The links in this old document won't work anymore.
Friday 15 December 2000
Having finished a project earlier than expected I could take a day off. I saddled my my bicycle and set out to explore the area in the south of Rotterdam. I had to accept the weather that I was given: rain, hail, gusts of wind. I photographed several spectacular sun-dogs between the clouds.
Along the north bank of the river I saw old, but fully functional small factories. One deserted, but dangerously crumbling building. Nice views of the riverbanks but nothing explorable.
The north side under the Van Brienenoord bridge still intrigues me. A new bridge has been built alongside the old bridge, and a gap of three meters has been left between the pylons. These pylons house the command room and the machinery for opening and closing the moveable part of the bridge. Using a combination of rappelling and climbing it would be possible to get between the pylons. And possibly there are unprotected entrances there.
While I was hiding from the hail under the south side of the bridge a small van arrived with a blinking yellow light on it's roof. A man stepped out and opened one of the bridge rooms. Immediately I followed him and I got permission to look around in the cavernous space. It was used to store spare parts like traffic-cones and all the possible varieties of road-signs. Even those small green signs with the road distance on them (like "14.3"). I don't understand the need for spares of these, since every one is unique ...
Further south is the last agricultural area near the city. On the north side it is being eaten by housing projects, the high speed railway and by large shopping centres. On the south side it is bounded by the A15 highway. It was worth the trip, I saw a lot of contrasting scenes: old orchards next to new housing projects, old farm buildings next to McDonald's, curving dykes and old houses next to railway-lines and aluminium sound barriers and grazing horses next to busy roads. Anyone can see that this area is doomed. A lot of fields were already covered with 2 meters of sand, for new housing construction. I tried to record it before it would be wiped out. Beautiful landscapes and sight-lines will disappear once all this space is filled up.
It was cold, but I didn't have enough money with me to buy a cup of coffee at the McDonalds. I had to put on all my layers of clothing to keep a bit warm in the cold rain and wind. After the trip I was so tired afterwards that I cancelled my regular Friday-climb with Walter (at the climbing hall).
Thursday 30 November
This evening Expeditiedrift, was held at the "Blauwe Aanslag" in The Hague. The event was dedicated to the explorers of the hidden zones of urban life and to autonomous astronauts. This evening was a joint effort by the zines Propaganda & Kapot, Alles Moet:
The evening ended with a live expedition that ended in a mass arrest of all the explorers.
I was not arrested, I went home at 24:00 because I had to finish a report about a firewall-scan I had done for one of our customers ... Saved by too much work!
Sunday 19 November
Not much has been achieved lately at the Dutch connection. Work (interesting), choir (beautiful), family (nice), weather (wet) and climbing partners (either too busy or injured) have prevented me from doing anything spectacular.
30 November we will have an evening for the "alternative" scene in The Hague, I will be showing some UA-pictures and will talk about UA and Art. Jan van der Meulen will show some of his spectacular urban-climbing slides. There will be music made by the "Vitriola's" and another talk will treat "Autonomous space travel". There are plans to hold a live expedition and the sounds from the expedition will be mixed with music by a live DJ. I have no idea how they're going to do that ...
I have explored the Rotterdam parking garages (don't laugh). Only the above-ground ones, the underground ones are smelly and generally uninteresting. The above-ground ones are more interesting than you would expect. There are unexpected views onto rooftops, into hidden gardens, kitchens and sleeping rooms. The roof-floor is usually empty and gives you a large private football-field in the middle of the city. The mostly empty upper floors show a nice combination of artificial and natural light that should produce interesting photographs. There are several flights of stairs, some 8 floors high or more and it would be possible to rappel down through the hole in the middle of the stairway (the one you allways drop objects through, to see if the reach the lowest floor, but usually they bounce from one of the railings).
I have noticed that the fire stairs in several large department-sores are unguarded and unused. These could also be used for a "hit and run" rappel-action. Finally, I have collected organic garbage from my own garbage-bin and put it in tightly sealed glass jars. I have placed the jars along the local highway. The sound screen is made out of compartments that hold a row of jars beautifully. It looks quite artful :-) I will return in spring to see if any interesting cultures have grown in them. If it turns out to be as disgusting as I expect I'll post the results on my website.
I can juggle 3 clubs and 4 balls now, that's not spectacular at all. But last sunday I combined the reading of Mc12 28-34 with a juggling workshop for our young churchgoers. As a consequence my son was able to demonstrate a 3 ball juggle in front of the altar during mass.
