Rotterdam is amazing

It was raining so instead of going out for breakfast we had self-service breakfasts at the hotel and made honesty payments for it.

We decided to walk to the Museum
Boijmans van Beuningen, the art gallery. En route we walked by a canal lined by older 19th century buildings although the high rise ones loomed over us. Some were so high they were actually in the mist!

When we got to the gallery we discovered it was surrounded by fencing and totally closed off. (Chloe has a guide book which seems out of date). The nearby circular building with a mirrored surround looked interesting. The others saw a sign saying you had to book tickets on line but I went in anyway and asked. A young woman at reception said the closed gallery was going to be renovated and would open in 5 years, but this building was the depositary for all the art work from there. We could have this unique experience for €20 and she was starting a tour in English in 5 minutes so I went out and explained to the others who agreed it might be interesting.

There was a lot of security - all bags and costs had to be stored in a locker the we had to buy our tickets at one machine then produce them at another to get the free guided tour then go back to get a stamp on our wrist. After this was done we had to wear a white sash and show all our passes to be allowed up stairs to the first floor to see the room where metal objects were stored. When we entered the store room we had to walk through sticky back plastic to remove any contamination from our feet.

She showed us some stained glass from 14th century that had broken and old restoration work had caused further damage. We saw silver objects wrapped in protective plastic on shelves and she pulled out random pieces of metal sculptures. The other area we were shown
was where restoration work was done. One piece was of sugar icing that had broken, another was a painting which will never be shown as zinc had been used and it had eroded the work. Near it was a Van Gogh currently being worked on. She said they can only do restoration work now if they work itself can be undone as in the past restoration has caused more damage in the end than what was there before. Lying beside the Van Gogh was a piece of cloth work which looked like Kusama to me and it was there as someone that put a sticking plaster on a finger shape.

After our 1.5 hours were up we were free to wander in the public areas. Our guide had explained the interior of the building was inspired by Piranesi’s maze. It was all glass with suspended art works. I get jelly legs walking at a height across glass walkways so I didn’t dare look down. We went first to the fifth floor to see some of the works from the collection that people had selected as their favourite pieces. What was particularly interesting was that we could walk round and see the backs of the paintings. This can tell a lot about how the painting was made, whether it had been restored or not and it showed all the labels from all the galleries where it had been exhibited. There was so much to see - old Dutch masters, French Impressionists, Central European and modern artists - only one British artist - Hockney.

By then we were getting hungry so we had a quick look at drawings and prints on floor 3. This explained the various ways work can be damaged - by damp, light, water etc. We also learned that you knew whether and artist was right or left handed by the direction of the cross-hatching.

Just down the road we found a cheap Turkish cafe where Chloe and I had falafel and salad in pitta for €7. The men had sausage. One small bottle of water was €2.50. We are so used to getting free water in cafes and restaurants at home it comes as a shock to buy it.

We walked to the Erasmus Bridge and beyond to find the Floating Trees shown on the map but they weren’t there. We were now quite wet so got the tram back to the nearest stop to our hotel.

We’ll reconvene at 6pm for a gin in our room before going off to walk to the market again as tonight it’s open till 9 so we hope to sample the food there.

I’m really loving this city. I prefer it to Amsterdam and Chloe and Graham think it’s almost as good as Düsseldorf.