Great Train Journeys

One of the things I do like about the Netherlands is its public transport system. The car is definitely not king here – at least not around town. The bike wins hands down, and if you can’t bike it, then you bus or train it long distance. It makes perfect sense.

This weekend we set off for Delft. Arriving at the station slightly earlier than anticipated  we decided not to wait for the fifty minute direct train (OK I got the times  wrong) but hopped onto the next train to Den Haag knowing we could change there and probably get to Delft sooner than planned anyway. A quick check on the public transport app 9292 confirmed that if we could complete a two minute change at Leiden we’d arrive in record time, and we did, literally jumping off one train as it pulled into the station and the other as it pulled out.

Delft is of course famous for its traditional blue and white pottery, but I’m not a ceramics fan and we were basically going there so we could tick it off our list. Yes, more canals, more cobbles, more beautiful old buildings, churches and the ubiquitous market. Tick, tick, tick. We browsed the ceramics shops, confirmed we didn’t actually like Delft pottery and if we bought a piece just  for the sake of it, it would end up at the back of a cupboard anyway, ate a piece of apple-cake and headed for home.

I was feeling pretty smug.  It had only taken forty minutes to reach Delft, so naturally it would only take us forty minutes to reach home. We’d be back in time for lunch.

We happily hopped onto the first available train to Den Haag Centraal where we then spent twenty minutes sat on a stationary Amsterdam bound train watching various passengers disembark after a series of station announcements.  We were eventually informed by a kind hearted Dutch lady that the line was blocked, Amsterdam, and all stations along the way including Haarlem, could now only be accessed via Utrecht, some 62 km away.  We boarded the next train for Utrecht, but alas, this train, despite the signage on the platform, and on the train itself, was not going to Utrecht, it was inexplicably terminating at Gouda, where another change was required. Like most Dutch railway stations, Gouda has a lengthy platform and the train either departs from the (a) section or the (b) section.  Fortunately we were already waiting at the (a) section, simply because it was less crowded, but at no point in time did the station assistants think to mention to the waiting passengers, most of whom were not in Gouda for the cheese or to admire the station architecture but to get back to Schipol airport, that the forthcoming train did not stop at the (b) part of the platform and they should move up a bit.  Eventually we reached Utrecht, where we just about made it onto the next train to Amsterdam, before another twenty minute wait for the Sprinter back down the line to Haarlem. Five trains and two and half hours later we had completed our circular tour of Eastern Holland.

So much for going native. Next time, we'll take the car.

Anyway, on Sunday, the sun shone. Photo opportunities galore in Haarlem, and some random llamas - just to prove I do like living here despite the public transport glitches!