A last anecdote from the local news: --- An angry customer emptied several buckets of manure on the porch of the local electricity company. He had been waiting for a connection for several weeks and still had no response from the company. The company promised to connect hin the next day.
NEW : Interesting letters I received, trains and a lot of new artists:
Friday 13 October 2000
NEW : Many pictures of underground places in Rotterdam - and a rooftop in The Hague:
Thursday 21 September 2000
NEW : Many pictures of interesting places in Rotterdam - and some correspondence:
Wednesday 6 September 2000
The bunkers - I meet with Ben at Rotterdam Central Station. Just the two of us! That will be a scary exploration of the bunkers at Hoek van Holland. Large groups feel a lot safer.
Park the car at the boulevard. Easily find the hole in the barbed-wire fence. A short trek through the dunes leads us to the bunker. Fred was a good guide, I can still remember the routes and landmarks he showed us on the previous expedition. I show Ben the foundations of the German anti-aircraft cannon. We're on the roof of the bunker. A car on the boulevard slows down. Are we too conspicuous? Will someone come after us? I'm not afraid of the authorities, but of the locals who might see this as their territory. The graffiti in the bunkers is not gentle.
We enter through the small hole someone has un-bricked. Fred had taught us the right technique - first one leg inside, then your upper body and finally the other leg. Any other sequence will get you stuck. Ben hands me the rucksacks and camera's and follows inside. We're in a living-room sized space. On the left and right walls there's authentic German graffiti. It shows the dune landscape, viewpoints, angles and distances. Probably it was meant as an aid in aiming the cannons. Unfortunately it has been spoiled and defaced by more modern graffiti.
Two small side-rooms are empty, except for modern debris like spray-cans, bottles, cans and burned paper. The third contains a rusty hand-operated water-pump. We go down the stairs. Immediately it gets cooler and damper. The lower room contains a weird construction, probably further support for the cannon on the roof. A hatch leads to an even lower room, but Fred had told us that there's nothing special inside. Small, but very heavy steel doors lead to two smaller rooms, and then to several more heavy doors and more small rooms. It's a miniature maze. A rusty gun-rack, a winch and a ladder are authentic. Some walls still show the original room-codes and even construction-notes in pencil.
During the previous expedition Fred told us that we would find particles of rust in our hair for days afterwards. I thought he exaggerated but he was right. Fred also told us that if you were alone in the bunkers you would start imagining things. I try to draw a plan of the lower-floor maze, but Ben tells me he hears footsteps. We run up the stairs and towards the exit, but it was only an illusion. Fred was also right with that one!
We explore several holes in the sand but they're all dead ends. They only lead to small rooms without further exits. Two other bunkers look accessible, but the first one has it's door welded shut. The text on the door is authentic: "Zutritt verboten". The second one has a small un-bricked hole leading to a large room but we can't see if it leads anywhere interesting. We can't discover a way to climb through the hole without falling on your head. We're defeated.
The antenna's - A well-known landmark of Hoek van Holland are the large (6-8m) dish-antenna's along the coast. They were active during the cold-war but now they're abandoned. Ben discovers a section of wire-fence where the barbed wire has been removed from the top. He climbs over and disappears in the background. I'm too chicken and decide to make some pictures of the antenna's from the outside.
It's completely dark by now and the picture will take 1 minute of exposure time. I don't have a tripod with me so I have to improvise a stable set-up using my flashlight, wallet and lens-cap. But then I have to lie down on the road to see anything through the viewer. But where is Ben and what's keeping him so long? Finally Ben reappears and says: "I saw you lying on your belly on the road and I thought you were hiding from someone. So I decided to hide too."
"Come on, the door is open and there are generators and switchboards inside. This fence is easy, especially for a climber like you". I climb the fence, hide my backpack in the bushes and follow Ben inside. It's great! It's immediately clear that this was an American installation. All the remaining machinery is labelled "military specifications". Of course we don't find any manuals or logbooks. Only a rough schematic showing the places where the transmitters and receivers once stood. A switch reads "54 KW", that's a lot of transmission-power. The only remaining machinery is a diesel generator and two huge battery-powered uninterruptible power-supplies. We try to discover more clues, but everything is empty. We only find a manual for a "Whirlpool" washing machine from 1981 - it includes a coupon that gives a 75c reduction on "Tide, America's favourite". Does that washing powder still exist?
