The Hike - 5

And here we are: I promised you a new installment on my prep towards a hiking holiday in the North of England, but I went a totally different way...Not to Goeree-Overflakkee, the next island over from my home, but down South to Dordrecht, a historic riverside harbour town of fame and ill repute both.

There's a famous Dutch saying: "Hoe dichter bij Dordt, hoe rotter 't wordt" (the closer you get to Dordrecht, the worse it gets)
To get to Dordrecht on the river Merwede, you can obviously take the crowded and slow-traffic plagued motorway, but a much better and enormously more fun manner is to drive to Rotterdam, park your car (which I do in the free parking outskirts and then take the tube in order to be able to eat for the rest of the month!), and hop on the ferry to Dordrecht right below the gorgeous bridge crossing the river Maas connecting the South to the North of Rotterdam.

See the ferry? It's called the Aqualiner and it will cost you approx. €9,00 and an hour to get to Dordrecht. No toilets or drinks on board; it's the equivalent of a town bus, but you are allowed to take your bike, moped, dog or skateboard and believe me, many people do.

It makes a few stops on the way, and at the first one in Krimpen a/d Lek we were met with this biblical view:

I wonder what Old Noah would have to say about this massive version of the ark. It actually sails as well. Crikey!

After an hour we were unloaded on the historical quay of Dordrecht, and the town has provided those handy signposts leading you to the town centre and even showing you a roundtrip walk taking in all the cobbled old streets and historical buildings.

Now, what about that rather nasty saying then?

We wondered if it was about the Dordrecht folk (who looked perfectly friendly to us), or about the water quality, or about politics.

After all, this is the town where the famous, but lynched by the mob, brothers/politicians De Witt came from.

I'm certain wonderful free Wikipedia won't mind me quoting it: 

Johan de Witt or Jan de Witt, heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp and IJsselveere^[3] (24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672) was a key figure in Dutch politics in the mid-17th century, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of globalization made the United Provinces a leading European power during the Dutch Golden Age. De Witt controlled the Netherlands political system from around 1650 until shortly before his death in 1672 working with various factions from nearly all the major cities, especially his hometown, Dordrecht, and the city of birth of his wife, Amsterdam. As a republican he opposed the House of Orange and, along with his brother Cornelis de Witt, was murdered by Orangists.

"Was murdered by" is putting it mildly...They were butchered - alive, their organs removed whilst still breathing, it is said.

It is also documented they were brilliant politicians, and I've often wondered what would have happened with the decline of the Golden Age had they not been lynched...

But the saying turns out to be about..soil conditions. Dordrecht is built on peat. And we all know the only thing peat is good for...

Dordrecht nowadays is known for its antiques shops and Christmas Fair. It took us all day to cross its ancient cobbles, and we were not sorry.

When the ferry had taken us back to Rotterdam, we chose to have dinner in one of my favorite spots: the Fenix Loods.

I have told you about this old warehouse filled with independent biological restaurants on Katendrecht island before, but I'll take every opportunity to tell you again. If you visit Rotterdam, GO THERE!

You'll find it opposite Hotel New York on the Kop van Zuid, and you only have to cross the pedestrian bridge to get there.

Oh, alright, the view:

This is as "Rotterdam-Harbour" as it gets!

Okay: down to the technical stuff.

It took me 18.536 steps, but it took my friend with her longer legs  more than 24.000, so whose iPhone was right, we wonder? Never mind, we had a great day, with hardly any rain and 5 degrees C.

Join me on my next hike?

Dutch Quality Music from Jodymoon. Walhalla Concert.

When a band's music has been your constant companion for over two years, and you can dream every movement, every note, every tone and every breath, going to their live concert is tricky to say the least. The chance that it will be a disappointment is definitely there.

So it was with great anticipation that I travelled to Rotterdam, to visit the intimate  theatre Walhalla in the old red light district Katendrecht.
Walhalla was new to me, and I had to look for it. But as my search took me past the Fenix loods, with a new food market, I didn't mind at all. What a nice venue. And they do wonderful fresh organic potato chips.

Walhalla turned out to be tiny. As singer Digna Janssen remarked: she was almost in my lap (she said 'on my lip', which is a Dutch expression meaning the same).
It was sold out, and chilly. But the atmosphere quickly turned to pretty hot, from the enthusiasm of the public.

Jodymoon, with new addition Annelieke Marselje on violin, started with a song from their new album. They played quite a few of the new songs, but many of my old favourites as well.

And... was I disappointed? Not at all! Digna Janssen is very sure of her voice, and has the ability to make it whisper or soar at will. And Johan Smeets, accomplished guitar player that he is, oozed fun and made his solos breathtakingly moving. Add Marie-José Didderen's cello  and the violin for drama and you have a heady mix. 

It's hard to catch the feel of Jodymoon's music into words. Quality pop music comes close, but the word 'pop' is far too shallow in my opinion. This is nowhere and never close to any middle of the road pop music. But not heavy, either.
I heard a man behind me (by the way: there was a very large women content in the audience; could it be that Jodymoon appeals to women more?) remark that he was surprised that it wasn't sombre. Due to the use of a cello he had expected heavy stuff, apparently.

The concert set me alight, and I left Walhalla glowing with delight. And vowing that I would start practicing the guitar again, straight away.

What a pity that Maastricht is 3 hours driving from my hometown!

Haiku on Kabouter Buttplug - Rotterdam

You what? A Haiku on a statue-with-a-rude-name? Yep, sorry, we Rotterdam people have the habit of coming up with imaginative names for objects in the public eye. Especially the more, shall we say, explicit-looking objects.

This statue is by Paul McCarthy, and boy oh boy did it cause a stir and a stink when it was unveiled. 

Now, let this image slowly sink in. What do you see?

A...gnome?

No, dear, it's supposed to be Father Christmas. At least, that is what the Rotterdam Council spokesperson tried to tell the good people of Rotterdam, who were bewildered by what their Council had spent their (tax)money on.

Look, see, he carries a Christmas bell in his left hand.

And what does he hold proudly up in his right hand?

A...

Obviously! A Christmas tree!

Now, of course that was the very first thing that sprang to your mind, right?

The funny thing is that the same sculptor has managed to sell one of his huge statues to the council of Paris, where it caused the same kind of stink, as it carries the same lewd thoughts into people's minds as Kabouter Buttplug does in Rotterdam.

Art is supposed to evoke emotion, and cause commotion I suppose.

Do I like this statue? Hmmm. No, not my taste. But there is no accounting for taste, so if you happen to like it, fine.

Any way, it did inspire me, some time ago, to write the following Haiku.

Buttplug in the rain

gleaming rivulets drip down

like tears of a clown