Finding a Groove

Rotterdam is where it started to feel like things were coming together. From Amsterdam and The Hague, I learned that travel days were tough for me, even when things went perfectly. And so it was best not to extend myself too far. The ROOM Hostel in Rotterdam is tucked away from the city center, laying nearer to the banks of the not so busy port. This area was a stark contrast to my lodgings in The Hague, with big open skies, baroque buildings and nearby museums and parks. And on the day I arrived, I gave myself permission to see almost none of it.

I sat inside and and enjoyed a comfortable and chill common room, did my laundry and wrote up my post for The Hague. These blog posts are surprisingly time consuming. Both the writing and choosing and editing the photos to accompany them. But, the focused work is gratifying in itself, as well as giving my feet a chance to recover from the stresses the week have put on them.

I’m particularly enjoying tweaking my photos. For the first time in my life, I’ve invested in proper editing software and I find it properly gratifying being able to control exactly how the colors look, how the shot is framed and the narrative that the image conveys. I’m still learning, so hopefully my edits aren’t too heavy-handed, just accentuating what I’d already captured in camera.

Getting Into Rotterdam

It was a gloomy Sunday morning when I set out to explore Rotterdam. I rented a bike from the hostel and spent 5 hours riding 40 kilometers through the city. I found a city that felt distinct from the cousins that I’d already visited. Even though The Hague is only about 20 kilometers from Rotterdam (both cities would fit within the borders of Calgary with plenty of room to spare), the character of each city is unique.

Rotterdam was subject to heavy German bombardment during World War 2 which ultimately destroyed its entire historic city center. As a result, it is largely a modern city featuring a number of fascinating and experimental architectural choices. Everywhere you turn in the city, you are likely to find a building that looks nothing like anything you’ve seen before. From apartment blocks to corporate skyscrapers to bridges and underpasses. A vibrant and lively city has emerged from the ruins of what came before.

My gloomy Sunday ride took me from the port through the center of the city and beyond into the suburbs where they verge upon the farmlands that surround. The streets were largely empty, at least compared to what I’d experienced in busy Amsterdam. I think this is probably my preferred way to see a city. Allowed to consume it slowly, without feeling in the way or pressured to move along.

In this case, my leisurely feast brought me into the Hillegersberg area. An affluent and green community with a distinct lakeside feel. Huge houses, by Dutch standards, line the banks of two small lakes before leading into streets filled with upper middle-class, single family homes and finally a large park, Lage Bergse Bos (low mountain forest). Having made it this far, I actually passed outside the city limits of Rotterdam and rode through a couple of the tiny hamlets that line the border. These charming villages gave a small taste of Dutch country life, though I imagine they are more homes for wealthy, retirees than rural tulip farmers.

The following day, I set out and explored the center of Rotterdam on foot. On my bike ride, I had briefly seen the Marksthal, a giant food hall in a donut shaped building, and the Kijk Kubus, a set of 40 experimental cube shaped homes tilted on their edge, and I wanted to get a closer look. Along the way, I came across a variety of other architectural delights. Such as, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, housed in a giant mirrored plant pot, the Stadhuis (city hall), one of the only remaining pre-war buildings in the city center, and the Nieuwe Delftse Poort, an art installation raised in tribute of a medieval gate that once stood on the same spot. I rounded out the day enjoying a coffee on the patio of one of the countless cafes that line the streets of Rotterdam Centrum.

Getting Artsy

One of the questions I’ve been wrestling with, is whether or not I like museums. For the most part, I find myself desperately trying to engage with the works that must be important because someone hung them on the wall for me to look at. And I paid somewhere in the neighbourhood of €20 to look at them, ipso facto, they’re important. But despite their importance, I find that I just don’t connect with the masterpieces of old. I do, however, connect with the weird and the abstract. The modern and the post-modern, the post-post-modern and the post-nihilist-abstract-dada-modern.

To that end, I decided to check out the Kunsthal Rotterdam, a museum of contemporary art just down the road from the hostel. I had hoped to spend Monday morning exploring its small exhibits, so, obviously, I unintentionally purchased a ticket for Tuesday, the day I would be leaving. Turns out the Kunsthal is closed on Monday.

No bother, I would just check out of my hostel, store my bags in a locker and kill the morning at the museum before heading on to Antwerp. And a delightful morning it was, featuring an exhibition on the concept of ‘cute’, its origins in modern culture, its exploitation by capitalists and, most importantly, cat memes. Also on display was a retrospective on the works of Korean artist Haegue Yang, which elicited an emotional response in me, provoked by some very carefully stacked and arranged laundry drying racks. Go figure.

All in all, a successful outing to the museum and a good way to round out my time in a city that I very much enjoyed.

Bird Corner

By and large, the birds of Rotterdam were those that had become familiar to me through my time in Amsterdam and the Hague, gulls, crows, jackdaws and pigeons. However, I did pick up a couple new sightings, by the way of Mute Swans, a very amenable Greylag Goose and a playful swarm of Barn Swallows.

Where Next?

As I mentioned, I’ve left the Netherlands and I’m now in Antwerp, Belgium. I’ve got another day and a half left here, and then I’m looking to head on the Ghent and Bruges!