Spring Round-Trip and WordCamp Rotterdam 2018
On March 2018, I got invited by my partner to attend a conference, which has named WordCamp. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherland.
WordCamps are informal, community-organized events, that are put together by WordPress users. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other.
Since he works as a Web Developer, he nearly always takes part in every event they have. And this time he decided to take me with him cause I like to write a Blog sometimes, so he thought it could be interesting for me. I took some days off from work, and so was he. We had 9 days in total. The days we had were definitely too much to spend only in one place, that’s why we then decided to make a tour from south to the north.
Day 1 — Geneva
The first destination was Geneva, the south-western city of Switzerland that located in the border of French. From Landquart, we headed off to Geneva in the morning by Train. It took about 3–4 hours to get there. After arrived, we looked for our hotel, and put our back-pack there. Luckily the hotel was located in the center so the access to some places can be easily reached only by feet. Anyway, we also got a day ticket for the local transportation in Geneva for free from the hotel, that was a perk, even though we almost didn’t use it.
Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of the Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva.
Some popular places we have visited are:
Jet d’Eau (Water Jet), the breakwater enclosing Geneva’s harbor, a mighty jet of water soars straight up from the lake surface in a 145-meter plume. This water jet has become the symbol of Geneva and is its most famous landmark.
Jardin Anglais (English Garden), on the south side of the lake where you’ll see the large flower clock, almost as emblematic of the city as the Jet d’Eau. The clock, set on a slight slope for easier viewing, changes with the seasonal blooming plants that form its colorful face (description based on Google).
Palais des Nations, the large complex of marble buildings that make up the Palais des Nations is the European headquarters of the United Nations, a position it assumed after the demise of the League of Nations, whose world headquarters was here. It has become a center of world diplomacy, the largest UN center after New York, with upwards of 25,000 delegates passing through annually. On a guided tour, you can learn about the work carried on here and see the artworks and interiors donated by countries all over the world.
And the Broken Chair Sculpture, it’s a monumental sculpture in wood by the Swiss artist Daniel Berset, constructed by the carpenter Louis Genève. It is constructed of 5.5 tons of wood and is 12 meters (39 feet) high. It depicts a giant chair with a broken leg and stands across the street from the Palace of Nations, in Geneva. It symbolizes opposition to landmines and cluster bombs and acts as a reminder to politicians and others visiting Geneva.
Day 2 — Lyon
The following day, we headed off to Lyon, French. It took about 2–3 hours from Geneva. While on the train, I looked out the windows, wanted to get some refreshment for my eyes. The landscape offered by this part of French was fascinated, especially the mountain view that partly covered by cloud. Nevertheless, many old buildings still exist. They stay unmaintained. It looks like “a dead city” for me. It suddenly came to my mind as I was seeing a place from thriller movies, LOL.
This time, unfortunately, the hotel we booked was located quite far from the train station and took about 30 min from the train station to the hotel. The hardest part was, that we’re having big back-packs to carry with. I grumbled all the way to the hotel :I Sorry for too many complain, Marc, if you read this.
The hotel was uncommon by the way. It provides kitchen inclusive the kitchen stuff. That was the first time I see such service in the hotel room. It was Sunday when we arrived. So there was not much to do. We went out only to buy pasta to eat and back to the hotel and stayed inside for rest of the day. Such an unproductive day, but chill out is also needed some time.
Day 3 — Paris
We spend only one night in Lyon, from there we continued the journey to Paris. With TGV express train, it took us only almost 2 hours to got there. Oh, I forgot to mention that we used an Interrail ticket for our tour. But for this kind of express train, reservation is still required, with an extra fee.
In Paris, just like in the others places before, we spent only one night. We arrived around early afternoon in Paris train station, went to the hostel by Metro, put our backpacks and went out to stroll the city.
This wasn’t my first time in Paris, I have seen the main sight-seeing spots. One thing left was to see the Eiffel tower in the night. And this time it came true! Woohoo! *pardon my overrated expression.*
Firstly we visited Arc de Triomphe, situated at the Place de l’Etoile, overlooking the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe is the biggest arch in the world. It was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to celebrate his victory at Austerlitz (description based on Google).
