Rotterdam Excursion

"this could be Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome, Cause Rotterdam is anywhere...anywhere alone....anywhere alone"

Rotterdam ay....Rotter'shite' on officially the coldest day ever! Today Rosy and I ventured off on another ESN 'field trip'. I almost pulled out though, because i woke up to find it was snowing again. But anyhow, i jumped on my bike like i always do and decided to not let the crap weather get to me.

That didnt last long. Walking into Rotterdam is like walking into a freezer of Death. Rotterdam is the port town of Holland, in fact its the largest port in the world. So being right by the sea, you have no shelter from the killer sea breezes. Wellington has got it good.

The above lyrics are from the Song 'the beautiful south' which most of you should recognise. I found these highly appropriate. Rotterdam was bombed in the second world war by the germans. The dutch troops on their bicycles could not compete with the Germans, and so Rotterdam was completely destroyed apart from four buildings. And so the city of Rotterdam was rebuilt, and is still in the process. The 'New Rotterdam' is highly americanised, lots of skyscrapers and alot of glass. Alot of the dutch think that Rotterdam is ugly because it is a huge contrast to the small narrow quiet streets and canals that you find in the rest of Holland. And so Rotterdam sits alone from the rest of Holland. Loner city. Nif Town.

ESN trips are usually well organised and highly informative. Alot of the day was spent walking around from site to site in the antarctic temperatures. Our first stop was the Erasmus bridge. This was of significance as ESN stands for Erasmus Student Network. Every city has its symbolic piece of architecture, In Paris its the Eiffel Tower, In New York the Empire state Building. In Rotterdam its the Erasmus Bridge. The bridge links the northern and southern parts of the city. Its also called 'The swan' because of its graceful posture over the water.

(Photos - The Erasmus Bridge)

On the otherside of the bridge we stopped in a cafe to have a drink and warm up. I got talking with many of the other members of our group which was great. I love going on these trips because its a great oppurtunity to meet other people. Had some good chats with a girl from Portugal and a guy and a girl from somewhere in Russia. We crossed back over the water via another bridge, the Willemsbridge. This bridge is of no particular significance, it was the main crossing between the south and north before the Erasmus bridge was built. Ive decided i really like bridges. They make good photos.(Photo - Me and 'Eskimo Ro' on the Willemsbridge...Alstublieft.!..)

Next on the list was the Boymans Van Beuningen Museum (An Art Museum). This was fantastic. We got a good informative tour around the museum and some insight into some famous Art Works. I got to see some original Dali, Mondrian and Kandinsky works which was pretty great. I think that the majority of the group were intrigued the most by the scupture that stands at the entrance of the Museum. Innocent as i am, i understood it to be Santa Claus holding a pine tree, but other interpretations were more 'phallic'. I was very dissapointed. Im so sick of 'phallic' interpretations, it ruins everything. But they were probably right. Take a look for yourself in the photo. Anyway, many of the group were climbing up it and taking photos etc. It was a pretty funny sight. (photo - santa holding a ?)

Rotterdam appears to have a reputation of trying to be "arty". Honestly everywhere you go you are bound to see a sculpture in every nook and cranny, sculptures of all shapes and sizes, some fascinating, others of the eyesore/'I live in the trashcan' type.

The most fascinating thing i saw was outside the 'Pathe' (a huge movie theatre in Rotterdam. There is a big square with what looks like huge giant mechanical cranes. They are actually huge spotlights though, and there are controls so you can move the spotlights around. I wondered what the point was, the answer was that it was 'modern art', it has no point really. Ahh..with a chuckle, it makes perfect sense. Rosy being a 'scuptor' was pretty horrified i think, but i think it would be fun to play with these giant spotlights at night. (photo-giant spotlights)


The most hideous thing that i was unfortunate enough to lay my eyes on what is seen in the photo on the right. It is 'sculpture' like this that makes me really angry and question the whole notion of what art is. I guess thats one of the things that annoys me about scupture too..alot of it contaminates the landscape. Dont ask me what the heck its meant to be. Rosy decided on a marshmellow, Im still not sure. possibly a cow roasting a marshmellow, or a cow roasting a marshmellow, or melted crayons roasting a marshmellow, or a marshmellow roasting a marshmellow. Either way i think its absolutely hideous and should be removed right away. (photo-not sure what it is)

I thought i saw snowy mountain peaks. But i was decieved. It was the Kubuswoning (cubic houses) instead! These houses are pretty wack ay. They were designed by Piet Blom in the 70s, a housing development on top of a pedestrian bridge. The concept behind these houses is that he tried to create a forest, each cube representing an abstract tree, therefore the whole village becomes a forest. The cubes are tilted and sit on a hexagonal pole. We got to explore one of the houses which was really great. The pole contains the staircase that leads up to the cube, and also some storage space. The cube is split into three levels. The lower level has a living area and a kitchen, the middle level has a bedroom, a bathroom and a study, and the top level is like like a viewing area-possibly used as an extra bedroom or living space. Its funny cos when you look up at the houses you wonder how anyone could move around in such a tiny space, but its actually suprisingly spacious. About 100 square metres of floor space. And it managed to fit like 60 exchange students in it. Crazyness. (photo - cubic houses from a distance)

The final and in my opinion the best part of the day was our adventure aboard the PannenkoekenBoot (which i have renamed Pannenkoekenboaten..cos it rhymes and amuses me more). You can probably guess that this is a Pancake Boat. This is a one in a lifetime experience as the Pannenkoekenboaten can only be hired out for function. It takes you for a cruise around the Harbour for about 45 mins and within that time you are welcome to eat as many pancakes as you want. It was so lovely, the views of Rotterdam at night are spectactular, especially the Erasmus Bridge. I managed to up my Pancake limit from 3 1/2 to 4 which i was pretty proud of...my stomach regretted it later though.(photo-scoffing down pancakes)