Infrastructure - Netherlands, Oct. 6

​Right, this is a long one! I've been busy visiting numerous places in the Netherlands before leaving, so I haven't had time to sit down and compile thoughts until today. I left this morning, and just arrived back in Germany this evening. It was a long train journey, so that gave me lots of time to write all this down. This post is a mix of both my adventures from the last few days, as well as my thoughts on the infrastructure in the Netherlands. Buckle up for a read!

On Monday, I went back to Amsterdam to have lunch with one of my dad's coworkers. I had to take the train, so I rode a bike to the Dordrecht station. There were a few times when I got a bit confused on where to go, such as taking left turns at intersections or one way roads. I also ended up taking a couple wrong turns since I hadn't memorized the route, but I made it in the end. The bike storage at the station is up some stairs, which has a neat feature on the side for taking your bike up. Rather than bouncing up and down the steps, a groove has been carved into the side for your bike wheels to ride in, making it a lot easier to go up and down. Cool!

​I arrived at the Dordrecht station a bit late, so I missed the train I'd intended to take. The next best train got me into Amsterdam a lot later than I'd anticipated unfortunately. But I eventually met up with my dad's coworker for lunch, and I'm certainly glad he paid because he took me to one of those restaurants with small portions and high prices. A small glass of juice was 5 euros! At least the food was good, even though there wasn't much of it.

After finishing lunch, I explored around Amsterdam some more. I haven't really talked a lot about the infrastructure in the Netherlands, so I've compiled all my thoughts and observations into this post. I've spent the most time in Amsterdam, so a lot of my examples are from there, but the same ideas seem to apply to most Dutch cities from what I can tell.

The city center is very heavily pedestrianized, there's very few cars around. It is possible to get through by car, but it really isn't feasible for long distances, and I think that's intentional. Many of the streets are narrow, so only 1 car can get through at a time, making most streets one way for cars. The narrow design also makes people drive slower for safety reasons, especially since there's often many people around. So driving on these streets often ends up being slower than other methods of getting around, which discourages driving. I imagine it can also be more stressful, since you'd be constantly worried about hitting something or someone. This photo I took is actually one of the wider streets I found, many are even more narrow.

​These smaller streets usually have brick surfaces, which makes cars much more audible. Another really neat design feature is raising the road at pedestrian crossings to the same level as the sidewalks. This does act a bit like a speed bump, but I think the more important aspect is psychological. For someone driving here, it feels like you're driving over a sidewalk meant for people, rather than a road meant for cars. This makes drivers more conscious about the fact that people are around, so they're more aware of their surroundings.

​All of that is not to say driving in Amsterdam sucks, it just sucks in places that discourages cars. There are several roads going through town that are clearly designed for lots of cars. They look a lot like normal roads you'd find anywhere else, though they usually also have bike lanes on each side. Importantly, these major roads are cars are relatively uncommon, you'll only find one every few blocks or so. That's because you don't need to drive your car to the front door of your destination, you have legs that can take you the last few hundred meters or so. That's something that really frustrates me about the US, it's expected that you park right outside your destination, which can make everywhere overcrowded with cars.

Intersections with these roads also seem to be handled pretty well. Cars, bikes, and pedestrians are all controlled by traffic lights to ensure there's no collisions. To my knowledge, bikes aren't allowed to turn left by getting into the left turn lane with cars, but instead have to go straight across, then turn left and cross again, just like a pedestrian would go diagonally across the intersection. For this reason, bikes and pedestrians seem to get grouped together with the traffic lights, but are still physically separated to minimize risk of colliding with each other.

Also, there usually aren't traffic lights for pedestrians crossing over the bike lanes, only for crossing car lanes. I think this is totally reasonable, because it's easy for people to make eye contact and non-verbally communicate when there isn't a windshield in the way. It also isn't nearly as dangerous as pedestrians crossing in front of cars, because bikes aren't 2 ton death machines. They're much smaller and travel more slowly, so risk of collisions are much lower. And even if there is a collision, the slower speeds and lightweight bikes means injuries will be dramatically reduced when comparing to cars. So a traffic light to coordinate these crossings just isn't necessary.