All the while I feel like a spy must feel. The next day I tell the story to a colleague who lives in Hoek van Holland. He tells me that the whole bunker-area is still formally military terrain. And especially that the antenna terrain is still formally classified. But he also told me that he visited the site while it was still in operation. How? "I have my connections in town." It was a radar station and a communication centre for the American navy.
11 August 2000
As always the group meets at R'dam Central Station. Tomas, Iris
and Iris arrive in time. Ben is too late and we leave
without him. We meet Fred, our guide, at Hoek van Holland
station. Because he's a truck-driver by profession I expect a
rough, hairy-chested, tattooed person. But he's a friendly, thin,
techno-type person.
We park the cars on the boulevard next to the well-known bunker entrance. We enter a long tunnel and end up in the command-centre overlooking the dunes and the sea. Through a narrow horizontal slit you get a 180 degree view of the sunset. Graffiti and garbage from previous explorers are everywhere.
Through the long, winding tunnel we enter several bunker complexes. Fred tells us he has seen many informal parties here. Sometimes small scale - a running scooter provides the current for two turntables and a lamp. Fred: "Notice that the tunnel is not straight. There are many bends. These were built on purpose. A straight tunnel would be dangerous, because a single enemy soldier would be able to shoot everyone inside. Now there are many corners to hide behind."
We see the remains of an old airco-installation, some old steel doors and some rusty ladders, but everything else has been removed or vandalised. I search for authentic signs, texts or graffiti but I can't find anything. We perform the well-known caving experiment - and yes, with all flashlights out it's pitch dark and dead silent.
There are rumours of long tunnels running all the way along the coast but no maps are available. Fred's father works for the army, and he's a middle-manager in the archives, but even he cannot get access to the original bunker schematics. It seems that all Dutch fortifications are classified information, even if they're not in use anymore. Even the official plans of the fortresses from 1850 seem to be unavailable. (This was later confirmed by a colleague who lives in Hoek van Holland.)
Then Fred leads us through holes in barbed-wire fences, through small dune-paths and we enter the deep bunker. This one is described in the report of 6 September.
I notice that the Irises are very silent. "Yes, we like the expedition, but being in the bunkers makes WW-II so tangible. It's not pleasant to realise that real German soldiers were living here under the ground." By now it is dark and we admire the view from the dunes. On our left side all the lights of the harbour. On our right a long queue of ships arriving from the sea. Beautiful. I didn't I take the tripod for the camera, but I also made the beginner's mistake of not bringing a spare roll of film. I had hoped to borrow a roll, but there were only digital camera's in the rest of the group. Modern times ...
Fred: "In fact it's illegal to be here, but I've never been caught or questioned. However, I've met a lot of other explorers and party-goers in the dunes and down in the bunkers. Usually they were fiendly or indifferent." We finish the evening with a beer at the quay. Fred tells about his work as a truck driver (he likes it), Iris and Tomas talk about stunt-teams and architecture and I talk about art. The usual subjects ... We decide to keep in touch.
On the way home Tomas tells us how he takes samples of "Grolsch" beer to the ships in the harbour. The sample is given to the captain and the brewer hopes to sell more beer afterwards. The policy seems to work, because Grolsch is the major supplier of ship-beer in Rotterdam. It even works on ships from Islamic countries. The beer is delivered and bought, but the invoice has to say it's for "refreshments". On one ship however the captain was a devout Moslem and Tomas left the ship with the beer-sample. The crew saw this and while the captain wasn't looking they lowered a rope so the beer-sample wouldn't be wasted.
Friday 25 August 2000
NEW : Not so much. My laptop was stolen recently with my new updates:
NEW: Tuesday 15 August 2000
Last Tuesday I was robbed of my laptop on my way to work. In a pedestrian area two youngsters on a scooter drove past me and ripped the bag with the laptop from my hand. They also took my umbrella! Then they disappeared around the corner. It took me a while before I understood what had happened. A professional job! Fortunately only my pride was hurt.
At the police station I had to wait a long time because the victims of two burglaries and two pickpockets were in front of me. So I'm not the only one duped. The laptop (Compaq Armada) belongs to the office :-) The police officer said it will earn 300-400 NLG on the black market.
