So we were in Groningen, the Netherlands, for a conference for four days.

We’ve never met as crazy a bicycle town as Groningen. You may expect that a completely bicycle friendly town with practically no cars would be a nice and relaxed place to go about. Think again. Groningen is like Hanoi, only without the honking. The bicycles do not make any sound whatsoever (except the squeeky ones), so you have to be constantly attentive and look around to see if you are stepping in front of anyone. While cars usually stay on streets, these bikes were everywhere — on streets, bike paths, pedestrian paths, sidewalks — coming from and going to various (often wrong!) directions (many Groningen’s bike paths are one way)

Place de Finlande, Paris — Paris Gare du Nord — Rotterdam Centraal

On our way from Paris Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord we stopped by at the Finnish embassy to vote in our parliamentary elections. Then we had another change of trains in Rotterdam. After 12 hours of train travelling we reached Groningen at 9pm.

We had a couple of awesome morning runs in the nearby park Noorderplantsoen. The park was inhabited by a variety (noisy) ducks and mallards.

Lunch at an Indonesian “fast food” place.

From distance this band sounded like a university marching band. It was quite a surprise when we finally saw them, and realized what they were playing — Motörhead’s Ace of Spades.

Unlike weekdays, there was hardly a soul, or a bicycle, on the streets of Groningen on this Sunday mornings when we headed to the railway station to start the 11-hour train trip home.