Before and after the ODA World Conference, take time to explore Holland, or The Netherlands -- literally, the "low lands." To do so, you need to understand the country's national NS ("netherlands trackways," literally) train system, which manages to be simultaneously amazing and frustrating.
Amazing
Trains run about every 15 minutes, which is 2x more frequent than the buses in my home town. Most station platforms have crossover tracks, so that they can service two trains at once.
A ticket lets you get off anywhere along the way, and then continue to your destination. For instance, my wife and I stopped off at for a few hours in Haarlem to visit Corrie Ten Boom's house -- on the way to Amsterdam. On another day, we stopped off at Den Haag on the way to Delft and its blue-white pottery, and where "Girl with a Pearl Earring" was filmed.
Frustrating
NS ticket machines only accept Dutch debit and credit cards, or Euro cash. Your MasterCard from USA or Canada or other country don't work at the NS.
Cash is fine, if you have sufficient on you. But trains in Europe are not cheap. For instance, the 30-minute trip from Leiden Centraal ("central" or main train station) to Amsterdam Centraal is about US$40 for two people, round-trip. To pay cash, you need e29.80 worth of Euro bills and coins on you.
The alternative is to use the human-powered ticket counter, but then (1) you have to wait longer in line, and (2) NS charges you an extra service fee. Grrr!
English
Most people you come across in Holland have a working knowledge of English. Indeed, they are more likely to speak English than the somewhat-similar-German due to lingering resentment of the Second-World-War's Nazi invasion of Holland.
For instance, I asked in German the official at the Leiden train station's information stand for the direction to the taxi stand, and he replied in English. During the Corrie Ten Boom tour, the guide mentioned German soldiers, and then quickly corrected herself with "Nazi soldiers."
I lived in the Netherlands for 18 months and (tried to) learn Dutch while I was there. However, since I know German, whenever I would try to speak Dutch I'd end up uttering some horrendous mish-mash of Dutch and German with an American English accent.
The Dutch were very appreciative of my efforts, but they would smile at me and respond (in English), “just speak English: it’s easier for you and easier for me.” They really didn’t want to hear German at all.
Posted by: J. Daniel Smith | Apr 17, 2009 at 09:54 PM
Well, don't you think that even in Germany most people would have replied in English when *you* asked for directions in German :-) I found that other than in the tourists regions, most Dutch speak much better English than German and therefore they and I prefer talking in English rather than German. The reason has much less to do with the Nazi occupation since most Dutch and most Germans you talk to were born or raised long after WW2. Dutch know English much better than German because TV stations broadcast most series and films in English, not in German.
Posted by: Dietmar Rudolph | Apr 20, 2009 at 01:51 AM