Surprise Surprise

I've been here for over 7 months now, but still Utrecht manages to surprise me. This afternoon I went out for a walk and to do some shopping at the market. On my way into town I passed a number of large posters advertising something called TweeTakt. Like most of the things I see advertised here, I had no idea what this. When I got to the Neude Square I was presented by a very strange sight. There's often something going on there, but today there was a little conurbation of six or so glass rooms (a bakery, a butchers, a souvenir shop, a cafe, a restaurant and a couple of others) surrounding a stage on which one person was playing a mouth organ and the other being a human beat box, with people just milling around. I stayed for quite a while being oblivious as to the occasion but having an oddly good time nonetheless. Having come back here the wonders of the Internet have suggested that it's a week long festival of arts and music. But it's just sprung up out of nowhere. Will have to go back methinks.

Utrecht's market is a curious thing. It's there on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but it's fundamentally different each day. Wednesdays seem to usually be focused on crafts, Friday seems to be a farmer's market and Saturdays seem to be everything. But no matter which day I go on (usually all three) there's always something that wasn't there before, and I guess that means something that's disapeared as well, but it's always good for a wander around. I impressed myself in doing said shopping at the market today, as I managed to do it all in Dutch. I've been making a concerted effort to actually understand the words for Dutch numbers so I can get rid of the mounting pile of change that's taking up residence in my pockets. Although, having spent a week in countries where I understood nothing I almost feel fluent with my limited amount of Dutch!

I also discovered another market that I never knew existed down a side street. It resembled a spontaneous car-boot sale, but with proper stalls, and was actually quite charming. In the spirit of this, let me introduce you to Queens Day. On the 30th April the Netherlands celebrates Queen's Day, a day when everyone takes to the streets in orange to have a good time. Apparently the suspend all trading laws and people just put out stalls all over the place. I'm seriously tempted to join in - "Jack's English Cakes" has a particular ring to it.

And Utrecht's premier ice-cream parlour, Venezia, has finally reopened, and the F1 season has finally started. Summer must be just around the corner.