​And of course we can't talk about Amsterdam without talking more in depth about bikes! Yes, they're incredibly common here, and for good reason. Almost everything you need is within cycling distance, and the Netherlands is very flat (flatter than Illinois, I checked!), so it's fairly easy to get around. One downside of it being so flat is that it can be rather windy, which can work for or against you. Additionally, the Netherlands has some fantastic bike infrastructure like I've discussed, almost every major road has dedicated bike lanes, many of which have physical separation from car lanes to further improve safety.

Non-major roads often don't have dedicated bike lanes, but they're really not needed since those roads tend to have very few cars. The few cars that do drive on these roads drive slowly because of the reasons mentioned above (narrow roads, brick surfaces, etc.), so they're safe places to cycle. I've cycled a few times around Dordrecht, and once I'd gotten used to the new-to-me infrastructure, it felt very comfortable to get around.

Once you get to your destination on a bike, there's usually a place to lock it up. Here's an example from the train station in Dordrecht, it has loads of places for bikes to go. There's actually 2 levels of bikes to maximize density, which I wasn't sure how to use at first. To get your bike onto the second level, there's a rail that slides out and swings down, allowing you to sit your wheels in the track. Then it rotates back up and slides into place, neat!

​For popular locations, bike lots like this are common. It's not unusual to see hundreds or even thousands of bikes all locked up in a single location, I found it a bit breath taking the first time I came across the sea of bicycles. I can't stop imagining how much space would be taken up if each bike was replaced by a car. I guess that's how you get humongous parking garages at places like airports or train stations!

Speaking of trains, that's another really good mode of transit around the Netherlands. It's a fairly small country, so all the cities are relatively close to each other, meaning commute times are fairly short. For example, the distance between Rotterdam and Amsterdam is a quarter of the entire country's length, yet the train ride is only an hour or so. The train network is very extensive and trains come fairly frequently, so getting around is really easy. I found it feasible to just show up to the station and pick a train from there, rather than scheduling ahead of time. They come frequently enough that you don't wait for too long.

As I mentioned in my last post, every station has turnstiles for getting into and out of the station. Usually people carry a card on them that has an account balance on it. The amount deducted is based on when and where you check in and out of each station, so you can hop on any train without prior bookings. Interestingly, checking in actually subtracts 20 euros from the balance, then the difference is put back in once you check out. I assume that's to mitigate people trying to cheat the system.

The metros use the same exact system, it's actually a bit hard to tell the difference between the trains and metros sometimes. Although one neat feature I've found on newer metros are lights around the doors. They've got LED strips that can be set to any color, which makes for useful status indicators. When approaching a station, they turn white to indicate which side that platform will be on, green to indicated when the doors can be opened, and red to indicate when the doors are closing. As someone who likes LEDs, I really like these doors!

​The trams also use the same card system, except they have scanners inside rather than at each stop. Best to make sure you don't forget to check out, otherwise goodbye 20 euros! But I didn't have any issues once I'd figured it out, they're just as easy to use as anywhere else. And a great feature of trams is that they often go through city centers where other transit modes can't, so that makes getting around even easier!

​Ok, that's most of the inner city infrastructure I wanted to discuss. Overall it's really good here from what I've seen, I'm definitely happy I visited! Here's another collection of photos for those who want to see. Once I'd finished exploring the city on Monday, I headed back to Dordrecht for the evening.

​On Tuesday, we went to Delft. Bas actually works in Delft, so I rode with him in the morning and walked around the center of town until lunch. Delft apparently has a large student population, and I'm guessing they were all on campus since it was really quiet around town. Lots of shops and restaurants were closed, and there weren't many people wandering around. I've heard it can get more lively on the weekends. Delft is relatively small, so I'd finished exploring pretty early on. Here's more photos of the city.

​I still had time to kill before lunch, so I looked on a map for the nearest green area and went there. This was a large park on the east side of the city, and it was quite nice to explore through! There's a small lake in the middle (large pond?), which has a few streams branching off that make for some pleasant areas to wander around.

​It also seems like horseback riding is somewhat popular through that park, I came across a few horse trails and someone riding their horse down one. I also happened to come across a petting zoo that was completely open, so I had a gander round. There were bunnies, chickens, a turkey, some peacocks, ponies, etc. A few families were visiting with their kids, it looked like they were having fun.

