (this never happens!) since Ben was still sleeping. It was lovely and felt small (short), which makes sense given that it was missing a large chunk!

After our visit, we sat down at a nearby cafe for coffee to warm up a bit. The view of the Dom church and tower were spectacular, but the coffee was not. Probably worst I've had in all of Europe! Bummer. But, it was good to sit and relax for a bit. Around 3:30, we made our way to the train station and were back in Amsterdam by 4:30 p.m. What a fun day in Utrecht, and Ben gives the Spoorwegmuseum two big thumbs up!