I set out in the morning dressed as I had been told to in order to fit in, head to toe in orange (as a tribute to the Queen who hails from the House of Orange-Nassau). Wearing a cowboy hat, feather boa, and cape (again, all in orange) I made my way to the metro station. To my surprise, I didn’t encounter anyone else who was dressed for the occasion, as I was. Perhaps, I worried, this was all a clever ruse intended to publicly embarrass foreigners.

Once I arrived at the train station my fears were alleviated as I saw hundreds of people in similar attire. There I met up with Jan Jakub, a Polish friend who studies with me in Rotterdam. We were supposed to meet up with some other friends but we were running a few minutes late and decided to catch the first train for Amsterdam with the plan of calling the others when we arrived.

On the train ride I gained some insight into Dutch culture. Normally the Dutch are a fairly reserved bunch by continental standards, almost Anglo-Saxon in their comportment. On Queen’s Day this was not the case. They packed the train in their orange attire, many of them already fairly drunk at just past eleven in the morning and as the train pulled into each station they cried out in celebration as more people joined them.

Arriving in Amsterdam we ran into our first problem, my rather unreliable phone had deleted all my contacts and Jan Jakub had a new phone with only a few contacts. We did, however, make contact with the others through a series of broken up phone calls and text messages. We ran through the crowded streets, making our way to a meeting point at Museumplein. When we arrived there we found tens of thousands of people gathered, all in bright orange garb. Finding our friends would be no easy task. We attempted to make a phone call, whereupon we encountered our second problem; mysteriously we both lost cell phone service. So, after circling Museumplein a few times we resigned ourselves to destiny, purchased some beer and started exploring on our own.

Queen’s Day is an ironic holiday, the Dutch celebrate their queen by wearing gaudy costumes, some dressing up as Her Royal Highness (some of them men). It’s still not clear to me what the nature of the relationship is between the Dutch and their monarch, but I think she has a greater sense of humour than the British royals to whom I am accustomed.

Adding to the disjunction is the level of anarchy that is pervasive on a day celebrating their Queen. The Netherlands has a reputation for being somewhat less restrictive on social behaviour than other countries.On Queen’s Day, few of the existing laws seem to be enforced. People crowd the streets drinking in public, men urinate in canals, and in general it is one chaotic party. Some of the more unique sights that I witnessed included a car driving through a bed of daffodils and a number of people dancing atop a bus shelter that looked as though it was ready to collapse.

Despite the general lawlessness that is apparent on Queen’s Day, police are in fact abound. In fact I am hard pressed to think of an occasion where I have seen so many police officers in one city. Police helicopters circled the sky, officers maintained a watch from numerous look-out platforms, and patrolled the city on foot, horseback and in light armoured vehicles. Their interest, it seems, was solely in responding to the most extreme of behaviours, and allowing general debauchery to take its course.

The most interesting element of lawlessness, and probably the most tame, is that the Queen allows anyone to sell goods on the streets on this day without being taxed. These ‘freemarkets’ are like Milton Friedman’s economics on amphetamines. Jan Jakub and I encountered many enterprising Dutchmen (and actually many Germans) selling everything ranging from food and beer to new consumer goods (mostly orange paraphernalia), and miscellaneous old junk. Many attempted to make money in the service sector, providing amateur massages, running games of chance, busking, and a brave/stupid few willing to let people throw an egg in their faces for a price (in a country accustomed to legalized prostitution and soft drugs you need to be creative to differentiate yourself).

I avoided the temptation to buy comically large items such as furniture or a children’s play set, but I couldn’t resist the lure of buying food from an unlicensed street vendor. Consequently I had the pleasure of eating one of the most delicious sandwiches, consisting of shaved ham cooked on a grill and covered with a mysterious sauce — it was surprisingly similar to the peameal bacon sandwich (which I believe may be unique to Upper Canada).

As day turned to night our cell phone service was restored as quickly and mysteriously as it had vanished. We reached our comrades only to learn that they were heading home to Rotterdam. We chose to stay a while longer. During this time we were approached by some people selling an African baby (well, actually a doll) and we met some friendly locals. As the vendors selling used goods called an end to their day, most of them left their unsold goods in the streets (as a result Jan Jakub and I now own a Dutch statistics textbook from 1985 and a French edition of Sophie’s World respectively.

The end of our day was, of course, not without more disruption as confusion at the train station resulted in our having a one hour stop-over at the Schiphol Airport. In the end I learned that it is sometimes better not to plan, but rather to enjoy the anarchy of the world around you.

Haarlem is a small city of 150,000 people, the capital of North Holland, but it feels even smaller. Its narrow, winding streets suppress the town’s noises and combined with a distinct lack of canals gives the city a very different atmosphere than other Dutch cities.

