Wednesday (7/22/15) last week was another quiet day. I don't think I even took a single photo all day! We spent most of the day in the classroom and I wasn't too upset about that because the weather was cold and rainy all day. In the morning we had a lecture from a representative from the City of Vancouver. He's spending the next two weeks with the program learning what he can to bring back to Vancouver. It was interesting to hear what bike infrastructure has been built in a North American city. Vancouver is probably much more similar to Boston than Delft, so it was interesting to see that comparison. After a lecture from Professor Furth we broke for lunch. A group of us decided to go to IKEA for lunch. It's only about 10 minutes from campus and who doesn't love some Swedish meatballs? It's good to know that the meatballs taste the same in the Netherlands as they do in America.
After lunch we observed a signalized intersection to see the phasing plan and to watch how trams and buses have priority. Every time a tram or bus approached the intersection the light would turn red for all other directions and the tram or bus would get a green light within a few seconds. It's an interesting concept that would be great on the Green Line!
The afternoon I spent working on some outstanding homework assignments that I needed to do. I finished at about 5:30 and I had an odd sensation: it was the first time that I had nothing planed and nothing to do. I felt kinda lost. It still wasn't nice weather and I had no idea what to do. I ended up cooking dinner with Maggie and Maddy, which was nice because it was the first time I had a home-cooked meal since I got here. I haven't even turned on my hot plate in my room.
Thursday (7/23/15) was a more interesting day. We went to the city of 's-Hertogenbosch. (That is the official name of the city, which makes no sense to me. I still don't know how to actually pronounce it. Locals abbreviate it to Den Bosch, which is much more manageable for me.) Den Bosch was named the cycling city of the Netherlands for 2011 because of their dedication to bike planing, which is why we went there. This is the farthest that I've traveled outside of Delft, as Den Bosch is in the south down near the Belgian border.
Arrival at the train station in 's-Hertogenbosch
The city itself was really pretty. It still has the original walls from the mid-evil days, which I found wicked awesome. The central square was really nice too. In the past 15 years the city has stared limiting where in the city cars can go. Today, only local traffic and delivery trucks area allowed in the central city. I think it's a great idea, and something that could be done in Portland's old port or something.
Our first stop was at city hall. I was amazed by how welcomed the officials at city hall made us feel! The city officials we were meeting were waiting outside for us and made us take a picture in front of city hall. Then they gave us this super nice welcome with coffee and pastries. The city alderman was even there to welcome us as the delegates from America. I felt super important.
A royal welcome with coffee and white table clothes
Annie and I with our pastries. The pastries are known as bossche bols, and the city of Den Bosch is known around the country as the home of this pastry. It basically is a round pastry filled with whipped cream and coated in chocolate. It was delicious.
The city hall was really nice. It was a very historic building with old paintings and murals everywhere
After our welcome and a presentation on the city's bike policy and infrastructure by the city's traffic engineer, we had lunch and took a bike tour of the city. We saw the walls, the old center, a new development that's currently being built, and some of the neighborhoods outside of the city center. I was very impressed with Den Bosch.
Part of the old walls
A cute little chocolate shop in the city center.
Part of the new development being built. The city planner said this bridge is being designed to look like the High Line park in New York City.
Riding along the top of the walls. This part of the city seems to be built up at the same height as the top of the walls. Below is about a 30 foot drop and a nature reserve.
A view from another side of the walls.
Center square in Den Bosch
A different segment of the walls. Nearly the entire city is surrounded by these walls. According to Wikipedia, 's-Hertogenbosch won the award for Europe's best fortified city in 2004.
An artsy view of the old cathedral
Another view of the square. Although unlike Delft, this square is not shaped like an actual square or rectangle. It's more like a triangle.
After our scheduled program ended for the day we all had a drink at a cafe on the square. It was very relaxing to just sit in the square and watch the world go by. A group of us decided to stay for dinner and take a later train back to Delft. After walking around a little bit more we got dinner at a restaurant right on the square. I got lasagna! We ended up leaving Den Bosch a little after 9pm. Overall it was a great day!
Cafe for pre-dinner drinks.
Friday (7/24/15) our program had another day trip. We met at the university and rode our bikes to the nearby town of Pijnacker. We had already been to Pijnacker once before, but this time we met with city officials and took a guided tour. The officials here also gave us a very nice welcome that also included coffee and pastries. Although this time in addition we received free gift bags! It's like each city is trying to one-up each other. The bags included a bottle of water, pen and paper with the town's logo on it, a bike seat cover, and a snack size portion of locally grown cherry tomatoes. I had never ate straight tomatoes before, but they were delicious!
What a nice welcome! I also love how each municipality has coffee cups with the name of the municipality on it. Do cities and towns in America do that, even the small suburbs?
After the welcome we had a presentation on Pijnacker. We learned that Pijnacker used to be a small town of about 5,000 in 1950. Then the federal government designated the town as a location for future development. Today the town has about 50,000 residents and has direct train connections to The Hague and Rotterdam. I think it's interesting how the national government decided that Pijnacker was going to become more developed, and how the government even decided how many residential units needed to be built in the town. The government tells the town it needs to build so many units, and it's up to the ton to decide how those residential units are going to be built.
A house in the old part of the town. It looks like something out of Alice in Wonderland.
A suburban development built in the 1980's. I'm sure the residents were confused why such a large group stopped in the middle of their neighborhood to look around.
A new development in Pijnacker
The Town actually bought us all lunch at a local pancake house. I was impressed!
My pineapple and cheese pancake. In the Netherlands, pancakes are more like crepes than the traditional US pancake. They're pretty delicious though!
In the afternoon we went back to Delft. We had a guided tour of the new train station. It was interesting to hear about the construction project that is currently going on. The city of Delft used to have the trains run on an elevated viaduct through the city, but they are currently in the process of burying about 4km of tracks. Part of that project includes building a new station with underground platforms.
Ceiling of the Delft train station.
In the evening we relaxed in the old town. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant outside, and then had a few drinks at some local bars. We went to my favorite bar in Delft, which has a jazz themed and a private courtyard in the back. Overall it was pretty fun! I talked to a drunk 81-year-old Indonesian man for awhile. He didn't speak English very well but I gathered that he likes to fight for sport. Nothing like befriending some locals, right?
I know this is a long post. For some reason I just kept writing and writing tonight. I'll end with a couple photos from the Old Gate in Delft that I found on Friday. It's over 600 years old!
The top of the old gate
Imagine people arriving to Delft in the 14th Century through this gate!!
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