Kevin Steinhardt's photostream  

Haarlem is one of the most confusing cities to navigate without local knowledge. When I first moved there, me and one of my colleagues from work spent almost half-an-hour driving around the centre - one way then the other - trying to find my flat. We were driving though, and Haarlem loves rising bollards almost as much as Cambridge does.

This is Kruisweg, as seen from platform 3a of Haarlem railway station. I kind of like these two parallel roads in a sea of random cobbled streets - see the map on the right, and you'll also see Jansweg to the east. Both of these roads lead from the station down to the Grote Markt in the centre of town, which I luckily live right by.

If you zoom in and look closely, you can clearly see that the right-hand side of Kruisweg here is being ripped up and resurfaced. The left-hand side is also being worked on, but I hope you'll notice that only the right-hand side is a road. The left-hand side is a bi-directional cycleway, and quite a wide one at that. It might be the middle of town but there's still a physically segregated cycleway, separating cyclists from this restricted access road.

I am actually so bloody lucky I don't have to take these shitty trains any more. I think it's been nine months since I last used First Capital Connect and what a blissful nine months it's been. Nederlandse Spoorwegen might not be perfect, but they're a damn sight better than any of First's subsidiaries.

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