Once lunch came around, I met up with Bas and we went to the TU Delft campus to meet with a PhD student named Bruno. We had lunch with him at the main cafeteria, then Bruno gave me a bit of a tour around the campus. He took me inside a couple buildings, which was really nice to do since I haven't been able to do that on this trip. And the buildings actually had students in them! Finally! It's been a bit disheartening for me not seeing people around campuses on this trip, so this was a welcome sight!

However, the weather wasn't so welcome, it rained pretty much the whole time I was exploring the campus. I did bring my rain coat, and my shoes are waterproof, but my pants and hoodie were not. The rain coat had a tendency to guide all the water straight onto my pants, so it definitely looked and felt as though I had wet myself. The bottom of my hoodie and the end of its sleeves also got water on them, which wicked its way upwards making those areas wet too. Water even followed my sleeves into my pockets, so I had no dry place for my hands. It's been a few years since I've been in rain like that, it reminded me of why I moved away from Seattle!

Anyways, exploring through campus was otherwise alright. There's definitely a mix of old and new buildings, and I like that it's one centralized campus rather than buildings all spread through the city. Here's a collection of photos I took from around the campus.

​The campus is also built in a straight line with a main transit corridor running through the middle. One side has a 2-lane road that I think is only for public transit, including busses and trams. Although the tram line hasn't been finished, so it's just busses for now. The outer edges have bike lanes and pedestrian paths, which are great if you're only going a short distance. And through the entire corridor are crisscrossing pathways for people to get to the other side. I think it makes for a fairly efficient means of getting around campus, although it can be a bit of a pain getting from the north side to the south side.

​Once I'd finished exploring around campus, I had some more time to kill, and decided to visit another nearby city: Rotterdam. Apparently a lot of TU Delft students live there too, and just commute with the train. I can see why, it's a really easy route and only takes 15 minutes or so (plus commuting to and from the stations). I didn't know much about Rotterdam going in, other than it's a major port city and is fairly large. It also has a bit of a skyline, there are several sky scrapers in a somewhat typical modern US city style. I'm not a fan of US cities, so I didn't really think I would like Rotterdam.

But surprisingly I actually did like it! I've got some reasoning below, but I first want to show off some pictures I took around the city.

So what made me like Rotterdam? Well let's first discuss what I don't like about typical US cities. My biggest gripe is that all the streets are designed for cars first. And I mean all the streets. It's hard to come across areas that are designed for people, cars just seem to get priority everywhere. And most of these streets are designed for similar levels of throughput, often 4 lanes or more, meaning it doesn't really matter which street you use as a driver.

This makes for an unpleasant and dangerous experience for anyone not driving, because the 2 ton death machines are everywhere at all times. If you want to walk 5 blocks, you'll probably have to cross 2 lanes of cars just to get there. Not only do all those crossings increase your chance of getting injured, but it will also take longer since you have to wait for the traffic signal at each intersection. And you can just forget about cycling, you will be run over. It's not a question of if, but when.

This is not the case in Rotterdam, not at all. The streets have been designed for all modes of transit, usually with more of a bias towards pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit. This is achieved really well by having each street designed for different levels of throughput for different modes of transit. The center of the city is completely pedestrianized, so there's no chance of you getting run over.

Outside of the center, most streets are relatively small and still designed for pedestrians and cyclists, but cars are allowed to come through. These use a lot of the same techniques I discussed above from Amsterdam (narrow streets, brick surfaces, etc.), which ensure it's not dangerous for people. Then there are only a few major roads running through the center that are intended for higher density car traffic. These are usually not places for pedestrians, other streets are dedicated to that. Importantly, there's only a few of them, not every single street like in the US.

​​Let's also talk about buildings. As I've said before, I really didn't like the buildings in Berlin, but I actually do like the buildings in Rotterdam. There's 2 big reasons for that. The first is the difference in architectural style between each city. Berlin has Soviet style buildings with incredibly bland colors (mostly light gray with hints of brown), and very flat faces that aren't nice to looks at. By contrast, Rotterdam uses a much more modern architectural style, with more vibrant colors and non-flat faces. I find this style much more enjoyable.

The second big reason requires a distinction between size and scale. For me, size is how big the entire structure is, like the difference between a sky scraper and a house. Scale is more about how big the individual features are, such as the height of each floor, or how big the doors are. For example, a hobbit hole has a small scale, tall people can't fit without bonking their heads like Gandalf. Whereas a cathedral has a large scale, you probably couldn't hit the ceiling if you threw a rock straight up.

