Adventures in Rotterdam: Museum Night (Rotterdamse Museumnacht)

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Recently we attended a function in Rotterdam known as Museum Night or ‘Museumnacht’ in Dutch – it’s a night when the city’s museums open their doors and welcome everyone (who has a ticket) with open arms into their arty and historical folds.

It was a great night, and we went along with a good friend of Trudy’s and some of her girlfriends.

I could turn this into a photo essay, but in a way I would like to stretch out my literary loins just that little bit (although you’ll never fix my poor grammar) and enlighten you about the best parts from throughout the night.

We were running late, so with our badges flashing wildly on our chests we rode our Dutch bicycles (SPARTA!) across the bridge to meet the girls at the Fotomuseum, which was our first stop for the night. As we rode, you could see hundreds of other green flaring badges – it’s a popular night!

The Fotomuseum was, well, not that exciting actually.

Off again and across the Erasmus bridge (I like to say it’s the only hill in Rotterdam) and into the wildly busy Witte de Withstraat. There we were met with pole dancers grinding their pale skinny bodies against a long pole jutting from a wooden platform whilst the crowd watched on – they weren’t exceptionally attractive unfortunately. However, nearby there was free shots of ‘choose your own liquor’ with a Mad Scientist and test tube feel, so we grabbed our free shots and continued on our merry way.

We stopped in at Museum Boijmans, which in fact, is considered one of the best museums in Western Europe. I’m certainly not the most astute art connoisseur, but there were definitely some great pieces in there. There were also pieces that, as always, I failed to see the beauty/relevance/importance/point/skill in them – I tend to consider that my own failure rather then that of the artists (I mean, if everyone else likes it and it’s in a museum, its got to be good, right? ;))

We crossed the bridge from Boijmans, meandering through what is known as Museum park heading towards the Natural History Museum. I always love these types of museums, with the stuffed animals and the crazy fish preserved in alcohol – what’s not to love?

As we were taste testing some yoghurt (I never did find out which one was sweeter) we ran into an Australian friend and her fiance. She introduced us to her Dutch friends who she called ‘The Uglies’. One of these so called Uglies was about 6 ft 7 inches, so I decided then and there that I shall avoid calling him an Ugly myself – what better place to practice self preservation then in the Natural History museum?

Now outside and into the Kunsthal directly across from the Natural History building – it’s a funky museum with a downstairs party area and pub, with the art upstairs. The line up to see the art looked long and daunting, so we settled on enjoying a few sneaky beers instead.

And then I heard a great DJ, the man had musical skills and my ears perked up. I asked about him, and this is his story:

I snapped a shot of him on Instagram.

Social media and some other Dutch friends alerted us to excellent party shenanigans occurring at the Nederlands Architectuurinstituut (Archi WHAT? Just call it the NIA) – so we trundled off to the land where the Heineken comes to YOU (I’ll explain in a moment).

I coined the smarmy minimalist digital music that was playing as ‘Digital Wank’ – and then proceeded to be amazed by the walking Heineken kegs.

The Dutch, of course, were not phased, but to my eyes it would have been similar to that of a man seeing a film or a telephone for the first time. It was simply magic.

Let me explain: Men and women wear kegs of Heineken on their backs, and have a hose that comes down and hangs by their side which they can pull and shoot at a moments notice. I wish I had a picture of them, but I don’t.

Any Australians reading this would have no concept of what I am talking about – but it will rock your socks. No longer does one have to attend the bar and stand in line with other sweaty men, jostling for the next open position. One simply buys tokens from the front desk, then proceeds to obtain beer from the walking Heineken kegs when the thirst strikes.

No doubt this wouldn’t work in Australia, as some bogan would hijack the precious keg and run off with it, guzzling whilst attempting to yell lyrics from AC/DC, Heineken flowing freely down his mullet.

Anyway, Museum Night – if you’re ever in Rotterdam during March – it’s an excellent night out.

5 Responses to “Adventures in Rotterdam: Museum Night (Rotterdamse Museumnacht)”

1. Trudy says:

   March 23, 2012 at 6:57 am

   This was great! There is a photo of Heineken man on my Instagram feed 😉

   Reply
   • Tom says:

     March 23, 2012 at 1:43 pm

     Oh really!? Awesome! Going to have to find that one and upload it =D

     Reply
2. Louise says:

   March 23, 2012 at 7:09 am

   Making me laugh again!

   Reply
3. Tim says:

   April 5, 2012 at 9:24 am

   Like we are busy seeing more of Oz than you, your doing that in Holland! nice post tommy! good to see you guys enjoying yourselfs to the max!

   Reply
   • Tom says:

     April 5, 2012 at 8:03 pm

     Thanks Timmy! Hope you guys are having an awesome time on your round the world trip 🙂

     Reply

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