Oog in Al

On Sunday, Augusr 3, Gail and I decided to explore our neighboring neighborhood, i.e.

or “Eye in All”. Established in the 12th century, it didn’t receive its distinctive name until 1666 when the mayor expected that his estate would get to view all of the expansion of Utrecht.

So we crossed 4 bridges in 2 minutes to get there.

We went to lunch at a nice restaurant, and then started walking through the park

Lily pond

Walking along, we saw fallow deer in the animal meadow

And peacocks

Either they heard their feeders or knew it was feeding time, because they all got excited and started running.

They crowded the feeding troughs

Gail liked this house because the windows looked like eyes, and someone had drawn a smile

On our way back, we saw kids jumping into the canal and swimming

This is an interesting looking building

Turns out it was a mint.

We don’t know if it’s still open. Google reports that it’s “Temporarily Closed”

These two tiles in the sidewalk must have something to do with the mint, maybe the year in which each coin began being minted. Although I think they have since been discontinued. Maybe that explains the mint’s “Temporally Closed” status

“Our” houseboat

The line of houseboats with ours in the middle

Bridge closest to our Airbnb. Cars are supposed to only go one way. Bicycles can, of course, do anything they want. And pedestrians can cross as long as there are no cars or bikes.

House with mermaid weather vane

Mermaid weather vane

I keep the tradition of my father and grandfather by taking an afternoon nap. On Sunday afternoon, I was awoken from my slumbers by this:

Tomorrow, for our last full day in Utrecht, we plan to visit Museum Speelklok, where machines make music.