NEW: Friday 11 August
We explored two bunker complexes in Hoek van Holland. We had a large group: Iris, Iris, Tomas, Fred and me. Unfortunately Ben didn't make it in time and although we waited 45 minutes we had to leave without him. Fred gave us a wonderful guided tour. Showing us tunnels, dark rooms, rusting machinery, underground stairways and dangerous holes filled with water. He also told about the illegal parties that take place here. We finished the evening in style, by taking a beer on the quay in HvH.
NEW: Tuesday 8 August 2000
Last week Ben and I explored the Rotterdam United (formerly Wilton-Feyenoord) shipyard. It was a very successful expo. I'll write a full report later but we were able to climb a 40-50m crane and Ben walked all the way along the horizontal boom.
In an old deserted part of this shipyard I found 20m of old hemp (I think) rope. It's 4cm thick! I tried using it for rope-walking, but it is too heavy. The vibrations of the rope keep throwing me off. My 14mm nylon rope is much easier to walk.
NEW: Tuesday 1 August 2000
For example: last weekend my son and I went exploring new parts of the harbour. Everything is in use, fenced off and guarded. We spent most time on a 3-floor high hill of asphalt (broken-up highway surface, with the lines still visible on some fragments). Even in this desert some plants already had sprouted (clover & thistle). During ebb a small sandy beach appears along the harbour banks and by jumping up and down you can make quicksand. We climbed a deserted railway-car with broken brakes (the label said it had been inspected just the day before). The refineries are impressive from up close and the chemical smells can be overwhelming. A whole forest of oil-drilling islands is being repaired in one of the shipyards. A steep quay may be climable and I will return there to fish out some of the thick discarded ropes (thick like my arm, should be nice for rope-walking).
Thursday 6 July 2000
NEW : Everything you wanted but never dared to ask for - I try to make up for my long silence
Thursday 22 June 2000
At 20:00 I collected Ben from the train station, picked up Walters at his home (and admired his new cats) and we drove to the metro tunnels. At Heyplaat we made a detour to show Ben the old power station. This was a lucky move. I had visited this site the previous year and then the station was fenced off and there were night-guards at the place. Now all the fences were open. The site had been bought by the demolition-company from next-door. We asked for permission to go inside and we were advised to keep some distance. There had been a lot of asbestos in the building and although everything had been removed you never could know ...
We entered the site anyway and saw a space like a modern cathedral. High, wide, deep and with a lot of pillars. There even were some small stained-glass windows! The last rays of the setting sun shone inside and made the space incredibly romantic. Broken wires were hanging from the walls. Old dials were hanging from the pillars, it looked like several floors had been broken away. Ben found stairs leading to the roof and went up but I preferred to get out quickly. Outside I saw dinosaur-like demolition machines and I discovered two very deep pits, at least 10m, ideally suited for hiding a corpse. One had ladders leading into it, it's a pity I didn't climb down and take some pictures.
We also checked the spot where we climbed the containers last year (8 layers stacked on top of each other, 20m high - my wife was angry when I told her). But the whole place was empty, not a container in sight!
We explored a further part of the Benelux metro-line. It's still under construction. Ben and Walter climbed the fence but I was too lazy (read: scared) and decided to walk the perimeter and to look for a hole. On my way through the brambles I stumbled and cut my arm on rusty nail in the fence. When I found my hole Walter and Ben were cheerily walking the construction site while I was licking my wounds (literally).
We walked down the track and entered the dark tunnel. This tunnel was less interesting, no rails, no nuts and bolts (nice souvenirs!) only rough concrete being poured. We found two emergency exits and stairs halfway but they were locked from the outside. The other end of this tunnel-section was blocked by a steel fence. But Ben found a door with an open padlock, and we entered the new metro-station. The following section of tunnel was well lit and we decided to end the expo, because it was already 22:30. On the way back it was dark and the yellow streetlights created beautiful shadows on the tunnel walls. I have made several spectacular photographs.
Wednesday 14 June 2000
Iris, Ben and me explored the northern part of the Benelux metro-line (under construction). I have an intense fear of being caught, so I was shitting my pants all the time (figuratively).
We climbed through a hole in the fence near Marconiplein. Then we balanced on some beams above a 3-floor drop and reached a temporary staircase. The metro-tunnel was fully lit and traces of building activity were everywhere. Many tempting objects were lying around: helmets, design-drawings and plans, tools. Ben and Iris walked to the end of the tunnel and were watching the metro-passengers in the old station. I was too chicken for that - I was still expecting the guards to catch us. There were many dark rooms and stairs in the tunnel, I suppose that transformers and switches will be installed in them.
