A Surprise Treat

On Sunday, Mr. Traveler didn't have his weekly baseball game (instead they played a tournament in the freezing cold on Saturday), so we decided to take advantage of the amazing weather and visit the Botanical Gardens at Utrecht University. The gardens were covered in the yearly Museumkaart that we both purchased when we first arrived, so there was no extra fee for the visit. I didn't really know what to expect as I had only heard passing mentions of the gardens, but I was just excited to be outside.

The gardens are located at an old fort on university property, and it's interesting to see how the gardens seem to engulf the fort, nature taking over a location that once stood for the defense of men. Although the flowers were not yet in full bloom (we are just emerging from a cold winter, after all), the gardens were still very pretty and peaceful. I look forward to returning in a month or so when there are even more flowers and plants to see.

Fort at Utrecht University Gardens

Since not all the flowers were blooming outside, the most colorful plants we saw were in the greenhouses. I especially liked the bright tropical flowers, although I wasn't as big of fan of the heat and humidity in the climate controlled environments. (I'm sure when we head back to Texas in August it is going to be a huge adjustment since we are just getting used to the cold!)

Bright Flower!

The area were we spent most of our time, however, was just a field of grass. "Why?" you might ask. Well, at 2:00pm, the gardens hosted a bird show. (In case any of you local readers are interested in seeing the show, I believe the remaining dates are May 7, June 5, July 2, September 24 and October 16 at at 11.00 and 14.00.) We didn't know about the show before heading to the gardens so it was a nice bonus for the day.

Birds Lined Up for Show

Along the side of the grass, the birds were lined up on their perches when we arrived. A little after two, one of the bird handlers (I'm not sure of the technical term), retrieved the first bird, a tiny and very cute owl who wowed us (okay, maybe not) with his ability to walk back and forth through a turf-covered pipe.

Tiny Owl

After that, the handlers moved through a series of progressively larger birds, including owls, falcons, and ravens.

That's a big bird!

It was fun to see the absolute joy and wonder in the children's faces who got selected as volunteers to hold the birds.

Volunteer

Just as the handlers explained the details of the last bird (in Dutch so I didn't understand much more than the weight, which of course I can't remember now), the bird was released. He flew and flew and flew, and then we waited. There was some murmuring back and forth on the radios and finally it was established that the bird wasn't very interested in doing the show at that moment. Instead, he had flown to the opposite side of the moat surrounding the fort. Everyone was dismissed, and we wandered through the remaining sections of the garden.

Two Blooms