From what I've observed, Rotterdam has a much larger size than Berlin, but Berlin has a much larger scale than Rotterdam. Buildings in Berlin just felt incredibly imposing, especially since many buildings had few windows, making it feel like you shouldn't be there. Rotterdam may have had large buildings, but the scale felt more human and accessible. I also really appreciate the buildings that have lots of windows, they feel more inviting like "come look inside!"

One downside I realized in Rotterdam is that there aren't a lot of green spaces around. The closest park I could find from the city center required me to take a tram to get to. And when I did get there, it was a a bit small and didn't seem to offer much. That's not to say it was bad, it was a decent park, but it was less than I was expecting from such a well developed city. It was also rather devoid of people, which is not what I expected from such a large city.

​But I otherwise had a surprisingly good experience in Rotterdam, to me it feels like an improved US city. I've always associated skyscrapers with unpleasant, noisy, ugly, car-filled roads, but Rotterdam has completely thrown that out the window for me. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, I'm definitely glad I visited!

After that, I headed back to Dordrecht. I don't have an app that tracks how many steps I take per day, but my Google Maps timeline says I walked about 14 miles yesterday. A quick Google search says it's roughly 2,000 steps per mile, though I've got a longer stride than most, so I probably took around 25,000 steps yesterday. My legs were pretty sore after all that!

And that brings us to today! I've left the Netherlands, and just arrived back in Germany. I didn't get to see everything I wanted to see in the Netherlands, but I certainly saw enough to give me a good idea of what it's like. I would have stayed longer, but I need to be in Switzerland this weekend, someone I'm meeting isn't available later.

I was originally intending on staying in Cologne and Frankfurt on this trip, but I've not heard great things about them all. Plus I don't have much time before I need to be in Switzerland, so I've decided to just skip them for this trip and go straight to Stuttgart. I was also recommended to check out a town called Tuebingen, which is just south of Stuttgart, so I might make a short trip out there before going to Switzerland.

The train journey today was definitely not the best. I had originally planned a route that required a couple transfers, each being about half an hour between each train. So even if a train was a bit late, there wouldn't have been any issues. And on my first train to Arnhem, everything went well, it arrived on time with no problems! Arnhem isn't the nicest station to have a long transfer at, there's not much shelter around and it was cold and windy. I ate a sandwich that Erika bought for me as I waited. And waited. And waited. My train wasn't showing on the screens, so I checked my phone to find this.

​You've got to be joking! I just stood around for 30 minutes waiting for a train that wasn't coming! Ugh. Well on the bright side I've got the Eurail app, so taking a new route was easy. This one had a shorter transfer time of only 10 minutes, which would have been fine if this train didn't have any delay.

It had a 30 minute delay. Agh! Why were my journeys into and out of the Netherlands so difficult with the trains!? This second route required me to hop off at Duisburg, but I stayed on until the end stop in Dusseldorf, where a high speed train went direct to Stuttgart. Fortunately I didn't have any problems with that final train. I think they must get priority in certain areas, so there's less chance of them having delays.

Anyways, the trains themselves were pleasant rides, the worst parts were waiting at cold and windy stations. I took a few photos for those who like them.

I wrote most of this post while on the trains, which was a total trip time of over 8 hours (flying might have been better for that journey). And I must say, the power efficiency of my new laptop is awesome, it only lost about 50% charge over the entire journey! Obviously I wasn't using it the entire time, maybe 5-6 hours or so, but that means I could get at least 10 hours of life out of a single charge. Awesome!

Also tech related, I've got a brief follow up with my noise cancelling headphones. In one of my early posts, I commented that they weren't comfortable to wear for long periods of time. However that's proven to be incorrect, they're uncomfortable while wearing a mask with ear loops. That ends up pulling my ears outwards and presses them against the speakers, which in turn makes my ears uncomfortable. For long trips, I've actually just been hooking the ear loops over the headphone cups, which makes it way more bearable.

Anyways, now I'm finally in Stuttgart! I booked another a&o single room, which was a bit more expensive than previous a&o rooms, but this is the nicest one so far. It's fairly similar to the first a&o I stayed at in Nuremberg, but a lot more spacious. It's not in a great location, about a mile away from the main city, but there's a tram line that runs into town that I can use. That'll be for tomorrow, I need to get this posted as it's rather late. Hope you enjoyed reading this longer post!