Once in a while I long for the serenity and solitude of the Sea.

There is a train to an island I know by name, reputation and its outline sticker that adorns so many cars. There is a causeway. I look forward to see this wide open space that meets the sky at the horizon, the waves that never cease and to feel the sand between my toes.

I get off the train and reality hits me …

… hard, …

… but I still have hope. It is crushed when I see the toll both.

I have to pay to get to the beach? Seriously?

From an observation deck I get a good look at what I am missing out on.

I decide that I am not missing much. I presume around here this is the real estate.

Experience and logic tells me that things might change further down the coast. I start walking …

… until I leave the concrete behind me and things look more friendly.

A dike, densely overgrown with dog roses …

… keeps me from the beach. There are passages, but each one is guarded.

By now it is a matter of principle. I wonder who owns this beach. Obviously it is not the people. I turn inland. I see amazing thatched roofs …

… row after row.

… until I reach a …

… “nature experience area” ??

The sign warns me to enter on my own risk.

It looks like a forest to me. I walk in. It is a forest, and not a particular dangerous one. I laugh. I have absolutely lost interest in this island. In front of the station someone has abandoned some art. I absolutely agree.