If you park your bicycle at Twente you'll never find it back as there's thousands of them! The best way to go to the stadium is by train.
Kind of like this? I have trouble finding my bike in my own street. I have lost several of them in places like the above.
Well, why don't we invent a small horn that can be mounted on the bike with a remote button that can be used to locate it amidst a crowd of parked bikes? US autos have what is called a "panic button" on the key that when pressed sounds the horn and flashes the lights so that one can locate their car if they forgot where it was parked. Say you price this accessory at €5 or so; do the math and you could be a millionaire in Holland pretty quickly!!!!! You don't owe me any royalties on this but you better patent it quickly.
This device should be sealed in the frame itself, otherwise it'll certainly get knicked. Good idea! Don't we Yurpeans have these alarms? I know I never had one - I think.
There's an iPhone app that uses GPS to tell you where your car is - provided you remember to use it before you walk away from the car. That would probably work pretty well. You never have these problems in America since hardly anybody rides, but I used to put a bit of colored electrical tape on certain spots on my bike, just so if I forgot where it was exactly I could walk around and pick it out from other similar looking bikes. Of course no discussion of this would be without the bike ramp at Amsterdam Centraal: The first time I saw it, I gawked at it like Stewie: Then I got barrelled over by frat boys running to get VD from a hooker.
Virtually all of the larger train stations now have one of those ugly things, even in my humble city. The problem with them is that only real grown-ups use them. The average Dutch person will simply park their bicycle as close to where they need to be and ignore all organised bicycle parking facilities. Once every week or so the police rounds up all illegally parked bicycles and stores them at the police station where you can pick your own up. This is supposed to warn people off parking their bicycle randomly (but of course it doesn't work)
Leiden Centraal had an organized place, but no proper bike garage like the one in AC. It was just a gigantic bike rack.
Really love the one at CS, it's quite safe... hardly any theft. My bike is in there right now. Pretty easy to spot, because I painted it myself.
What colour? I'll have a look and see if it's safe! Hey, what about Leeuwarden stadium plans? These conference centre/real estate guys of Cambuur have some plans ready right?
Red and white. Yeah, it's a mess like always. The citycounsil will probably decide on it at the end of this year. The new location will most likely be next to the WTC-Expo (the conference centre and supposedly biggest businessclub of the north). Or the Zuidlanden. Or Werpsterhoek. Or maybe just an upgrade/renovation of the current location, but that seems unlikely. The Accolade group (social housing/real estate) already made some premature redevelopment plans for the current location.
I hate that Amsterdam CS park deck: There is NEVER a free spot. And in Amsterdam if they pick up your bike from illegal parking you have to go to the middle of nowhere to get it back. That said, I miss being in the shape that I was in in Amsterdam. Gotta move back to a city center soon!
Haha, places that are completely unreachable by public transport. Just like Dutch embassy's abroad always seem to be, for some weird reason...
I know Cambuur Stadion is a relic but it's just a block or 2 from my uncle's place. The conference center is on the completely opposite side of town
Possibly because very few countries in the world have a reliable public transportation system, much less one of the quality of the Netherlands?
From my experience, at least locally, Central Europe, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia are on par, and all but Scandinavia are cheaper. For long distance Germany, France and Spain are better (and Amsterdam Centraal - Utrecht CS is not long distance), Central Europe worse, however.
And outside of Australia, Canada, a precious few cities in the U.S. and Japan, that may be it. I mean, if you're looking for the Dutch Embassy in Yaounde, you're not going to have an easy time getting there via public transportation.
Hey cycling affiniado! I might not be a regular here but I still cherish my Dutch Stadium Thread. It has more than 20.000 views and I kind of happen to like that. Some more of your transportation troubles on foreign shores and the thread gets closed because will then surely have reached 500. And with the professional football economy in shambles, I will have to resort to commenting about amateur stadiums to invigorate a "Dutch Stadium Thread II". If you were wondering, the above comment is a mixture of irony and heartfelt concern. [It is always prudent to point out matters of irony on international forums.]
Just buy a fixed gear bike to take to the stadium. No brake. It will be easy to identify and the poor fool who steals it will wish he didn't quickly.
Let's do a worst and best Dutch stadiums survey! Good not equalling the most modern sophisticated high tech whatever, but the stadium you love the most, and the one you like the least. My picks: Best: 1. VVV - it's old, it's small, but I'm sorry I just love it there. 2. Twente - duh 3. De Kuip - old and in dire need of refurbishment but still best in the country for atmosphere Worst: 1. Telstar - Last time I was there was many years ago but what an eyesore it was back then. 2. Vitesse - better known as de fabriekshal 3. Amsterdam Arena - better known as de sporthal.
I'll have to come back over and do a stadium tour. My last match in person was back in the spring of 1978 at what I thought was the best place to watch football, De Meer in Amsterdam. During the time I was there I also saw matches in Utrecht and Rotterdam.
Here is my (biased and sentimentally charged) list: Best: 1. Euroborg - Gets better with every expansion, but, jeez, do something about the exterior! 2. De Kuip (Stadion Feijenoord) - Where my grandfather enjoyed football in de 30s and 40s and where my father went to watch Feyenoord win it all... 3. De Adelaarshorst (Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer) - last of its kind, better cherish it. OK, here's an extra: 4. Olympic Stadium when Ajax played there in the 90s - I hate to admit it.. Worst: 1. Vitesse's Gelredome - they didn't even try to build a football stadium. 2. FC Zwolle/MVV/RBC/Helmond Sport - I hate those bloody walls... 3. Ajax' Arena - I have never visited Ajax games but still curious I have visited two editions of the Johan Cruyff ordeal and I think a club like Ajax clearly deserves a better stadium.
Is that Zwolle the new stadium or the old one? I forgot about de Adelaarshorst - I'm with you, love it.