We followed the tunnel and walked outside onto the metro viaduct. From there it was an easy and pleasant walk towards the Schism-West station. We passed all the building phases on our way. At first all the metro-tracks were installed. Then the rails disappeared. Then all the screws and insulation layers disappeared. Near Schiedam we had to stop because the concrete floor of the viaduct was not there yet, just the reinforcing steel bars.
But we found another way to enter the new metro station and we climbed into the scaffolding that supports the new roof. This scaffolding was a great three-dimensional grid, three floor high and 200m long. Unfortunately it was raining hard and we were wet and cold. It was nice to sit under the roof and watch the trains enter the station. No one noticed us even though we were taking pictures with the flashlight.
We finished the evening by driving along the reminder of the metro-tunnel and looking for entrances. We found a suitable entry at the other end of Schiedam and Ben and Iris explored it. I stayed in the car because I had been walking in the rain with just one shirt and I was shivering with cold.
This expo was a big success and we intend to walk the whole metro-line some day. It's great to have a lady (Iris) with you who's not afraid of being caught.
Sunday 4 June 2000
The artist Rini Biemans asked me if I was willing to pull a stunt for the annual art market. The idea was to make 2m by 2m clouds out of polyurethane foam and to hang them from the arch of Blaak station. The station is owned by the RET bus-company and the NS national railway company. Rini managed to obtain the permission of the RET but the NS refused. They claimed that we would set a precedent and that everyone would start asking to hang their stuff from their arch - I see the validity of their argument. But it's a pity we didn't get the permission. The arch is so conspicuous that it's impossible to climb it illegally. I even inquired how much it would cost to insure myself for such an installation project. It's not cheap - approximately 75 euro per person.
May 2000 (exact dates forgotten)
* Treeclimbing - I found a few spare moments to climb new species of trees. I tried the 30 y old oak trees along the railway near Terbregge. It was fun feeling the tree sway in the wind. I looked down on the roofs of the trains driving on the embankment but I was sure that no one could see me. I came home covered with green algae from the bark of the tree. I climbed another small oak tree with my son. The branches are thin but very solid.
During a spare moment I climbed one of the plane trees at the back of my apartment building. Very carefully I chose one where the neighbours couldn't see me. At 3d floor height (10m) I lay down on one of the thick branches and watched the canopy. I saw our local --- visiting it's nest. It was very peaceful, now I know how a tiger lying on a branch must feel (look at a random wildlife report in the National Geographic and you will see this pose).
* Pottery in Terbregge - Terbregge is an old rural area along
the river Rotte. A new residential area is being built here and
large areas are covered in heaps of earth, sand dunes and mud.
During a walk with my wife I noticed several fragments of pottery
in one of the heaps. I returned a few days later to investigate.
I found a lot of coloured pottery; pipe-heads, dishes, cups,
bottles and tiles. Also a whole heap of fire-stained red pottery.
And even a jawbone with an impressive 10cm long tooth. So I had
to visit the library to date all this garbage (my wife was not
amused when all this stuff ended up on the kitchen table). My
first results are:
- coloured tiles - approximately 1630
- pipe heads - approximately 1700
- hand painted blue pottery - 1600-1700
- printed coloured pottery - 1850-1900
- red pottery - might be anything between 1600 and 1850.
At first I thought 1630 was pretty old, but then I found that
farm-buildings in the area dates back to even 1588. And the local
windmill dates back to 1670. So it's no big deal. But it was fun
pretending to be the "Time Team" (one of my favourites
on Discovery Channel).
* Martian landscape at the Rivium - The Rivium is a large business-park near Cappelle a/d IJssel. One half is finished. The other half is covered by a 3m high layer of sand with a few irrigation channels. The sand has been covered by a layer of straw to keep it from blowing away and this gives the whole area a surrealistic yellow colour. This Martian landscape covers approximately 2 square km. Because it's such a large flat area you get a great view of the Rotterdam skyline, all the bridges and Capelle. The Willemsbrug and the Euromast are aligned when viewed from here. Other parts of the area are covered in heaps of rubble, wild bushes and marshland. If you lie down between the heaps of earth you don't see any signs of the city and you hear only the wind. You feel like you're on another planet.
