I Am Sterdam – Take II
This time I spend the afternoon/evening with Alice who was visiting her grandma in Holland's capital. Again quite a lot of walking, but a bit more relaxed than last time as temperatures were nice and springy and we didn't constantly have to take cover from hail storms inside textile shops ;)
After she'd picked me up from the train station and I had satisfied my hunger with an extremely overpriced shawarma we strolled through the city for some time and had some coffee in a very nice corner bar. The latter seemed to be a popular local after-work place as from about 6 it started getting more and more packed with thirsty dutch workers. The last half hour there I was also 'occupied' by the bar cat, who had chosen my lap as a nice place for a nap. After leaving we only made it another 200m until we stopped to look at a shop window. The people inside saw us and waved us in.
It turned out the shop was an old butchery being used by a couple of artists as a temporary exhibition place called Gallery Shaap and that night was an 'unofficial opening'. A very cool, run down location with lots of charm. As we were told, there's an organization in Amsterdam which gives artists and the likes old rooms, office spaces or shops for free for a couple of months before they're demolished or rented out again in order to avoid squatting (Hausbesetzung). Pretty cool idea actually.
To make a long story short: Alice and I ended up staying for almost three hours – having a couple of beers, looking at the work, making CD covers, signing the guest book and first and foremost having some very nice chats with the laid back bunch of Thomas Reineke (who a.o. made sculptures out of broken car wind schields), Jacob Plooij (who is also a professional violin player), Vilbjørg Broch and Jennette Snape with Thomas being the only 'real' Dutchman. Jacob and Jennette are originally from Australia, Vilbjørg – who by the way was pretty damn drunk as it seemed – from Denmark.
All in all, simply a good time with a good friend, nice chats and some sightseeing on the side which came to an end after another long stroll through the dark alleys of Amsterdam, two dutch 'frikadeller' – weird mutants out of hamburger patties and bratwurst –, a quick goodbye and a 40 minute ride back to Den Haag.
After she'd picked me up from the train station and I had satisfied my hunger with an extremely overpriced shawarma we strolled through the city for some time and had some coffee in a very nice corner bar. The latter seemed to be a popular local after-work place as from about 6 it started getting more and more packed with thirsty dutch workers. The last half hour there I was also 'occupied' by the bar cat, who had chosen my lap as a nice place for a nap. After leaving we only made it another 200m until we stopped to look at a shop window. The people inside saw us and waved us in.
It turned out the shop was an old butchery being used by a couple of artists as a temporary exhibition place called Gallery Shaap and that night was an 'unofficial opening'. A very cool, run down location with lots of charm. As we were told, there's an organization in Amsterdam which gives artists and the likes old rooms, office spaces or shops for free for a couple of months before they're demolished or rented out again in order to avoid squatting (Hausbesetzung). Pretty cool idea actually.
To make a long story short: Alice and I ended up staying for almost three hours – having a couple of beers, looking at the work, making CD covers, signing the guest book and first and foremost having some very nice chats with the laid back bunch of Thomas Reineke (who a.o. made sculptures out of broken car wind schields), Jacob Plooij (who is also a professional violin player), Vilbjørg Broch and Jennette Snape with Thomas being the only 'real' Dutchman. Jacob and Jennette are originally from Australia, Vilbjørg – who by the way was pretty damn drunk as it seemed – from Denmark.
All in all, simply a good time with a good friend, nice chats and some sightseeing on the side which came to an end after another long stroll through the dark alleys of Amsterdam, two dutch 'frikadeller' – weird mutants out of hamburger patties and bratwurst –, a quick goodbye and a 40 minute ride back to Den Haag.
ccseabass - 2008-04-05 23:30