Just visited The Netherlands for the first time to speak at Techorama
Just visited The Netherlands for the first time to speak at Techorama. I explored Amsterdam and Utrecht.
As an American, here’s a few things I admired:
1. Probably the best transit infrastructure of any country I’ve visited. Trains run often, there are many buses and trams, bike lanes are nearly everywhere, and cities are dense and walkable.
2. Portions are smaller. Pastries, soups, sandwiches, etc are smaller.
3. Food isn’t as sweet. In the US, desserts are often overly sweet. And many foods like sauces and meats have added sugar. Here desserts are subtly sweet, so I can enjoy the other flavors, and normal food doesn’t seem sweetened. Even jelly is subtly sweet, and tastes like fresh fruit instead of merely sweet.
4. Bread is better. It’s delicious, I can cut it myself, and it’s clearly higher quality.
5. I watched literally 100s of bikers fly by my hotel window every few minutes. It feels unreal. There are underground bike parking garages and many bikes parked off street throughout the city. It was cold and rainy most of my stay and that didn’t stop people. They put on a coat and rode anyway. Lesson: If you create bike infrastructure, people will use it.
6. The cities are peaceful. Since bikes are silent, trains and trams are electric, and cars are infrequent, it’s wonderful to just stroll around. Also people here rarely honk.
7. I saw very few people who appeared homeless during my 5 day stay. It seems the social safety systems are superior here.
8. Most cars are small, and some are hilariously small - like as long as an American car is wide. This feels much more efficient than the US’ fixation on big trucks and SUVs.
