21/08/2002: 

So long, Netherlands!

I said good-bye to the Netherlands on 17 August. Time had come for me to leave; my work in Rotterdam was finished, my job was done. It was not a “farewell”; only a “so long”. In about a month’s time, I’ll return to get my plane back to Brazil.

I visited Amsterdam, my favourite Dutch city, one day before leaving. I seized a hot and sunny Friday to visit the Vincent van Gogh museum and to buy some gifts for my family. There couldn’t have been a better way to say good-bye to Holland… ever since I arrived, I had wanted to visit van Gogh’s museum. I’ve loved the intense colour paintings of this Dutch artist from my childhood, and he has always impressed me. His work features living colours, strong outlines and free lines in harmony with rather special shapes. Most of his paintings portrait the bucolic landscapes of the Dutch and French 19^th century countrysides. Van Gogh was not a revolutionary. It was his soul that made him an innovator. It was necessary to search for new shapes and views of a peasant life that had been unknown. Standing before his original works was very exciting for me, who have always admired him, let alone being able to learn the history of his life.

I spent my last moments in Amsterdam, and, most likely, my last moments in Holland as well, wandering around some channels distant from the city centre. I looked attentively at those streets and those people I was not to see anymore, as though it were the first time I was there. The noises of this city were unusual, without the hum of cars and horns, with no pollution. You can only hear the sound of the bicycles, the clattering of glasses at the pubs, the sound of the ships across the channels. It was a beautiful day to contemplate the contours of some old and bent narrow buildings with such different façades. Once you get closer to the city centre, you feel the liveliness of the colourful buildings, street artists and souvenir shops, which reflect a little of the liberal Amsterdam the tourists most often picture.

On the journey back to Rotterdam I recollected the three months I spent in the Netherlands and everything that fascinated in this land. I identified what I liked the most… the Amsterdam channels, its old buildings and the street artists. The silent sounds of the Dutch cities, where you can hear noises coming from inside the houses. The tasty Dutch beer and the dark pubs, their doors open since morning. I loved the Rotterdam Old Harbour - where you find the cubic houses -, its channels and pubs, the Erasmus Bridge, the design of the Luxor Theatre, the Delfshaven. I loved the mills by the roads, the green pasture farms and their dappled cows, the rosy sunset at Krelingen Park in Rotterdam. I loved riding a bike, even after having had an accident! And, of course, I loved the Dutch flowers and the nosegays carried everywhere, the odd dijks and channels that make the Netherlands below sea level. I loved their accent when speaking English. I loved finding out a different city each weekend and realising, or not, its unique features. I just can’t forget the delicious “stroopwafles” – I’m going to miss them! The cute flowered balconies, Dizzy playing live jazz on Tuesday, and the German supermarket “Alde”, always the cheapest option.

There are many memories and pictures in my mind. I’m trying to keep them with me in form of photographs, texts, and the friends I made and left there. However, the end may be just the beginning. When I left Rotterdam on Sunday, before dawn, a new journey was about to begin, more intense and challenging. I’ll be travelling around five Old Continent countries for about a month. From Madrid to Zurich, from Rome to Berlin, I’ll be visiting France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. And my first destination couldn’t be more exciting… Paris!