What on earth am I doing here…

You must also have felt at some point in your life that the cosmos is not on your side. This revelation might come and be confirmed by a shower when you have the whim to go out, your umbrella disappoints you at the same time a car washes you down, and then just as you are trying to put the key into the keyhole, it slips from your hands into the drain through the loophole. Would such ill-starred depictions happen only in the movies? Sometimes not.

When I woke up at 6 a.m. in the picturesque town of south Netherlands, Middelburg, there was no soul at sight. The wind combined with the cold helped me to wake up quickly. I felt almost frozen by the time I arrived at the train station to take the train to Amsterdam, running. Coffee? You wish! Let alone an open shop, it was even hard to see something animate. Not even cats.

When I woke up at 6 a.m. in the picturesque town of south Netherlands, Middelburg, there was no soul at sight. The wind combined with the cold helped me to wake up quickly. I felt almost frozen by the time I arrived at the train station to take the train to Amsterdam, running. Coffee? You wish! Let alone an open shop, it was even hard to see something animate. Not even cats.

Just as I was thinking “fortunately, the trains are pretty on time here”, Bang! A half-an-hour delay appeared on the timetable. If it had been only that, that would not have mattered much. After getting on the train, they made a series of long announcements in dutch. In the beginning, thinking that they might be the usual stuff, I didn’t pay any attention. Afterwards, the train stopped suddenly, and everybody started to get off. “What the hell is going on?”

It is nice that in the Netherlands, everybody speaks English as a second language. “The train will not continue due to the construction on the railways. You can take a bus to another train station, and take another train there to Amsterdam,” said a ticket inspector. Bus? Which bus? What destination? Something like “ejdhaaajkakbsbbdjeeebaden.” “Excuse me?”

“ejdhaaanshdhfkjnjkjddneed.” Why on earth do the Dutch towns have such long names!

With a lot of questions on my mind, I thought the best would be to follow the herd not to get lost in the Dutch villages. I chose a Dutch as my tacit guide and followed her throughout the voyage.

The challenge was to arrive at Amsterdam. From there to Milan, it was just the plane.

Let’s keep the memories of Milan for later, and I will now tell you about another Dutch city I explored accidentally thanks to the back trip which turned out to be another Tom & Jerry adventure.

Lahey!

That same feeling. “What on earth am I doing here?” If you have read my first article, you’d understand what I mean. It would only be with ill-fate that you end up in some cities which have no touristic feature. If you’re lucky, you can get away only with a “what on earth I’m doing here!” rather than a plot reminiscent of a Tarantino movie.

It started on the way to the airport. The only flight I could find was at 6 a.m. I, thus, had to set off before the sun showed its face. But the bad fortune was with me. I fell down onto the flat street while struggling with my luggage. This gave me a black chin and a limping foot. I bought a coffee at the airport. I don’t know if it was the rules of the physics or the cosmos but I started to feel persona non grata when my luggage fell down on my hand holding the coffee. As can be imagined, the result was a pair of wet jeans.

After landing in Amsterdam, I bought a pair of jeans, and took the train, limping. Just as I was feeling the relief that “the construction on the railroad must be over,” the long announcements with the passengers boarding-off was restaged. “This is a nightmare!” “What is going on? Where are we going? Railway construction?” No, worse. There was a fire in one of the tunnels, all the trains on the south direction were cancelled! “When will they start working again? No one knows! So, where are we now?” “Den Haag.” “Excuse me?” “Den Haag or Gravenhage.” “Another country heard from!” While I was trying to figure out where I was on the maps of my smart phone, I hopeless mumbled in Turkish “Where on earth am I? Someone please tell me for God’s sake.” “Lahey,” said somebody.

“Where on earth is Lahey?” I turned back and saw that it was the owner of the kiosk. He was standing just behind me. Its name badge says Mustafa. Turkish! After a brief talk, I left my luggage with Mustafa and went on to explore the city.

Lahey is an interesting city. It does not have touristic attractions, though. It is quite vibrant, however, with its China town, American pubs, Taiwanese restaurants, Irish pubs, Shanghai and African and Indian markets. I even overheard some places playing songs of Tarkan. Turkish culture here is not only represented by Tarkan, though. There are shops where you can see on the windows some Turkish salami and Turkish specialities served inside. Lahey is a meeting-point of cultures.

Its significance for the Dutch is that the Dutch Kingdom is located in Lahey. All the bureaucracy and politics is here with the Royal Palace, Royal government, ministries, parliament, embassies, international tribunals.

It has an eccentric ambiance. It of course looks like other Dutch cities, but has a more serious feeling, a bit more gloomy. As usual, the weather is cold and unpleasant.

 

After a short tour, I took the train to home and left this weird city behind.

 

You can see the gray pictures of LAHEY for the time being. But now I am enjoying the narrow streets of Mykonos to be able to tell you a tale about the warm winds of Mykonos. Yes, now I am in Mykonos and going to have some delicious shrimps to be able to share the recipe with you.