Unique Places in Utrecht

Utrecht has plenty of green spaces and parks within the city as bounded by its sort of ring road. Most of these are looked after by the city authorites and provide a variety of recreational facilites for both locals and visitors.

I also discovered the bit of unmanicured greenery pictured here - I'm not sure whether it's the Griftpark or the Park Bloeyendal as I was just randomly wandering and one minute I was skirting a housing estate then next I crossed a little wooden bridge to find myself in the middle of the countryside.

Retracing my steps from the pics I took before and after narrows it down to one of these two parks but whichever it was it was certainly a pleasure to stumble upon.

Whilst walking around the wonderful Museumkwartier (see seperate tip), I chanced upon this wall mural, which I thought was fabulous. It commemorates the fact that Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen once lived in the house. Although born in Lennep, Germany, he lived here for a couple of years. In case you are having trouble placing the name, the photo should certainly give you a clue - he was the chap who discovered X-rays.

Having consulted a map, and stupidly not having taken notes, I'll try and tell you where it is. It is in one of the small streets that runs vaguely East off Nieuwegracht towards Maliebrug. I'm almost certain it is Keukenstraat. Anyway, it is on the first house off Nieuwegracht, so if you walk along and look you can't miss it.

I found this fountain in Lucasbolwerk, at the Nobelstraat end. I have no idea who designed it or what it represents, but i thought it was very aesthetically pleasing. Because of all the leaves on the ground, you couldn't see the base of the thing, and it looked like it was just growing organically out of the ground.

If you stay at the City Centre B&B (see seperate tip) it's almost opposite the front door.

On a rainy day (not very uncommon in the Netherlands) it's difficult deciding what to do. There are some museums (I will recommend some of them at the 'must see activities'), but this is more a 'Off the beaten path tip'. I don't know if there are any organised trips trough universitybuildings. I presume not, though you will hae a look on the outside in every citycentre walk.
But some universitybuildings are really worth looking at. And if you like books you maybe could spend a whole day at the universitylibrary in particular the Library of Arts (one of the biggest uniersitylibraries where the books are on shelves instead of in a depot). Its a nice labyrint, though there are a lot of signs so you won't get lost. English books can be found on every shelf and also many other languages are present.
You can find the Library of Arts at Wittevrouwensingel. When you enter through the gate go right, because straight ahead of you is the main universitylibrary (with al the books in depots). The formall address of the Library is Drift 29 (but you can't enter there).
The Library of Law can be found at 't Hoogt.
Some interesting universitybuildings are:
Drift 21 (take a look at the ceiling)
Achter de Dom (the most beautiful part is on the outside)
Kromme Nieuwe Gracht 80, 66, 29, 21 (they are not very interesting from the inside, just walk along the Canal and take a look from the outside, unless you'd like to see how these separate houses are linked together as a university, another nice example of this way of building a university is:)
Trans 10 (if you get in, don't get lost inside!!)

Most buildings are open on workdays, just pretend being a student and enter. Notice: Not all buildings can be entered by students through the front door (Kromme Nieuwe Gracht 66 and 80).

Utrecht, like most old cities, has a lot of 'steegjes' (alleys). Just keep an eye out for them and you might be suprised... On the other hand, there are several alleys in the city centre that don't smell to good...

De Parade is a traveling theater-festival that goes around the 4 main cities (Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam and Den Haag) every year. In each city the festival will reside for 2 weeks. And it has everything from new upcoming artist, very experimental stuff and the occasional try-out of big names.. Theater, dance, film, and music are all included. The festival area is furthermore full of places where you can have a bit or something to drink.... And the people.. i can watch them for hours.. the young and hip, the hippies and everything and all in between...

The webside has an english version too
And they have much stuff for kids to do to. Kids theater, or baking 'poffertjes' , a small play ground...

The festival wil be held from the 18th till the 27th of july in Park Nieuweroord. This park is situated about 5 minutes walking from teh Cnentral Station. Take the 'streekbussen' exit and follow the street that runs parallel to the train tracks. Then you can't miss it

You can see several of these beautiful stones in the facades of the old houses. This one is "Den Teeren Oven" from 1618, which means "the tar oven". When you click on the picture you have a better few on the stone, and you can see the tar oven and in the background the fisherman working on their boats putting the tar on it as a protective layer.

De gesloten steen

This boulder was put here to prevent damage to the corner of this building by cartweels. The legend goes that devils played marbles with this stone during the night. The neigbourhood got fed up with all the loud noise and they asked a priest to drive out the devils, and they put the boulder on a chain. In 1520 this boulder already was called the 'Gesloten steen'.