Jan 16 Utrecht

So today we (Ron, Matt, and I) went into Utrecht for the day, and it couldn't have been a more gorgeous day. We started out by going to the Dom Church and Tower. Here are some of the pictures from around the church and inside the church.








































Then we started the journey up the Dom Tower, which is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands. It is 112 meters high (367 feet), we are only allowed to climb up 95 meters (311 feet) because there is a dome at the top.
















This was the start of our journey up the tower. There are 465 steps to the top of the tower, and the stairwells get smaller and smaller. Matt took video but I can't upload it, maybe he will put it on Facebook. Anyways the picture with the flash in it was our first stop on the way up. The board that has the giant white spot is a picture of what the church used to look like before the storm that caused the part of the church that connects to the tower to collapse.

Our second stop was where the original bells hang in the tower. They are only rung on by a group of, I believe 20 people on special holidays. The bell that is behind me only weighs 8000 kg (17,637 pounds). They need 4 people to ring this bell alone and you need to make sure that you play the not before you need it because it takes a few seconds to actually ring. And it takes 3 minutes to get the bell to swing enough to start ringing. And there is a total of 13 bells in this area.




























Pictures taken on the way up the tower.














When we were almost to the top we got to this area where the bells ring on the hour. These bells are connected to a system that rings them automatically and also there is a "keyboard" where a musician can play songs.

And the final leg of the journey up to the top. This is where the staircase got small for me.
























Yeah we made it!! The next pictures are just a few of many pictures that Matt took at the top. It was so clear that day that we could see Amsterdam and Almere (I think). It was just gorgeous that day.

This is technically the top but we were close enough. After we enjoyed the view up at the top we had to make our way down. With all of the spiral staircases you kind of get dizzy going down, oh and your legs and knees are jelly because you just climbed 465 stairs. Anyways after the Dom Tower we went to the Speelkolk museum (MusicBox museum) It was so cool. Matt and I got to turn one of the cranks for a pipe organ. Here are some of the picture from that museum. Also one of the organs played Michael Jackson's Thriller. I never thought I would hear that song played from an organ. This first organ was so cool because it also played violins.