A half day off in Den Haag
In the morning I took a half-day off and went to Den Haag to submit documents to the consulate for a new passport. I work remotely and don’t commute to the office, so I used the opportunity to shake up the routine and travel a bit.
I left earlier to make it in time, but it took only around one hour to get from my apartment to the Den Haag NS train station. So I used the time to ride on a rented bike around the old city centre a little and stopped by Single Estate Coffee Roasters cafe I like to visit when I'm in the town. They have good coffee they roast themselves and fresh pastry. This time the coffee was good, although not that bright as I expected it to be reading the card.
It was time for my appointment at the consulate. It’s close to the cafe and surprisingly it only took 20 minutes to apply for the new passport at the consulate, including taking a picture, fingerprints and paying the fee.
On the way back to the train station I stopped by Decathlon. After I got into running such places are like candy stores to me. I couldn’t resist and bought a running vest I’ve been thinking to buy for a while. I wasn’t sure if it suits me or not, so I didn’t want to buy it online and used the chance to try out one in a store.
After the store, I rode to the Central Station and handed out the bike. The Donkeys are cheap and convenient as they are everywhere, but as with any rental services it comes with a price: the quality of their bikes is very low. The back wheel got stiff and started making strange loud noise on the way back.
It was 20 minutes before the train so I went to kiosk and bought a bottle of water and my first in a 5 years pretzel. Gosh, I forgot how salty they are.
One the way back in the train I remembered how nice it feels sometimes to be surrounded by people, just to sit, look around, listen, and observe.