After everyone had finished to vote, we gathered and decided to visit the town of Utrecht by small groups. We agreed to come back to “Centraal Station” at 2h30 pm.
Some took then public transport, others, more courageous, walked until the town center. It is really a beautiful city and people are very friendly and smiling. And how Dutch women are tall !!
We made a long walk. I ws more afraid to collapse with a cyclist than by a car. There were bicycles everywhere and the city is very well equipped in cycle tracks. Why bicycles are so numerous ? Is it because it’s the easiest and cheapest mean transport in this city or because Dutchmen are more concerned than us of the future of our planet? I think that both explanations are right but Dutchmen seem more ecologist that us ! (Without any political connotation). Moreover I saw an aeolian park.
In short, we visited all the center of the city. Some seized the occasion to send postcards in a small post office, others ate in a Turkish kebab, others drank a coffee in a small Pub.
About midday we came back to “Centraal Station”. It took not less than 45 minutes to return at the place of our appointment! But I have 2 explanations to that: 1/ the center was quite far from the place of vote, and in addition women and girls walked slowly. As we are real gentlemen, we walked at their rhythm and did not lost them…
And we arrived at “Centraal Station”. It was approximately 1h00 pm. The spectacle was imposing!!! Kurds everywhere, sang, danced at the rhythm of dehol û zirna, the green, white and red flag with a sun was is omnipresent. Some young people were completely hysterical! The “disappointment” of the morning was already forgotten. The same place which was empty at morning is now crowded !
Be sure that it awoke our patriotic feelings!!
We had to wait quite 2 hours before reaching our bus to come back in France. Personally I was not in a hurry any more to take again the road. I enjoyed each moment. Certain images were particularly strong, in particular this old Kurdish woman which hardly held on her legs and was accompanied to the vote office by 2 young persons (her grandchildren?)… Or all these buses which arrived from other towns of Holland or Belgium to deposit Kurds at”Centraal Station”. Kurdish flags were exposed on their windows, or even on their windshield for the floored-buses
Among the (Kurdish) crowd we could see one or two Iraqi flags. I noticed that Arabs were few, and essentially Shiites.
Then, a bit far from the crow, a small group of Turkmens. They timidly held up their turquoise blue flag with a crescent and a star. Their flag has certain similarities with the Turkish flag. I have to precise that they were not numerous, less than 10 people. Later, other young people joined them, perhaps 15. They could not be more than 30, with children. A certain tension was perceptible between them and the Kurds. I felt that the situation was going to turn bad. And unfortunately it occurred.
[…] (To be continued…) […]