Day 124: CS Bike Tour in Rotterdam

On saturday I went on a bike tour organized by some local CS'ers. We went over to Delfshaven, through the Maastunnel to Rotterdam Zuid, and then back across the Willemsbrug into the centre of Rotterdam. Here are some pictures. A prison!!!
Delfshaven:
More Delfshaven:
A building in Rotterdam designed to look like periscope:
Looking across to north Rotterdam from the south.
It was a fun trip. I got to see some of the city I hadn't seen before, and also hear some interesting stories I had never heard before.

Day 123: Sustainable fashion show

Yeah, so I went to this fashion show all about sustainability. Using recycled materials to make new clothes. It was interesting... Though I always wonder why people in fashion shows always seem to wear clothes that no one would ever wear...

Day 121: Schiedam

Wednesday was such a beautiful day, I decided to go for a bike ride to Schiedam. Schiedam is an old town just to the west of Rotterdam, and is pretty much a suburb of the city now. The town is mostly known for its windmills and distilleries. The town used to be surrounded by 19 giant mills used for grinding grain for the distilleries, but now only five(among the tallest in Europe) remain. There are also only five distilleries remaining out of once was over 400. The distilleries make Genever which uses juniper berries to get its particular flavour. The town was very nice and had some beautiful canals:
Here are two of the windmills, with the genever warehouses across the canal.
Again:
The main church in Schiedam:
I can't remember what this was... Maybe the city hall, or another church.

Day 107: Bike Repair 101

Since my bike is my primary and very important mode of transportation around the city and to work, it's essential that it works properly. My bike is pretty old and used, and I've had some trouble with it since I bought it. It needed a new brake, a new power generator for the light and the tube for one of the tires had to be replaced twice(the second time for free thankfully). So, i've had to spend more than I would have liked repairing it. A few weeks ago I was complaining about all the money I had spent to a Dutch friend. She went on to tell me that the prices were a ripoff and a real Dutchman would repair it himself. So, I said if she knew so much about bike repair, that next time I had a problem I would give her a call, and she could show me how. Apparently they teach this stuff in some Dutch high schools. Yesterday, when I discovered a flat tire on my bike, and a 5cm wire sticking out of it, I knew who to phone. With her help, I set off to learn how to 'lekke band plakken'. First I had to buy my own repair kit, a 'Bandenreparatiedoos'. Inside is included '3 kunststof bandenlichters', 'tube solutie', 'bandenplakkers', 'ventielslangetje', 'schuurpapiertje', and a 'buitenbandplakker'. The first step is to take the tire off the frame with the 'kunsthof bandenlichters'. Here is the instructor demonstrating:
Then the 'binnenband' has to be removed from inside the 'buitenband'. Once the 'binnenband' is out it needs to be pumped up so you can find the leak. We discovered the leak with a very ingenious method. The instructor had a small container containing plastic beads, and a grate on the bottom. By moving this device over the tire we could locate the leak by noticing when the beads started to move. I really would like to know who spent the time inventing this thing. Once the leak was located, we used the 'schuurpapiertje' to clean the hole. Then the 'bandplakker' is applied to the hole, and held in place for 5 minutes. Here is the finished result:
The 'binnenband' is pumped up to see if the 'plakker' is holding, and then the leak is fixed. Next, deflate the 'binnenband' and stuff it back in the 'buitenband'. Finally, reinflate the tire:
Finished! I took the bike for a test drive, and everything seemed to be back to normal. I can now hopefully fix my own tire the next time I get a puncture. I'm feeling more Dutch already...

Day 97: Boat trip

Saturday night I went to a birthday party in Hilversum. It was lots of fun. But, it never ceases to amaze me how easily the Dutch can switch to and talk fluently in English. And often it's not a problem, they're happy to do it! Here is an almost completely bilingual country, that only has one official language. What Canadians could learn from this...
Sunday afternoon I went with my roomate and her boyfriend on a boat tour of the Rotterdam harbour. Something I've been meaning to do for awhile. We picked a great day. It was a little cool, but super sunny which made for a great view of the port.
Here are a couple pictures looking back at the city:

Here is the S.S. Rotterdam, the former flag ship of the Holland-America trans-atlantic line. Now it's a multicultural centre.

A cargo ship on the river:

Some of the many containers that are everywhere along the side of the river:
Pictures of parts of the port:

Nice trip!

Day 96: Wereld van Witte de With

This weekend there was a festival going on, on the Witte de Withstraat in central Rotterdam. The Witte de Withstraat according to my guide book is known as the cultural district of Rotterdam because of its many art galleries. The street is named after a famous Dutch naval officer from the 17th century. Apparently during the 1970s it was know for its many 'louche'(any dutch want to help me out with that word?) cafes and for its illegal gambling houses. But the street underwent a transformation in the 90s and changed its reputation.
When I went on Saturday afternoon, there wasn't much going on. It was kind of boring actually. Some weird art and some weird things going on in the street. Some kind of fashion show where all the models clothing was made up of leftover jeans. I took some pictures of the more interesting things. Here is a giant dog made of flowers. Apparently it was made by a group that goes around the country planting illegal flowers as some kind of protest. I guess there are strict rules where you can plant flowers in this country...
Here was a giant hand, that was demonstrating various hand gestures from around the world.
Anyways, we got bored, so we only spent an hour or so looking around before we went for a drink.

Day 95: To Communist China!

Today a Dutch friend and I embarked on an adventure to Communist China. We were able to do this thanks to the friendly people at the local Art Gallery, the Kunsthal. The Kunsthal had an exhibition on Chinese propaganda posters from the 1920s on to the present day. What did we learn? The Chinese are happy, really really happy. So happy in fact their smiles almost seem like grimaces sometimes. So happy I felt I just had to visit China to find out their secret. Is it a worker's paradise? Is it the opium? Too much plastic surgery? They're smiling 99% of the time. They smile when they work, when they go to the market, when they go to school, when they're telling their Taiwanese friends to join them and especially when they get to wave their Red Books around. When are they not smiling? Well, usually when their is some capitalistic traitor, or invader often portrayed as a sickly green westerner, with expensive watches and dollar signs on his clothes. This is not something to smile about... There was lots of colour in the posters, especially red. Initially, in the early years, the Chinese were dressed in plain, sometimes traditional clothes, but eventually, especially in the 90s western clothing was adopted. One poster showed Chinese and Taiwanese woman frolicking in their bikinis. If only Mao could have seen the future... he would have wept.
Here's Mao and Stalin having a grand old time: (also Canadian guy and dutch girl reflected in the glass... can you see us?)

After the Chinese propagandist posters, we checked out some of the other exhibitions. There was one with pictures of local football hooligans, some others with dutch factory workers from the early part of the century and some of Swiss children taken during the war. Also some interesting modern art: 30 sculptures modelled after the sculptor in different poses and another 30 or so concrete thingies which have the body space of 30 different people from Malmo, Sweden inside them.

The staircase inside the Kunsthal(which was designed by the famous dutch architect Rem Koolhaas):Not a bad day for a bad day weatherwise. That makes two museum/art gallery from Rotterdam down... how many more to go?