Sunday 28 May 2000
NEW : Climbing in abandoned buildings:
Friday 12 May 2000
NEW : Stories, curiosities and bridges:
9 May 2000
London was beautiful but very expensive. It must be a great site for explorations. I was amazed by the old, arched train viaducts (Waterloo st - London bridge st) and the tunnels under them. Great old brickwork, some of it very eroded. Several of the cast iron bridges have a climbable underside, and you wouldn't be noticed once inside the structure. But probably it's only a whole lot of pigeon-shit inside there. Covent Garden metro-station has a fire-strair - it's barred but still accessible - the sign says it has 198 stairs and is equivalent to 15 floors. I assume you could climb it without being caught.
I stayed at the Regent Palace Hotel near Picadilly Circus. Relatively low budget, 9 floors. I was able to find one unlocked door to the attic. An impressive large old room. I have it on video. You can walk in unnoticed, it's very anonymous.
3 May 2000
I got a guided tour in a cable-tunnel under the river. It was impressivebut I've promised not to publish any pictures yet. Yesterday I went on an expo with two other explorers. We found out that the Dintelhaven-brug is hollow, and we were able to walk through it from one side of the water to the other, 192 meters of dark, high, concrete cavity! The other bridge is also hollow and accessible. I immediately thought of your sound installations, the echo is phenomenal.
Walter has injured his elbow and hasn't been able to climb, so I'm pretty inactive in that respect. I got a request to install an artwork on the arch of Blaak station, but the artist has to get permission first. It should be a nice climb with a good view.
5 April 2000
During my interview for Rotterdam City Radio I met a person from the Rotterdam Port Authority. He listened to my exploits and then asked if I knew about the (inaccessible) cable-tunnel under the river. One of his colleagues was the caretaker of this tunnel. Today I called and it may be possible to arrange a legal visit. So the media can be useful sometimes.
Last Sunday I discovered an disused road between railroad and the highway. It's a long, muddy and wild strip 3 km long and 10-20m wide. If you ignore the traffic it's just like a rustic country path. And it's in the city and near industrial terrains. I suppose it survived because it's too long, narrow and noisy to exploit economically. A wonderful place and I'll go back there soon.
I have concentrated on treeclimbing in the recent weekends. I have found a nice sturdy poplar tree 25m high and I dare to climb 18m high (6 floors). The view is wonderful. I had to get used to the wind and the swinging branches. I found out that it get's scary at wind speeds above 5 beaufort. My next plan is to install some more comfortable seating.
Sunday 9 April 2000
NEW : Urban views, Art and the Rotterdam Ring:
Sunday 5 March 2000
NEW : On TV and more German drains:
Thursday 2 March 2000
NEW : The Rotterdam Metro:
Sunday 27 February 2000
Today we've recorded for the TV-programme "man bites dog", it will be aired later this week. Walter and I climbed a harbour-crane and rappeled down to the water-level. While I was hanging from the top, the camera team decided to change positonsand to install a tripod, which left me hanging for what felt like ages, looking down on the roofs of the houses along the quay. Several people were watching from their balconies.
Then Jan van der Meulen gave a beautiful demonstration of aid-climbing, in his own illegal route under the bridge. He even put in a new bolt in the concrete. It was impressive how he stepped from one rope ladder to the next. I had never seen this in real life before.
We finished by climbing the 9 floor high billboard again, but the camera team insisted that they wanted to go up with us. We only had three climbing harnesses for five people, but thanks to Jan's experience we got them up and down safely. He simply improvised harnesses from slings, and we secured them with a top rope while they climbed the long and dangerous ladder.
They finished with a shot from a long distance with us waving from the top of the billboard. Jan had the courage to stand upright on the edge, we just sat on the edge (secured of course). Just as we were descending two police officers came by because someone had reported "seeing three children on top of the billboard". The officers had a good sense of humour and they just smiled at the whole situation.
A wonderful gimmick was a helmet-camera with a fish eye lens, that you put on your head and that showed your face and the background. The recorder was strapped on your back. It made all movements very clumsy, like having a pinokkio-nose and a hunchback. But it made great picures while climbing or rappelling.
It was a well spent day and I'm very curious what they'll make of the final report. We get 4 minutes 10 seconds of air time.
