Zomer Carnaval - Friday Night

Friday evening and saturday morning I attended some of the events for the Rotterdam Summer Carnival. Friday night was a battle of the bands. Four drum and brass bands marched down a closed off street through the crowd where they then performed on stage one at a time. It was some really spectacular music. After the battle, judges chose a winner who got a prize of 3000 euros. Finally, a band from Colombia closed out the night with some great latin music. Here are some photos:
Brazilian girls!

The first band. They all had such colourful outfits.
Another one of the bands.

The River Maas

The Maas river is the river that flows through the middle of Rotterdam. Rotterdam is actually named after the Rotta, which wikipedia refers to as a 'fen stream'. Rotterdam means the dam on the Rotta, and Rotta means 'muddy water'. Now that I think of it, it isn't a very flattering name... But, lets get back to the Maas, or the 'Meuse' as it is know in French. The river starts in France, flows through Belgium, into the Netherlands, and then out to the sea just west of Rotterdam. I think it is one of the most beautiful parts of Rotterdam. The buildings along the river are very nice, and there are some beautiful paths along the waterfront. The striking bridges that cross the river certainly add to the nice view. The river is always busy with boats. Whether it's tour boats, personal boats or the large river cargo ships that go up the river the Rhine and than to Germany.
This is a picture of three bridges in Rotterdam. At the back, you can see the Erasmusbrug with its distinctive shape. The one in front I think is called the Koningshavenbrug and is an old train bridge that seems to be permanently up. On the right is the Willemsbrug. The interesting building on the left is the head office for Unilever. They're the ones who make brands like 'Dove'.

This is a cargo ship going up the river.

Some more of the river.

The Erasmusbrug. I think it's one of the most beautiful bridges I've ever seen.
A very colourful boat parked at the harbour from Romania.
Finally, here's some of the port of Rotterdam which is down river from the city. The port is one of the largest and busiest in the world.

Day 46: Many stories to tell...

I'm sorry about the long time since my last post, but for one week I didn't do much of anything interesting, and than the next one I ended up being too busy to post anything... That's life I guess.
I'll start with a trip I took to a park last week. The park is called Kralingse Bos, and is a short bike ride from where I live. It's located near the neighbourhood of Kralingen which is where in the 19th century rich Rotterdamers built their villas and gardens. The park is really nice and contains a large pond called Kralingse Plas. People can take their boats out on it, or relax on its beach. I thought the park was very nice. It was full of people walking along the paths or laid out on blankets relaxing in the sun. Well at least it started out sunny... but it was cloudy by the time I left. Here are some pictures:
Of course, we have the wind mills that seem to pop up all over this country:
The city is never far away:
The lake was very calm on the day I was there:

Rotterdam Video

A fellow Canadian living in Rotterdam, Karim, has made a wonderful video about Rotterdam. I think it really catches some of the city's spirit. Take a look!

http://www.vimeo.com/1402189

Day 31: A trip to the Zoo!

On saturday I visited the Rotterdam Zoo (aka Diergaarde Blijdorp) with Sarah who was visiting from Amsterdam. The zoo is one of the oldest in Rotterdam, having been built in 1857. The zoo was destroyed in the German bombing of Rotterdam, but was rebuilt in a new location, and opened to the public on December 7, 1940. The Zoo is quite large and has many interesting animals to see. There are animals from all over the world, and under the ocean. One of the most well known residents of the Rotterdam Zoo is Bokito, a male gorilla, who made headlines around the world when he escaped from his enclosure in 2007 and injured four people before he was tranquilized. We saw him during our visit, fortunately inside his enclosure. I read on Wikipedia, that apparently the word 'Bokitoproof' meaning "durable enough to resist the actions of an enraged gorilla", and therefore "durable enough to resist the actions of a non-specific extreme situation", was voted the Dutch language word of year for 2007. Here is the picture I took of Bokito:

It's hard to tell in the picture, but his size is really quite impressive. I can only imagine what those people must have felt, seeing him coming at them... Here are some more pictures from the Zoo:

Overall, it was a very nice day, especially since the weather turned out to be much better than expected. I definitely recommend visiting!

Day 30: Disposing of your trash!