Then we were at Tours de Notre-Dame de Paris, at the top of 422 steps inside the towers of Notre-Dame cathedral, visitors are rewarded with one of the most stunning panoramic views of Paris. Before you climb up, the tour is marked by three not-to-be-missed stops: upstairs has amazing gothic architecture and vaulted warheads; the chimera galleries allow you to get close to the famous gargoyles, including the famous Stryge; and a few steps from the top, stop and admire the belfry, church bells and the famous 13-tonne Emmanuel great bell (description based on Google). There was a bunch of doves on this area so I got the chance to take pictures with them. Anyway, for information, there is a man there who will offer you some pieces of corns, so that the doves come to you to eat the corns. Then he will ask you some euros in return, so just be more careful if you don’t want to lose money for it.
The next was the Louvre Museum, it’s the world’s largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city. It is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city’s 1st arrondissement (district or ward). The Louvre was the world’s most visited art museum. (description based on Google)
Then Place de la Concorde, there we saw the monumental fountains and the Luxur Obelix The Obelisk, that placed in the middle of the Place de la Concorde, it’s part of the strange geometrical layouts and alignments along the Historical Axis, evoking the symbols of Ancient Egypt.
The last is the famous one, Eiffel tower. It looks marvelous and more romantic with the lights on. Out of our expectation, they made a light’s show. The lights on the tower were flickering for a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, the coldness was hard to bear at that time. We got frozen but we must hold the coldness for getting good pictures as much as possible and use the opportunity we had as well as possible. At least our struggle paid, enjoyed Eiffel tower, the most famous romantic place in the world, with a good company.
After that, we went back to the hostel. The hostel was okay actually but if your roommate snore, then you have a misfortune. You will be disturbed by them and forget to have a good sleep. Just as in my case.
Day 4 — Brussels
The next destination was Brussels, Belgium. We arrived in the midday in a hostel, the check in time was after 14:00, but we were already there a half hour earlier. So we just left our backpacks in the hostel and went out to stroll the town.
Brussels is the capital city of Belgium. It has been a major centre for international politics and the home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants since the end of Second World War. This city is officially bilingual in Dutch and French. Even it’s quite small but this city offers some attractive places, such as:
The Automium, is a symbolic 103-metre tall modernist structure, located on the Heysel Plateau, which was originally built for the 1958 World’s Fair (Expo ‘58). It consists of nine steel spheres connected by tubes, and forms a model of an iron crystal (specifically, a unit cell), magnified 165 billion times. It is also landmark of Brussels.
Mini-Europe, is a miniature park located in Bruparck at the foot of the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe has reproductions of monuments in the European Union on a show, at a scale of 1:25. Roughly 80 cities and 350 buildings are represented. The park contains live-action models such as trains, mills, an erupting Mount Vesuvius, and cable cars.
The Mannekin Pis, is a landmark small bronze sculpture (61 cm), depicting a naked little boy urinating into a fountain’s basin. The current statue is a copy which dates from 1965. The original is kept in the Museum of the City of Brussels. It is the best-known symbol of the people of Brussels. It also embodies their sense of humor (called zwanz in the Brussels’ dialect) and their independence of mind (description based on Google). The first day we came here, the Mannekin Pis was dressed with papers of plakat I guess. It was weird to see it like that, I even made a joke about it LOL.
The last but not least is to try the local waffle which has long been popular. Nearby from Mannekin Pis, there are some waffle shops, that appeals to taste. In the morning we went to the same place where the Mannekin Pis is to get some waffle. And you know what I saw??? The Mannekin Pis wasn’t longer dressed up anymore. He was naked again, just as he used to LOL. Oh I can’t help not to laugh…. Well let’s go back to the waffle, we got our beauties. One was the plain waffle and one was with sprinkles of powder sugar, they tasted tasted soooo good!! Waffle is a must to try when you are in Brussels, you can get it for 2 EUR, otherwise you’ll regret it.
