Day 9: Midsummer’s Day and night in Utrecht

On Saturday I visited Utrecht for a CouchSurfing event. Couchsurfing “seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance, and facilitate cultural understanding." Basically CouchSurfing is a way to travel around the world without staying in Hostels or hotels. When you visit a city you can find people who are willing to let you stay with them, or even just to show you around the city. The organization also has events around the world where CouchSurfers can meet and get to know one another. The event I went to in Utrecht was to celebrate Midsummer. There was in treasure hunt in the heart of Utrecht, workshops in the afternoon, supper, and then an evening spent in the park socializing. The treasure hunt was nice, but long. It gave us an opportunity to really see Utrecht. Utrecht is an older city than Rotterdam. The buildings are older, the streets are narrower. It has a medieval feel to it. As part of the treasure hunt, we were also given an egg an apple that we had to try and trade. We managed to trade our egg for a flower pot and our apple for a cabbage of some kind. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the treasure hunt, or the trading contest. Some people managed to trade up for an old computer, while others traded up for a couch! This being ‘CouchSurfers’ those who brought the couch in, won automatically. The park was large and spacious. There were various workshops during the afternoon for CS safety, Latin dancing, improvisational theatre and Poi. I took part in the improvisational theatre class and it was lots of fun. The supper was prepared by volunteers and was tasty. For the rest of the evening we hung out in the park and socialized. I met lots of interesting people, from all over the Netherlands, a few Canadians, some Americans and others. Overall it was a great night, and I definitely recommend CouchSurfing as a great way to meet new people.
The Dom tower in downtown Utrecht.
Some CS'ers.
Poi.