Finding Beauty,or in this case a little beast, right on your doorstep….

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Right up until the very darkest and coldest days of winter, I have been taking the tram to work and doing a lot of walking in my neighbourhood and surrounding ones as I try and increase my exercise and fitness.

At the moment I’m back to taking the car ( -6 C in the mornings is just too much for my asthma at the moment) but I’m definitely looking forward to warmer days and to continuing my walks.

Dutch houses in the cities  mostly have their front doors leading directly off the footpath, so it’s easy to spot some of the decorative doors, tiles, door-knockers and letterboxes.

Of course if you look at my blog you will see that I like photos, LOTS of photos, so it’s no surpirse that I have been carrying my camera around during my walks…

….just in case I see a photographic gem.

This is how I chanced across this wonderful froggie doorknob, enchanting, tacktile, whimsical and functional all in one !

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Other doorways are works of art in themselves… styles range from Art Deco, to Art Nouveau to everything before and after…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

These older houses on the Laan van Meerdervoort ( the longest street in The Hague) are about 1/3rd wider than a normal doorway would be… for wide skirts in days gone by? Who knows?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

And a few more…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The funny thing about this one is that the windows are way above head height…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Aggggh… wrought iron… love it!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

…”On a bicycle built for… …*HOW* many??!!!”

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Bicycles are an integral part of Dutch life… apparently it’s estimated that there are somewhere around 13 million bikes in the Netherlands,  that’s roughly double the number of cars.

Considering that there are about 17 million people in the Netherlands that’s almost one bike for every man, woman and child…

Some of them look like they want to carry every man, woman and child as well LOL!

In this flat country where population density means that road traffic is often at a virtual standstill during rush hour,  cycling to work is often just as fast, if not faster than taking the car.

Add to that the fact that cars are an  expensive commodity, it’s no surprise that many people don’t own a car at all, so the bicycle is something that is far more than just a recreational item.

My husband grew up without a car and we were not financially secure enough to even consider one until about 10 years ago,  so it was completely normal that  grocery shopping  etc was bought home every week… on the bike.

Many families also use their bikes to commute themselves and their kids to crèche or school…  and when kids are too big (or too many) to be carried on a standard bike, then a non standard bike might just be the ideal answer.

Notice that on both these bikes that the middle seat doesn’t have peddles or handlebars and that the foot-rests are higher up.. so an adult will be peddling at the back, bigger kid will be peddling at the front and the littlest kid will be in the middle tucked in, in front of the adult.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

So, fresh air and exercise for the whole family.. well most of all,  an eco-friendly method of transport that is simple and practical.  Excellent !!!

Dutch Life and the Bike-Train-Bike combination commute…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Good for the environment and for keeping fit, bicycles in the Netherlands are  more than just  a leisure item, they are the workhorses of many families You need to realise that cars  (even second-hand ones) are expensive to both buy and run , petrol costs Euro 1.43 per litre ( USA compares with =0.69 per litre) according to this website: http://www.aaireland.ie/petrolprices/

(I used an Irish website here as my example because it give prices for December 2009 for various European counties, and also included USA in their International section which helps give a good comparison… and because another website I originally wanted to quote is only in Dutch, so too difficult for anyone to read who doesn’t speak Dutch)

So you get the idea that in a small country, with a large population density, cars are not cheap to own. Public transport is especially good in larger cities and a lot of people commute by train to work.  To let you know how bad the car traffic is, let me tell you that traffic jams less than 3kms long are never reported,  that traffic jams of around 20-30 kms long are workday norms, and record traffic jams of 60kms +  are happening more frequently.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Yes people do drive a LOT in this crowded country, but bikes and trains make good sense as a commuter combination and are used by millions of Dutch every day. Here’s how it works…

Typically you if you commute by train you will own several bikes.. one is a real ” dunger” .. a beaten up bike that hopefully no-one will steal… it lives  with a big lock on it at the railway station  closest to your workplace so that  after you hop off the train, you can easily cycle to your workplace from the station… … and back to the station again after work.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

You lock your bike well, at the station because (a) Bike theft is a national sport (b) the bike with the smallest and easiest lock to break will be the one that gets stolen, so a humongous lock steers thieves to easier pickings (c) you can use your mega lock on your other, more expensive bike(s) when out and about on those at other times (d) it’s a darned hassle to want to cycle off to work  after getting off the train to find that the rotten thing has been pinched (e) even second hand beaten up dunger bikes cost more than you think… more than Euro 75  each if you are lucky and often more than Euro 100, so there is method in the apparent madness of having a lock that is probably worth as much as the bike.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

You then board your train, commute to the station closest to your home, go to the cycle racks to collect your second ” dunger” also well locked up, to ride home… Thus the train comes into the station and about 5 minutes afterwards hundreds of cyclists stream out of the station cycle stands to peddle their way home. The cycle stands in The Hague Central Station  looks just like a parking building for cars… it’s two stories and massive… but it’s only parking for bikes!

The alternative to the two-bicycles-and-a-train  senario is the small fold up bike that can be taken on board the train with you for no charge. These bikes have small wheels and the seat can be raised for cycling, and then it’s folded up and can be stored in your office at work , or easily at home. They look a bit strange but they do the trick and most people who use them will have a “proper” bike at home for leisure cycling as well, the fold up bike is only for the workplace commute.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)