So it's been nearly two years since I was in a Dutch train, and it's a nice experience to travel from Hoorn to Rotterdam today.
Traveling in this train is a real Dutch experience -- the moment I'm writing this the train is moving through farm fields and there are cows just a few meters from the train, staring and chewing while the train moves by. A few years ago some of our foreign guests enjoyed it a lot to take a train through the flower fields in spring. I understand now why.
I'm traveling on a 1st class ticket, and that is a good thing. It's so crowded! Even in 1st class there are too few seats and a couple of people didn't find a place to sit from Hoorn to Amsterdam. There is no reserved seating so when the doors opened there was a mad rush to get inside and get a good place to sit. The train itself is amazing -- better than any American public transport. Smooth, quiet, very clean and fast.
I briefly saw Amsterdam Central Station, a beautiful trainstation but I had only a few minutes to transfer to the train to Rotterdam. It's an all-service train, so it stops in small places like Abcoude and Woerden. My end point is in a suburb of Rotterdam where I have a couple of meetings for work today.
The train also drove through Duivendrecht and Amsterdam Bijlmer, where I used to live. I heard the familiar sound of the metro doors closing on Duivendrecht. The Bijlmer station has changed incredibly. From being a small, greasy train station it is now being transformed into something like Duivendrecht: huge, open platforms that are long enough to load and unload the large intercity trains.
Yesterday evening I had dinner with Ettie and my parents. I really enjoy being around them, after such a long time! It's especially nice to see Ettie and I hadn't seen her for so long. Gerben is back in Leeuwarden since Sunday evening for his work. We had stamppot andijvie for dinner, which was delicious. When I was little I used to dislike it but not anymore.
An early morning again! I woke up, without an alarm, at 5.45 am, ready for a new day in the Netherlands and it's not raining.
Today I had a schedule with a lot of miles, and it started early when we were quite on time at the consulate. It took a while (lots of waiting), but around 10.30 am after a short interview I was officially granted my renewal. Not surprising, but I'm still glad this is over. I'll get my passport with the visa stamp by mail.