In Canada, we are used to getting rid of our garbage by putting it at the end of the driveway on garbage day. Rotterdam has a most fascinating system. I'm not sure what it's like in other dutch cities, but I really like the system here. In Rotterdam, you put your garbage in a bag, and you put it in bins, that are usually found on every street:

Or, if it doesn't fit, you can put it next to the bin... Although, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do that, and if you get caught you get a fine. Ideally, you're supposed to open the lid and put your bag in. But Victor, you're probably saying how does everyone fit all their garbage into one small bin, when garbage is probably only picked up once a week... Well! I reply, looks can be deceiving! Here are pictures of how the trash is emptied, and you will see the true size. First the Garbage truck grabs onto the bin:
Then it starts to lift:
And lift:
And finally the whole bin emerges:
The truck keeps lifting the bin up:
Until is is over top of the garbage truck:
This is where my pictures end. But, after this stage, the bottom of the bin opens up and empties the trash into the truck. The truck than returns the bin to it's whole in the ground. I'm really curious as to how many full bins one garbage truck can hold, as the bins seem quite large.

Day 28: Rotterdam architecture

In 1940 the Dutch were given an ultimatum by the Germans: Surrender or Rotterdam and other cities would be destroyed. The Dutch surrendered, and Rotterdam was bombed flat anyways. As a result Rottrdam has been mostly built since the end of the war. This has resulted in many beautiful modern buildings. You can see many of them down near the harbour. Here are some pictures of a few:

Day 25: 'Bestemming' aka A lesson in Dutch

Bestemming (n): destination, end of the line, train stops here.

Today, I meant to go on a bike trip to a castle near Amsterdam, Muiderslot. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. However I learned a very valuable dutch lesson. I learned the definition of the word 'bestemming'. The bike trip left from a train station called 'Amsterdam Amstel'. The best way to get to this station, without having to go to Amsterdam Centraal first, is by taking the Sprinter train to Amsterdam via Gouda. This train stops at all the stops on the way to Amsterdam Centraal. When I checked the Dutch railway website this morning, everything looked fine. When I got to the station and went to track 12, the electronic sign stated that it was going to Amsterdam Centraal, as it should. I got on to the train and took my seat. I noticed that the electronic sign on the train said: 'Bestemming: Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel'. I figured it meant that Nieuwerkerk was the next stop, or that it wasn't stopping there today. Well, I turned out to be wrong. I found out after the train had left and they made an announcement. The announcment caused some of the locals to get excited, so I asked what was wrong. A very helpful man told me that the train was going no further than Niuwerkerk, apparently, there was a problem with the track to Gouda. So, as I had no choice, I got out at Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel, and took the train back to Rotterdam. By the time I got back to Rotterdam, it was too late to go another way. Oh well, at least, I won't ever forget what the word 'bestemming' means.

Het is jammer. :(

Day 19: Victor's hot new ride

I have finally purchased my first dutch bike! A bike is indispensible in the Netherlands. The towns and cities so compact, and with the profusion of bike lanes, they are an easy way to get around. I bought my used bike for 30 euros from a roomate who was moving out. It had a few problems... a broken kickstand, only one brake, but another 30 euros later and it was fixed. An easy task considering that within a five minute walking distance of my house, there must be at least three bike shops.

It's not the prettiest bike, but in a country where 800 000 bikes are stolen annually, it's probably better not to have the best looking bike.

For the reason stated above, a sturdy lock is definitely in order.

This is at the bike lock up at Rotterdam Centraal. As you can see, there are many bikes. It is important to know exactly what your bike looks like, and where you left it, or you may never find it again. There are a lot more racks that can't be seen in this picture.

Riding a bike in the Netherlands is an interesting experience. Most roads have separate bike lanes. However, don't let this relax you. The bike lanes are also used by motorized scooters, and if you block other bikers by going to slow, they'll snap you out of your reveries with a sharp tinkle from their bell. Bike lanes also have their own lights at intersections, and it is important to pay attention to these. They often don't work in unison with the crosswalk lights or the traffic lights. Also, not everyone pays attention to these lights... It seems the Dutch know when it is safe to go, even if the light disagrees. Often at big intersections a number of bikes will crowd up, and then even though the light is still red they will all go at once. It's almost like those wildlife videos of the widelbeest in Africa on their annual migrations. When they get to the river infested with crocodiles, the first one will stop, until more of his fellows join him. Then they'll all jump into their river together, perhaps hoping their numbers will confuse the crocodiles, and they won't know which one to chow down on. Perhaps dutch bikers feel safer in numbers, and don't think cars will hit them, if there's a bunch of them together...