The Ol' Three in One Play

I went to three festivals today, yes, three in one...talk about packing it in! First, I walked down Zwart Janstraat close to my house where they were holding the 'Route Noord' festival. This consisted mainly of shop owner's wares being brought out on the street in addition to other vendors selling things from blankets laid out on the ground. There were carnival rides, large RV-like vehicles selling food and drinks from open windows, and booths set up to demonstrate the magical powers of Oxyclean and squeeze mops. I was floored by the difference that this festival made to the regular Sunday tenor that I originally associated with this street. I remarked in one of my first posts after moving here how dumbfounded I was to find that all the shops on Zwart Janstraat (except for certain food and fruit shops) were closed on Sunday. I since learned that this is the case only in the smaller areas of town and that if one walks into the city centre, it is busier than on any weekdays. To walk down this normally sleepy street on this particular Sunday, you felt as though you were walking in the middle of town as people passed by, shoulder to shoulder, yelling out deals, with the smell of food wafting into the air. Everyone coming together.

From there I rode my bike down to the Blaak Maarkt where they were having a Boek Maarkt just outside the library. It was interesting to see the incorporation of the literary societies into the normal mix of market wares on the Blaak. This area was a little less packed but since it was bordering the city centre it still enjoyed a healthy group of people.

Off again, this time to a 'Seeds of Change Festival' at the Laurenskerk, which incorporated groups for peace, groups for social change - reduction of discrimination, and welkom groups for new individuals to Rotterdam. There was a band playing live salsa and other latin music on a stage and many people were dancing along on the cobbled stones, regardless of age or partner. These festivals were set against a beautiful backdrop of a sunshine and cloudless sky, remarkable in my opinion for such a late day in September, and I and the city revellers seemed to melt back into summer.