4- Rotterdam Part 1

First- my daily facial hair picture. I don't know if you care. Yeah I do actually- you don't care :)

Second- a picture of the small lobby of our hotel. Front door right behind us. We sit in these booths all night on the wireless out here, connecting to home and such.

This vending machine is by the train station in Rotterdam. After the first day of people buying and raving about them, roughly 8-10 of us bought these squares that are like cheese covered in a thin layer of dough covered in fried stuff. Fried cheese squares. The Dutch like cheese and frying things. They have a fried stick that is full of thick meat gravy inside.

Today was Rotterdam part one. Aaaaaand we rented bikes. That fulfilled part of my yearning spawned by all the bikes in Amsterdam- the other part of the yearning fulfilled by Britta lending me the bike bell she bought since the one on my rental was broken.

We rode all over the place. Rotterdam is cool- much more a mix of old and new than Amsterdam, and a fair amount of skyscrapers and interesting Dutch architecture. It is also a huge shipping town on the water, so we saw the waterfront.

We went to a place called Museum Park and saw some cool buildings (surprise) and went to another grocery to make more sandwiches for lunch with bananas and yogurt and juice.

Me on my bike taking a picture of Jessica on her bike.

Our lunch crew that day. Camera on a timer. Score.

A circular cage where you can play soccer with tiny goals. Weird and random. Cool reflections.

A man being very gentle with the neck and crotch of a mannequin.

the NAI- National Architecture Institute, basically a museum. Long bridge over (troubled) water. Or the river Kwai, you choose.

These are also by firm name West 8. Giant crane-type arms with lights on the ends. I guess you used to be able to control them from a panel.

Back on the bikes, to the waterfront to see another Neutlings and Reijdik building, the Maritime School, and also visit an art/architectural instalation art type place called Atelier Von Lieshout. Jimenez used to work there, and live there in a capsule they had made. We hung out at a cafe, people jumped and flipped on a random trampoline, and we headed on.

This building had cool pods sticking out. I wanna live in one.

We found a trampoline. But it was occupado. Jerks.

Not all of the beers drank in a short afternoon rest.

The Maritime School. Quite a cantilever!

Holland pictures not complete without a windmill, right?

We visited the office of MVRDV, whose building we say yesterday, who originally spun off from OMA (who we see tomorrow). They actually had us sign a form saying we wouldn't copy or reproduce or disseminate or photograph anything we saw. Not only did I take a bunch of pictures before I saw the form, but I forgot to sign it anyway. But damn they had sweet models I wanted pictures of. That visit was quick.

Our bike gang riding through an industrial part of Rotterdam.

Our bike gang smiling for my camera.

Some giant heads that Atelier built for...something. Anthony is checking em out.

A few side stories. One, a classmate Todd didn't wanna bike ride. He actually rented a bike last night to see if he could ride, and said no dice. Sooooooo he walked or took the tram to places we went, so he showed up a little behind everyone else. Kind of a bummer for him but it wad kinda humorous too.

UN Studio's Erasmus Bridge. Longest single-support span in the world, Ryan thinks.

A Renzo Piano building. At night the facade is covered with giant glowing green squares that serve as oversized pixels or LEDs to display text and crude images. Meaning plain or simple, not meaning pr0n.

Uh, this was cool looking. Most of the pictures this day I took while on the bike. Remarkably I didn't crash once (enough to damage me or property, anyway)

Another cool cantilever.

GIANT pieces of slate on this roof- how dey do dis?

Also, biking was a blast. We all had nice bikes though they were still styled like older bikes, but that's how bikes look here. High, grandma style handlebars, and large squishy seats. Cool locks that stay hooked to the back tire frame and then the lock sticks out through the wheel when you lock it. Headlights that work by a little knob you move to rub your tire, which spins the knob when it moves, generating electricity. There were 20 of us biking around the city all day in a chain stretching probably a quarter mile or more. Sometimes people got left behind, caught by a stoplight. We hopped curbs, and almost crashed into each other many times. The city, like Amsterdam, has bike lanes everywhere- like a second sidewalk, but street level, often curbed off from the street, with a different paving. The crosswalks have bikes on the stop and go lights too. People love biking here. It was awesome speeding around, passing each other, dinging our little bells.

Last, the visit to MVRDV reminded me (and since UN Studio said they were hiring) how fun, romantic, exciting, exotic, opportunistic it would be to move to another country and work for a star firm (Tiffany is gonna read too much into this- yes I'm still moving to Austin). Just to be able to say I live in Holland and work for whichever famous sweet firm. But in reality, my life isn't that one-dimensional, and I have too much else going on to be able to, or even want to, move to another country. I'm not even needing to leave Chicago :)

But that IS the way to jump start your career and become a superstar. I just figure there hafta be other ways. And if there is cool stuff coming out of Rotterdam where someone local could work, there must be something cool in Chicago or Austin where I can work and still have my life. Or else maybe Tiffany will find an international social work position in Holland :)

Anyway after the firm visit and more biking we had a drink at some hip restaurant on the water and some (me) didn't eat dinner cause it was bloody expensive. So it's 10:15 and after a lot of horsing around on the nearby playground, we're on the train back home. Maaaaaybe I'll get some food home somewhere :) I also have a video chat date with Tiffany but given the time difference her 5pm will be my midnight. I will upload photos to blog until then.