Melinda’s mother, who works for the municipality, gave us the tour de ville, highlighting the many old architectural sites including the Grote Kerk (big church) which showcases a beautiful organ that has been played by many greats including a 10 year old Mozart (Jan Jakub was quick to point out that it also has been played by contemporary, young up and comers such as his friend). The highlight of our our was the numerous ‘hofjes’, secret gardens surrounded by almshouses established by the city’s wealthier citizens. These hofjes date from as early as the fourteenth century. They are accessible to the public, but are difficult to find. To find most of them you need the ability to recognize unmarked doorways that lead to the inner courtyard (knowing a local is a good in!).

Haarlem is known as the ‘bloemenstad’ (flower city) so it is appropriate that our visit coincided with the annual flower parade. This meant there were two attractions in Haarlem, the flower parade (obviously) and bumper cars as the kermis filled the city centre with midway attractions as part of the festivities. Being the serious business students that we are, we joined the gaggles of children in the funhouse and then took part in several bumper car derbies.

In the evening we watched the flower parade which consists of marching bands and floats made up mainly of flowers (in a similar fashion to the Rose Bowl parade in the States). The floats look beautiful and smell divine. The parade organizers clearly devote all their time to constructing these wonderful displays. Consequently, however, other aspects of the organization are not as well managed with a time delay of several minutes between many of the floats.

This time delay is actually beneficial to the crowd watching the parade as it provides time to visit the beer stands. There I had the chance to try a beer from the local brewery, Jopen, a world champion brewery which uses the recipes from historical Haarlem breweries. I sampled a Jopen Koyt, made from a fifteenth century recipe it is a strong, dark beer that is smooth and lacks the typical overpowering malt flavours of a strong beer from the Lowlands. It is flavoured with herbs and is like a cold, dry mulled cider (delicious).

Through some confusion we were only able to see a small handful of the floats before they escaped the city, but what we saw was quite enjoyable. With the parade cut short it just meant more time for bumper cars.

Video from my day in Haarlem:

Some real (i.e. text based) blog posts should be coming relatively soon, I’m just a tad overworked at the moment.

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In Rotterdam we have restaurants on boats. Ashley, Katrina, and I decided to check out the most stereotypically Dutch of the restaurants, the pannenkoekenboot (pancake boat). Pannenkoeken are a specific variety of pancake that is unique to the Netherlands. Prior to our pannenkoekenboot trip I had only experienced these pancakes at home using a mix and, on one occasion, purchasing pre-made, microwaveable pannenkoeken. These experiences were less than fantastic.

On the boat I discovered what was wrong with my previous pannenkoeken, they were too thick and too large. Unlike an American pancake (which I’ve never really liked) they are thin and can be stuffed with sweet or savoury fillings. They are closer to a French crêpe (the greatest of all pancakes) but not as thin.

The boat is set up as a buffet, allowing you to choose your own toppings and fillings. I first tried a combination of meats and apple. Then, after being inspired by the culinary inventiveness of a young child, I tried a combination of bacon, ham, apple and chocolate (this buttressed my belief that chocolate has a place in savoury dishes). Finally I ended with a desert pancake filled with various chocolates and sprinkles, and covered with stroop (Dutch pancake syrop that is a kind of thin, light molasses).

Adding to the wonderful food was, of course, the boat factor. The boat is small, but not crowded, with room for sixty or so people. The interior is typical maritime,lots of wood paneling and ship’s figureheads adorning the walls, feeling much as you would expect the wardroom on an older naval ship to feel. A trap door opens in the floor revealing the interior of the hull that has been transformed into a ball-pit where parents can stow their children for the duration of the cruise.

The cruise itself was nice. The boat traveled up the Nieuwe Maas from the Euromast to the Kralingen area of the city. This basically means that it does a sweep up and down the city over the course of an hour, giving you the chance to see some of the city’s wonderful architecture from a new vantage point.

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Now we have an amphibious tour bus in Rotterdam, Splashtours, and it couldn’t be more different from the Harbour Hopper. It is not a retrofitted vehicle, but a newly built one, the Amfibus, which was designed and built in the Netherlands. On land it looks pretty much like a standard motorcoach and in the water it looks, strangely, like a motorcoach that should be sinking. It is intended not just as a recreational vehicle, but has been designed as a means for bus commuters to avoid the need of an expensive ferry service.

Ashley, Katrina, and I had the chance to go on one of the first Splashtours. The novelty of the amphibious bus was enough to excite many people. The Dutch are typically quite civilized about lineups, but it approached a Hobbesian state of nature as people eagerly clamoured onto the bus via the gangplank.

