IKEA

A very beautiful Sunday has finally come! (okay, this picture doesn't say much of that.) I had been sick of cloudy and rainy days for the past week, so I decided to go out to some place… and the “some place” became to be IKEA.
As soon as I got off the train, I had this bad feeling… it was closed. Before I left home, I checked their website for their hours. Ok. Everything is in Dutch. And so-I-thought it was Sunday hours was actually Saturdays’. Well, when one schedule has different hours, I would assume it is Sunday’s!! oh well. No people. No cars. Nothing. It’s so quiet. But I had to walk up to the entrance to make sure it was really closed. Sure enough. It was closed, so I u-turned and walked back to the train station. There is nothing else around there. After spending some euros (about 10$!) on the train ride, I realized that it is quite expensive not to know Dutch!

The view from the train window on the way back to Amsterdam. It’s still a beautiful day, and cows and sheep were also enjoying the sun. This kind of view is actually pretty common in Holland. I just love the view and I really enjoy it. When I was looking out the window, I remembered the Japan’s TV program called “ From World’s Train Windows”. It is only 5 minute show introducing different countries by looking out of train windows. I used to love the show, and from now on, I probably will remember the show every time I take a train on sunny days.

This is the train map in Holland. This train continues to Germany, Belgium and France. I take this train every morning to work, and of course, to IKEA! As you can see, there are not that many last stops. Almost all stations are connected! My very first time, I was stunned in front of this map because I could not figure out which train leaves to which direction. Usually, the last station is on the train indicating which direction it is going to. But when there is no last station really on this map, so how would I know which direction a train is going to?
Well, once I understood the system, I realize that it is quite convenient. From the same platform, lots of trains leave to different directions and lots of options even if I miss my train.
In the beginning, when I did not know how to get from point A to point B, I just kept asking people. Dutch people can speak English, so I did not get lost. That was pretty much the only way I could go with. Eventually, I learned that I can figure it out beforehand by looking up on the websites. NS website gives you the train schedule options, and 9292ov.nl gives you the train and metro (subway) combination options. You can even specify address to address, and the result includes the walking time. Pretty nice, huh? If you have no access to the internet, then you can look at time tables at a station. There are so many different time tables, but by looking at the map and schedules, you can figure things out. Even if you get on a wrong train, you don't really have to U-turn but take a detour if you want. Remember, everything is connected.