I have found the Netherlands to be friendly and smartly sophisticated. Its sophistication is what actually what makes it friendly. At Amsterdam Airport, there is a major train station in it. One does not even have to walk outside. They even have platform attendants to assist tourists. It took me less than two hours from landing to arrive in Rotterdam, a city that is roughly 40 miles away from Amsterdam.
My train along the way took me along a flat countryside dotted with windmills and green houses. The Netherlands is known for its windmills, but I had not known about their green house infrastructure. It seems that this country has a successful flower export business.
The Rotterdam train station is recently renovated. I think part of the success of the public transportation here is that it is well funded and maintained. Its not simply a train station but has all the amenities you would only find in major hubs in the US such as stores, cafes, restaurants, and tourist information. The building itself is clean and a pleasure to look at, which seems to call you in. By designing train stations like this and filling them out with amenities, it encourages people to use them. It just seems intuitive that the higher the ridership, the more incentive there is for the government and business to continually maintain and improve these services.
Rotterdam itself has fairly wide streets throughout to accommodate trams, cars, bicycles, and pedestrians. Again it is done well, with not a horn to be heard. In fact you are more likely to hear the ding of a bicycle bell for tourists not used to looking out for the considerable amount of bikers here. Also, since the bike infrastructure is well supported in the Netherlands, it encourages bike ridership. My lonely planet guide indicated there are more bicycles than citizens. Bike demographics are indiscriminate as well; I saw young kids to seniors cycling. Even saw a mother pedaling with two kids, one in the front basket and one in the rear seat. However, no helmets.
I found plenty of canals meandering throughout. I particularly like the green algae topped areas with a few trees along the sides. It felt like I was staring at a painting. Also, many of the street parking areas also contains charge stations for electric and hybrid cars. Not to be repetitive, but this type of infrastructure is what helps encourage people to pursue being green, something that really needs to be instilled and acted on throughout the world.
It has been cold and rainy but I did manage to walk out to the Euromast, one of the taller structures here in Rotterdam. For my trek there, I was rewarded with a rainbow and sunset.
// Oliver – Day 2 – Netherlands