I'm happy to say that Rotterdam Museum Night 2010 was a success! Held last Saturday evening, the city was alive with participants and participating locations were brightly lit and full of interesting performances and artwork. We saw live acts (both music and drama), political artwork, and contemporary photography. We learned about luxury on the Titanic and admired giant mushroom sculptures. In essence, there was something for everyone.

We didn't make use of the free transportation (both tram and boat) but for a beginner, it's good to know that many exhibitions are clustered in the center and within walking distance. It was quite some exercise (and freezing cold!) but unnecessary to hop on a tram to get around.

Rotterdam Museum Night is an annual event, so make sure to attend in 2011. It's well worth it.

Dutch writer, Joost Zwagerman, author of the book, Duel, will be at Utrecht Central Library (Bibliotheek Utrecht), located at Oudegracht 167, from 15.00-17.00. Award-winning author Charlotte Mutsaers, who grew up in Utrecht, will be speaking at the Stadhuis, Korte Minrebroederstraat 2, from 14.45 till 15.45. Both events are free. There are a number of other events going on around town, as well. Check the official site for the full schedule.

The events are in Dutch, of course, but if your Dutch isn't that good yet, go along for the practice. You may also want to pick up a Dutch book this week. If you spend €12.50 or more on a Dutch book during the National Literary Week, you will receive Joost Zwagerman's book Duel for free. Then, on Cultural Sunday, March 14, take the copy of Duel with you when you ride the train to show to the conductor and you can ride the train for free all day throughout the Netherlands.

It's almost upon us - Rotterdam Museum Night 2010 will be here this Saturday! On March 6th, 45 museums and galleries will open their doors for the 9th edition of this very special event. From 20:00 to 2:00, visitors can see incredible art and thought-provoking exhibitions.

How to get access to the museum night? All participating museums and galleries will be accessible with a passkey. This passkey is additionally valid for travel on the Museum Night bus and the Museum Night boat. The organizers advise purchase of the passkey in advance, as only a limited number will be available on the night itself.

For some sample routes that will ensure you see the highlights, see this page. Passkeys are EUR 12 if bought in advance, EUR 10 if you have a CJP card. Children's passes are also available (up to 12 years old) for EUR 6.

According to Wiki, the muisjes are actually sugared anise seeds, and anise "was good for the mother's milk, that it would ease the contractions in the womb, and that it would drive away evil spirits."

An interesting tradition. If you are ever offered one of these treats, now you know why.

A recent article in NRC Handelsblad's English section: "So many bikes, so little space." It discusses incredible statistics on the number of bikes in the Netherlands, particularly the problem at major train stations:

Last year alone, Utrecht removed 9,000 bikes, almost twice as many as the year before. In Nijmegen, the numbers went up from 5,474 to 6,331 in 2009. In the same year, The Hague took 7,141 of its citizens' bicycles off the street, nearly 2,000 more than in 2008. Rotterdam was the only major city where the number removed remained stable at 12,000. Amsterdam, however, is in a league of its own. Last year, 45,000 bicycles were removed there, 6,000 more than in 2008.

The article mentions the problems of "orphaned" bicycles, and taught me about a number of interesting methods used to deal with these forgotten two-wheeled friends:

Bicycle removal teams have developed a special method to determine whether a bike has been abandoned: they put little stickers on a pre-determined position on the bicycle's wheels. If they return and the stickers are no longer in the same place, this means the wheel has turned and the bike has been used. If it hasn't, the civil servants put a large orange sticker on the bike announcing it will be removed by the city if the owner does not do so himself within a month.

It's great reading, and a good education into what happens to all that metal piled up in every Dutch city.

Pardon me while I fast-forward 10 years. I've been watching a video from a recent meeting entitled 2020 Vision Forum on creative ideas for how Amsterdam could look and feel in 2020. Which, not to disturb you too much, is not that far away if you ask me.

As always with such designs and vision there are some pretty lofty goals for futuristic parks, buildings, and what materials will be gone from the urban landscape. Among the things I did enjoy was the idea that there would be a zeppelin service going from Museumplein (center of Amsterdam) to Waterland (traditional marshlands that the Netherlands is famous for). In addition, taxi's would all be electric by then.

I guess if you consider 10 years to be a long time, and 2020 seems so far away, its easier to imagine huge advancements in technology and design that would introduce all these radical changes to the city. Me, I think 2020 is closer than you think.

(here's a video from the event)

This year's theme - roughly translated - is Little Titans: Growing Up In Literature. Unfortunately there aren't offerings available in English. At least not that I've been able to find. But if you can read Dutch, feel free to jump in. If not - well, be comforted to know that Dutch culture is still very much open to celebrating all things literary!

The Book Week poster was created by Piet Parra, a Dutch graphic designer and illustrator.

In cooperation with the University of Amsterdam, Leiden, and Wageningen, a new Center for Biodiversity (NCB Naturalis) was launched last week. As part of the Netherlands Year of Biodiversity, the center will focus on preserving and furthering research into the Netherlands' collection of natural history; in other words, the nation's part within the earth's biodiversity.

Along with the Netherlands, 168 countries are now participating in this initiative since 1992. Their collection consists of around 37 million objects, making it the 5th largest in the world. These objects include geological, zoological, and plant collections. Still expected to join these collections are insects from the University of Wageningen, and fish from the University of Amsterdam.

The goal of the center, which is now part of the National Museum of Natural History is for both national and international researchers to be able to make use of its content. A large part of its information will therefore be available online to both researchers as well as the general public. However, that part isn't available yet, nor is an english translation on their website.

The official Chinese New Year is on February 14, but you can get a head start on your celebrations by visiting the Griftsteede at the Griftpark in Utrecht. On Friday, January 29, the Gemeente Utrecht is helping organize a snapshot of Chinese culture and traditions, designed for both adults and children.

There will be tae kwon do workshops (at 17:30 and 18:30), lessons on how to eat with chopsticks, rickshaw rides, and a Chinese puppet show, along with tea, soup and spring rolls to enjoy under the light of lanterns.

The event is free and takes place Friday, January 29, from 17:00-20:00 at the Griftsteede (over by the animals and playground) in the Griftpark, located at Van Swindenstraat 129, Utrecht.

Ever a staple of Dutch society, this exhibition answers the question: what is normal and who decides that? Head over to the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam for an exhibition on this subject. It runs until 7 March 2010.

According to the website, "The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures and installation art by numerous acclaimed artists including Marlene Dumas, Viktor & Rolf, Aernout Mik, Thomas Hirschhorn, Nathalie Djurberg, Marc Quinn and Louise Bourgeois. New works have been commissioned especially for the exhibition and artworks have been borrowed from foreign as well as private collections."

Admission is EUR 11 or EUR 7.50 for children. CJP, Stadspashouders, and Museum card holders pay EUR 7.50. Tickets can be purchased from the box office of the Beurs van Berlage, entrance Beursplein 1, or online.



If you can't make it to the exhibition, the website also has an interesting exercise: "Click here to see how normal you are."