{"id":2321,"date":"2002-12-08T20:08:24","date_gmt":"2002-12-09T03:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/?p=2321"},"modified":"2018-02-28T11:55:46","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T19:55:46","slug":"arrival-in-utrecht","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2002\/12\/08\/arrival-in-utrecht\/","title":{"rendered":"Arrival in Utrecht"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"content_div-2321\">\n<p>I got to the airport early and got an aisle seat, which is important for tallish    people like me. Mike was at the gate when I got there &#8211; Gary and Tad arrived    a little later. I had to correct my little tour destination for Monday- I hoped    to go to The Hague for Vermeers. On the flight I watched the movie &#8216;The Road    to Perdition&#8217; &#8211; Aviva liked it and so did I. &#8211; the title is indeed a pun of    sorts. We checked into the NH Hotel Utrecht. I found out that the museum in    The Hague was closed Monday, so I switched again, to Haarlem for Monday&#8217;s trip.<\/p>\n<p>After a short time unpacking and cleaning up, a bunch of us met in the lobby    of the hotel. Gary, Peter, Igor and I walked to the main cathedral; the tower    is separated from the rest of the cathedral due to a fire over 200 years ago,    and the intervening section was never rebuild. Then we walked on to the Museum    of Mechanical Musical Instruments.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\n<table border=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/tower.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2327\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2002\/12\/08\/arrival-in-utrecht\/tower\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/tower.jpg?fit=169%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"169,500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"tower\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/tower.jpg?fit=169%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2327 colorbox-2321\" title=\"tower\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/tower-101x300.jpg?resize=101%2C300\" alt=\"tower\" width=\"101\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/tower.jpg?resize=101%2C300&amp;ssl=1 101w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/tower.jpg?resize=50%2C150&amp;ssl=1 50w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/tower.jpg?w=169&amp;ssl=1 169w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 101px) 100vw, 101px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/museumofmechinst.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2328\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2002\/12\/08\/arrival-in-utrecht\/museumofmechinst\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/museumofmechinst.jpg?fit=350%2C466&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"350,466\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"museumofmechinst\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/museumofmechinst.jpg?fit=350%2C466&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2328 colorbox-2321\" title=\"museumofmechinst\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/museumofmechinst-225x300.jpg?resize=225%2C300\" alt=\"museumofmechinst\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/museumofmechinst.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/museumofmechinst.jpg?resize=112%2C150&amp;ssl=1 112w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/museumofmechinst.jpg?w=350&amp;ssl=1 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: xx-small\">The            tower of the main<br \/>\ncathedral in Utrecht<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: xx-small\">The            Museum of Mechanical Musical<br \/>\nInstruments<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>It was lots of fun &#8211; the tour guide spoke in Dutch and English, and she included    the audience in on some of the demonstations. The coolest parts were the player    piano (which plays with nuance and pedal point) and the dance hall player playing    rock around the clock.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallinstrumentdetail.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2330\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2002\/12\/08\/arrival-in-utrecht\/dancehallinstrumentdetail\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallinstrumentdetail.jpg?fit=500%2C375&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,375\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"dancehallinstrumentdetail\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallinstrumentdetail.jpg?fit=500%2C375&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2330 colorbox-2321\" title=\"dancehallinstrumentdetail\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallinstrumentdetail-300x225.jpg?resize=300%2C225\" alt=\"dancehallinstrumentdetail\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallinstrumentdetail.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallinstrumentdetail.jpg?resize=150%2C112&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallinstrumentdetail.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: xx-small\">Detail            of a dance hall mechanical musical instrument<\/span><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallwithguide.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2329\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2002\/12\/08\/arrival-in-utrecht\/dancehallwithguide\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallwithguide.jpg?fit=500%2C429&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,429\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"dancehallwithguide\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallwithguide.jpg?fit=500%2C429&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2329 colorbox-2321\" title=\"dancehallwithguide\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallwithguide-300x257.jpg?resize=300%2C257\" alt=\"dancehallwithguide\" width=\"300\" height=\"257\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallwithguide.jpg?resize=300%2C257&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallwithguide.jpg?resize=150%2C128&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/dancehallwithguide.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: xx-small\">Our            tour guide with another instrument<\/span><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/violinpiano.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2326\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2002\/12\/08\/arrival-in-utrecht\/violinpiano\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/violinpiano.jpg?fit=375%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"375,500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"violinpiano\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/violinpiano.jpg?fit=375%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2326 colorbox-2321\" title=\"violinpiano\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/violinpiano-225x300.jpg?resize=225%2C300\" alt=\"violinpiano\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/violinpiano.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/violinpiano.jpg?resize=112%2C150&amp;ssl=1 112w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2002\/12\/violinpiano.jpg?w=375&amp;ssl=1 375w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size: xx-small\">A            player piano\/violin<\/span><\/div>\n<p>We ate a light lunch &#8211; our waitress took Igor&#8217;s tea before he could eat his    nugget and he complained &#8211; she brought him 5 on a plate with the check! Peter    and I walked to the Catholic Museum &#8211; we arrived in time to see the gift shop    but not the main museum. We gathered for dinner and ate at a cafe in the train    station\/shopping center a block from the hotel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"translate_block\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<hr class=\"translate_hr\" \/>\n<a class=\"translate_translate\" id=\"translate_button_post-2321\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\" href=\"javascript:show_translate_popup('en', 'post', 2321);\"><span>Translate<\/span><\/a><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/google-ajax-translation\/transparent.gif?resize=16%2C16&#038;ssl=1\" id=\"translate_loading_post-2321\" class=\"translate_loading colorbox-2321\" style=\"display: none;\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I got to the airport early and got an aisle seat, which is important for tallish people like me. Mike was at the gate when I got there &#8211; Gary and Tad arrived a little later. I had to correct my little tour destination for Monday- I hoped to go to The Hague for Vermeers. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[624],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-amsterdam-2002"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2w3Qj-Br","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2321"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179254,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions\/179254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}