Utrecht

Another Dutch city visited today - Utrecht - the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with approx. 345,000 inhabitants.  It has a youthful population due to the university (the largest in the Netherlands) and other higher education establishments, which makes for a vibrant, thriving, creative vibe.  It has quite a medieval town centre which was very easy to explore on foot.  It has a lot of historical architecture (there is a lot of upgrading of buildings going on and lots of scaffolding around some of the them) - great that the works are being done but selfishly typical when you want a photo   :o)
That said, there are many museums, boutiques and restaurants to keep everyone busy.  They also make good use of their space - the level just above the water in the photo used to be the basements of all the properties above but many of them have been turned over to the city and re-invented as creative spaces or restaurants etc.  It was another warm day so many people were out and about in the small winding streets.  Bicycles though!! - so many of them - and they seem to have right of way over anything else that moves, so you're constantly checking for them.  
Anyway, in all, a really nice place, very walkable and many more streets of shops, cafes etc. than you think there's going to be as it has a really small, friendly village feel rather than a busy city feel.  Utrecht has the second-highest number of cultural events in the Netherlands after Amsterdam, so we will hopefully return to one of those in the near future.  I look forward to it.