Curling in the Netherlands

We had a fun morning curling in Utrecht, which is the Curling Club that is closest to us. The Club rents ice in the sports arena on Saturday mornings. It is painted for both hockey and curling, but is also used for ice dancing and skating. The sports arena is a busy place and there is a fabulous ice oval for speed skaters in another area in the building.

There were about 20 curlers this morning and we curled a two on two game against the fellows in the photo with the Norwegian fashion style, followed by a one end game where the four of us played another foursome from the sheet on our left. The ice was challenging, to say the least, due to ruts created by the Zamboni. Hats off to the ice maker, who arrived early to create curling sheets by pebbling the ice and installing hacks!

During après-curling coffee, we were surprised to learn from our hosts that there are only about 160 curlers in all of the Netherlands, playing out of 5 clubs, only one of which has dedicated ice. Club members travel to bonspiels all over Europe and our hosts have been to Canada many times as Brier spectators.

All in all, we had a very enjoyable morning, due largely to the kind, generous members of the Utrecht Curling Club.

Today is also a very special day for another reason. Happy birthday, J. I love and miss you.