Day 5 — Netherlands
The next was Almere, Netherland. It is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. It is also the newest city in the Netherlands and has the largest population of the municipalities in Flevoland with 202,764 citizens in 2017 and the 7th largest in the Netherlands.
On our way to Almere, we also made short stops in some other cities such as in The Hague, and Amsterdam. In The Hague, we only spent around an hour stroll in the town and grabbed fast-food for lunch. In Amsterdam we finally made it come to the popular “I Amsterdam” letter. It was fully crowded with many tourists, so we couldn’t really manage it to make a good picture.
In the evening we arrived in Almere. It’s a small city with some few inhabitants, it has a large shopping center tho. I like it more than Amsterdam, the capital city is too crowded for me.
Here we stayed in 4 stars hotel, and we didn’t know it in advance when we book. Let’s just call this as a Luxus time for couple days….
Day 6 — Almere
We were still in Almere on the following day. And the weather wasn’t better to compare to the last days. Still, I decided to go to the cities nearby by myself rather than just to chill out and do nothing. The main reason was, because I have bought 10 days travel ticket and I was having only 9 days off, so it’ll be a pity to leave some days unused since I can’t use it to travel in Germany (Interrail’s condition- 3.2 Travel in Country of Residence with an Interrail Global Pass).
So I forced myself to explored the cities with such of unfine weather. I went to Lelystad, Zwolle, Groningen, then back to Almere.
Those cities I’ve visited are the municipality. They are located in the center, northeastern and in the north of Netherlands. Lelystad is the capital of the province of Flevoland. Zwolle is the second-largest municipality of the province after Enschede, it is in the northeastern Netherlands. And Groningen is the main municipality as well as the capital city of the eponymous province in the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the north of the Netherlands. It’s also a university city: it houses the University of Groningen (with about 30,000 students) and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (with about 25,000 students).
Day 7 — Rotterdam
The last destination which also our main destination of this whole tour, was Rotterdam. On Friday after checked out, we left Almere and headed off to the South. On our way to Rotterdam, we made short stop in Utrecht. We did a quick round in the town for about an hour and continued the Journey to Rotterdam. Here we stayed in a hostel, for 3 days and 2 nights just like in Almere. We reached there in the afternoon, put our backpacks in the hostel and went out right away to stroll down the town. We were in the center of Rotterdam, in Cool District and Stadsriehoek. The first place we visit was the Maritime Museum Harbour. On the harbour you’ll get enough things to enjoy. without spending some of your pocket. There are some sailing boat placed along the harbour. Inside of the some boat you will find the records of sailors from long time ago that be played there. So if you are a fans of history, it’s good for you to listen to their stories. In Stadsriehoek there is a huge market hall (De Markthal) and out of the building you’ll find the unique building in cube form, it’s called Cube Houses (Kubuswoningen- Dutch). De Markthal is an indoor market hall in various world-class cities that combined with luxury housing. It builds with a nice architecture, with the roof like a tunnel, and the whole wall has colorful painted. It offers you a lot of fresh food stands, some food shops, and various restaurant. Whilst the Cube Houses are used as an apartment in general. It’s builded based on the concept of “living as an urban roof”: high density housing with sufficient space on the ground level, since its main purpose is to optimise the space inside. In Rotterdam there are 38 small cubes and two so-called ‘super-cubes’, all attached to each other.
In about 2 hours walked around, we have seen — I guess, almost all the popular places in the town center. So around 4 pm, we decided to go back to the hostel to get a bit rest. Short description of our hostel this time, its name is King Kong Hostel. And just like its name, this place arranged as alike King Kong’s place (don’t imagine a jungle in your mind). It’s just kind of unique place to stay in a good location, quite in the center of the city.
Day 8 — WordCamp
Finally, the main day has come! Nearly 9 in the morning we cycled to the BlueCity where the even took place. It was about 2,5 km away from the place we stayed.
How much is the bicycle rental price? Generally, the base fee is 0,25 EUR/ 15 min. I’ve ridden the bicycle for 3x, and I always had the promotion on each of them. So in my case, it cost me 0 EUR. That was such an unexpected perk.