Inside it felt exactly like being on a typical motorcoach but with larger windows, providing an excellent view even from the aisle seats. The tour was certainly not comprehensive but Rotterdam is really best seen on foot or by bike. The tour guide spoke exclusively in Dutch (though I imagine it might be different it the future with a more touristy crowd), as a result I was able to understand only bits and pieces of the tour.

The moment of anticipation came to a climax as the bus slowly drove into the Nieuwe Maas. Most of the people on the bus tried to get as close to the front as possible to watch the nose dip into the water. On shore, people looked on and took photos. Some seemed a bit confused as to why a bus appeared to be driving into the harbour.

In the water it felt a bit odd, nothing like a typical boat — a bit too enclosed for my liking. It did a quick little tour in the water, giving a nice view of the Erasmus Brug, the Euromast, and the S.S. Rotterdam before making its way back on to land.

Altogether it was a fun little tour, not the best boat ride, not the best bus tour; but for some reason amphibious vehicles make everything that much more awesome.

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Katrina, our friend from Canada, is visiting with Ashley and me at the moment and she joined us as we checked out museumnacht. We spent the two days leading up to the event looking over the brochures for the event, trying to decide which of the 45 museums to visit, establishing a plan of attack to optimize our time, and planning which of the museum night bus and boat routes to take between destinations. As is so often the case with planning an outing, our plans pretty well flew out the window as soon as we set out. Museumnacht, you see, is less about visiting the museum for its usual offerings and more about taking in their special ‘one night only’ displays.

These special offerings included music, with a DJ in his bed — on the lawn of the Chabot Museum — spinning jazz, a percussion band performing in front of the Kunsthal while a synchronized animation was projected onto the building’s exterior, and a live band and dance floor occupying the lobby of the Maritime Museum. The Natural History Museum, which is a real throwback to the early days of museums in the late 19th century, featured a very graphic display of taxidermy and a bar featuring blood and gut themed drinks and foods reminiscent of my childhood Halloween parties. The most over the top display was at the National Architecture institute where, upon entering, we found ourselves trapped in a womb-like structure only to be birthed out into the museum proper. It was a very post-modern spectacle, it felt like Luce Irigaray’s philosophical works brought to life (very fitting given the Dutch domination of nature through architecture and Irigaray’s ties to Rotterdam).

In the end we saw only a fraction of what we intended, but we saw a great deal that we never imagined. Museumnacht is a smorgesbord of museum offerings that gives you a little taste of each and introduces you to some things you would not otherwise think to try.

The NAI's Womb DJ

Haven’t had your fill of museumnacht blogs? Check out Kat’s blog post.

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Along with my colleagues at the Rotterdam School of Management, I recently had the opportunity to visit Spyker’s headquarters where marketing VP Hans Van Rennes treated us to a tour and offered some insight into the quick growing company.

The headquarters for Spyker Cars is typically Dutch, modest and unassuming and located outside of Zeewolde (a town of less than 20,000 people). Spyker Cars is not so typically Dutch, however. They are expensive (with an average price of €200,000), and exclusive (only 43 cars were produced last year). Van Rennes explained that the average Spyker customer has an extensive collection of luxury cars, of which their Spyker is only the 7th car or so. This level of luxury seems excessive, no doubt, to the rather modest Dutch people; this explains, in part, why Spyker sells only one or two cars within Holland annually. The largest market for Spyker, not surprisingly is in the United States, a country that embraces excess and where the wealthy, by and large, do not feel the need to be modest with their spending.

There is something quite American about Spyker beyond the cars that they manufacture; it is their entrepreneurial spirit, their willingness to take risks. The automotive industry is not an easy industry to survive in, let alone to begin in as an upstart; the R&D costs alone make it next to impossible to compete with large established firms in a mature market. Spyker has survived for a decade — far longer than I would give any auto upstart. During this time they have yet to make a penny of profit, but just surviving and continuing to grow during a time when other manufacturers are struggling, has given them an unbelievable opportunity; in a world turned upside down, a small car manufacturer in rural Holland has the chance to acquire a world player in the auto industry. According to Van Rennes, acquiring Saab is largely about acquiring resources. Saab will afford Spyker access to R&D facilities that it otherwise would never be able to afford, and that will help it compete with large manufacturers like Ferrari. In his words, when you have the chance to buy something so valuable for so cheap, it would be stupid not to do it.

My gut feeling about Spyker (and it is only a gut feeling) is that it will succeed. There is a market for their high end sports cars, a market that will grow as emerging economies like China continue to grow and a few individuals amass a large personal wealth. If they can make Saab into a successful brand again (no easy task) then even if it only breaks even it can provide the resources for Spyker to reach profitability.

A Spyker C8 Spyder (in Dutch orange) outside the Spyker Cars headquarters.

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