This is the junction of Vredeburg, Lange Viestraat and Sint Jacobstraat, a busy junction for buses and bicycles alike. One of the crossings is dedicated to Nijntje, or Miffy, with the traditional red and green men replaced by the character. (The crossing is actually in this photograph, in front of the city bus.)

Students who cycle from Utrecht Science Park, formerly known as De Uithof, to Utrecht Central Station will inevitably use this junction. (Utrecht Science Park is the new name for the campus of Utrecht University and the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, or Hogeschool Utrecht.) They’d do what the cyclist in the foreground is doing, which is cross diagonally and continue on to the station. I’ve done so many times myself.

In the background is a Bijenkorf building. De Bijenkorf is allegedly a high-end department store, and the word bijenkorf literally means beehive, oder Bienenkorb für diejenigen, die Deutsch können. I’ve always found it extremely odd to name a department store after a beehive. It’s like calling a hardware shop ‘The Termite Mound’, or a clothing store ‘The Exploited Silkworm’. Maybe that last one was a little bit much, but you get my point.