A short story about the WordCamp conference from that day, it has begun roughly at 10 am. It has offered some topics, mostly about software/ website, with some different speakers. Since many of the participants were Dutch so some topics were spoken in dutch but some were in English. I chose three topics as I remember. The last topic I chose was sorta yoga, which people can practice it during their work time in the office. She showed us some yoga moves that could help us to relax ourself at work.
The building that was being used for the conference was actually an old huge swimming pool. Rather than demolish this old building, they recycled this place and use it for some useful activities, such us to grow up some plants for the economical purpose and to do a research. Their work is based on a recycle method, Take-Make-Waste-Repeat. They even served us cookies that made from an old bread, kind of recycled cookies. It tasted different from the normal cookies, and of course, it’s healthy. For the participants that were still curious and wanted to know more about the BlueCity, they were welcome to join the short tour before the break time.
Nearly before the conference comes to the end, we’ve given time to visit some stands from some companies in the IT/software field and personally ask questions to them. There was also some stuff offered during this time from each stand.
Well, for me who have nothing to do with this kind of field at work, it was quite okay. I actually have expected something better, for example when the speaker presented his topic about the general one, that we as human are different. I expected him to explain it more deeply, especially from the natural science point of view, but I should’ve just realized that I wasn’t in the natural science conference. At least there I got the chance to meet new people with different background and interest and at least I could gain more information about stuff that I might not know about.
This time, there was no After Party in this conference, which they normally always have it in the evening at each conference. The conference has ended roughly 4 pm. We stayed for a couple minutes just to got small chit-chat with others before we leave.
Day 9 — Cologne
It’s time to get back to Germany! We took the connection from Rotterdam thru Cologne. Unfortunately we got a problem with the connection, cause the train that should’ve brought us to the station where we have the train transfer as what it shown on the plan, has ended the journey earlier due to a technical problem, so we must changed the connection, and instead of train, we will be driven forward with a bus as replacement. We’re waiting nearly an hour, the bus still didn’t come yet. Other passengers were also waiting impatiently and doubt as well as us. We did check it on the Rail Planner, it shown another possibility to take, but our question was, if the train we had previously take, got to cancel with the route, is it then now possible to take another train in the same route? Another question was, how big the replacement bus will be? would it be enough to carry all the transferred passengers? Then someone asked an officer, and he said that this train will drive as normal. We decided to take a train to go next. The train had long stops on the way, but that wasn’t a surprise anymore. A thumbs down for DB (Deutsche Bahn).
We finally reached Cologne, but pretty late as it’s planned. Anyway my partner’s mum was having an exhibition in Cologne, that’s why we decided to come here to meet her on our way back from Netherland. Sadly we had just an hour there. We visited to the Köln Triangle Panorama. We were again having an issue, cause we had big backpacks with us and there was no place available where we can keep them, so our option was either one of us stay downstair and look for the backpacks while the rest go up, or we cancel to go up the tower. That was really a pity that three of us can’t make it together to see the view from the building. We made a deal that my partner and me go as the first, and then his mum’s turn after us when we finish. We bought the tickets, it costs 3 EUR/ person. The queue was quite long on Sunday, we waited so inpatient. On the upstairs we could see the popular places in Cologne- the bridge and the church. Less than 10 min. we went downstairs, I didn’t want to take too long up there, his mum has waiting. As soon as are down, I then tell her to get her turn. But she said she must not go upstairs, might be next time but from our short story about how it was on there, it was enough for her. To be honest I felt so sorry for her, but she is just too kind, and so understanding. We had some couple minutes before our train come. In a bit rush we went to the bridge, stayed there in few minutes just to see it, then we went back to the train station.
It was the better vacation we had so far, and we had really a good time. But everything has to come to the end now. My partner and his mum took the train back to Switzerland, and I took the one back to Stuttgart. So yeah it’s time to say goodbye to them... Their train comes earlier than mine. So I’ve waited for myself. It’s kind of a lonesome feeling every time there is a distance between us again after being together for more than a week. Anyway it works even it’s hard, just need to deal with it for now.