Tuesday 15 February 2000
NEW : Underground, a child's adventures and art:
Sunday 6 & Monday 7 February 2000
Yesterday we climbed the wall of a castle ruin near Dordrecht. It was nice climbing, but we didn't make it to the top. We'll need other equipment, probably skyhooks and etriers (rope ladders). I was almost hit by a piece of falling brick, and I didn't have a helmet on! I have two helmets at home, but we brought only one for the climber and not for the camera men. Stupid, isn't it?
I've got the adventure on video. It's extra fun to film and to re-view your adventure, I can really recomend it. And video-camera's are more light sensitive than film, so dark places loor much better.
There is also a downside of seeing yourself on video. This was the first time I saw myself climb. Compared with the athletic climbing skills of Walter I look like a heavy, clumsy teddy-bear! Not sexy at all!
NEW : A re-revised and updated list of Adventurous Urban Artists is on line.
Sunday 30 January 2000
NEW : A revised and updated list of Adventurous Urban Artists is on line. Not all the pictures are posted yet. I'm doing my best to obtain permission to use all the pictures. But it should be interesting to read, even without all the illustrations.
Snday 23 January 2000
In my project to explore all the sights of the Rotterdam Ring I've visited the Vaanplein this weekend. It's a perfect site on the border between city and country. A sharp boundary is drawn by the railway. Only one freight train passes by each hour. A large viaduct crosses the railway and gives access to a semi-wild park on the other side. Strange lonely men walk there. A great site for rappelling. It's being used as a graffiti exercise spot, I saw a lot of nice pieces. I was looking for two railway crossings that existed on the map, but not in reality. I was told that the crossings were closed after some children were run over by a train. That explained the remains of several bunches of flowers taped to a fence next to the railway. A sad sight.
I left two of my adventure-flyers under the viaduct. The highway-crossing itself proved to be inaccessible. It's diamond shaped and every side of the diamond is formed by a busy highway. There are no tunnels nor bridges. I don't think it would be wise to cross a highway to reach the centre. I've read about several people being killed this way.
On the way home I stumbled into the building site of the high speed train. I hesitated too long on a road-crossing and when people started honking behind me I drove straight on into the building site. Some worker's shacks were lighted but most of the site was dark. Diesel aggregates were humming below the dyke. Pumps were doing their thing. In the dark I saw a tunnel construction down below. I walked the dyke until I reached a railway viaduct under constructions, no rails yet, only concrete and gravel. Large machinery all around. A wonderful sight of the far-away Rotterdam skyline. I had to turn back because I had stepped out of my car without coat, shawl and cap and I was freezing. I hadn't expected such a nice result. I'll return next week and I'll bring my video camera with "Nightshot".
Sunday 23 January 2000
NEW : The update again contains pictures and stories I've received from readers. Thanks again!
I'm making plans to climb the "Hef" railroad bridge. I read about plans to light this bridge at night, so this may be the last chance. The idea is to make a rope ladder and to use that to climb under the fence that blocks the entry. From there it's easy, catwalks and stairs up 60m. My only worry are possible infrared-detectors, but would they put them on an unused, old railway bridge? It's only kept as a monument. Oh, how I would like to team up with some young, fearless infiltrators who are not afraid to get caught ...
The Rotterdam-video version2 is ready. 120 minutes of city-views, strange places, car-drives etc. I'll have it converted and then I'll send a copy to the US.
An article about Urban exploration has appeared in the magazine of the "Ben Telephone Company". I provided most the text. All the underground pictures were provided by "Lezard Paint" from Paris (he's on the webring). It was a sympathetic article. I was struck by a quote of Lezard Peint: "I have keys. Everyone can be bribed" --- That's a novel way to get inside!
I have spent a lot of time studying the map of Rotterdam and looking for good places to explore. Recently I've found a (facsimile) map of Rotterdam from 1611. Many streets and places still exist today. It's fun to compare the two. Have you ever considered putting a dot on a map and then visiting the spot? I've been driving streetcars and bus-lines at random so I would see unknown parts of Rotterdam.
And please read the new entries for 8 January and 19, 20 December, below.
Friday 14 January 2000
NEW : The update contains 100% stuff I've received from readers. Thanks! Keep writing please :
Sunday (?) 8 January 2000
Today I'm very frustrated. Many of my favorite places are being torn down or renovated:
They're ruining my private and favorite city spots. And where will I find new deserted buildings?
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© 2000 Petr Kazil