Luxembourg Light Nights

If you are in Luxembourg this time of year, you probably know that the Christmas Markets are open and that at least the centre is filled with lights and the Holiday Season is in full swing.

Well, on top of that all for three days, starting today, if you happen to be in the city centre you can watch the Luxembourg Light Nights.

For the second year the light and sound show will introduce you into the Holiday spirit, but also into Luxembourg's history. Using video mapping, the organisers will project on emblematic buildings in the city centre short films and video effects.

For this year, the second one, the organisers extended the area where the videos are projected, so you can watch their masterpieces on Cite Judiciaire as last year, but also on the Grand Ducal Palace and National Library.

I recomand you to buy a glühwein from one of the markets and then walk from one location to another, I think that is what I will do.

I happened to be in the centre yesterday when they were making some last checks and from what I saw it is going to be great. More info on Facebook.

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Raluca

10 reasons to visit Rotterdam from Luxembourg

When I first made the reservations for Rotterdam, I imagined it as an maritime/industrial city with not so many things to see or do. In that spirit I put in our city-break schedule a visit to another small city in the area, Delft or Gouda for the second day. 

Oh how was I wrong! Definitely one weekend is not enough and I wanted to stay more, but it's just three hours away from Luxembourg so I might just pop in someday in the future. In that line of thought, I will list here on the blog the reasons why you shouldn't think like I thought and go and visit Rotterdam, even for a weekend.

Old and new architecture

Being almost wiped out during the WWII, Rotterdam has an amazing mix of old and new architecture. You walk the streets and all of a sudden between skyscrapers you see a little gem. I have to admit, I am not a fan of tall buildings made out of steel and windows, but in Rotterdam it didn't bother me. We had the misfortune of an all day rain, so I thought that the buildings combined with the rain will look dull, but they didn't.

White House, the first skyscraper in Europe

Loads of things to do

You can visit the city, like we did, or you can go to Rotterdam with a purpose (for me would be to check the English/Irish stores such as TK Maxx and Primark), no matter why you go there, you will find many things to do. Coming from Luxembourg, where at 4 p.m. everyone is in bed, Rotterdam bursts with life. You see people on the streets, stores are open till late at night and the pubs are lively. You can visit a museum if that is of your liking, you can just walk the streets or you can go to a pop up live concert. We found one in a church, we almost went to, but we had limited time and we preferred to roam the streets a little and look at the buildings. Do you believe that in 1900 in Rotterdam the first sky scraper in Europe was build? It has only 10 storeys high and I find it lovely.

Rotterdam's Market Hall

The most amazing food market

I've read about it on my little documentation before leaving for Rotterdam, but it wasn't included in my plans. At best we would pass it and take a few pictures, because indeed the architecture is amazing. Imagine a normal food market surrounded with apartments. You can't, right? Well, it exists in Rotterdam and we visited it and we spent an entire evening there, eating and buying food and treats. If you look closely at the picture you see those windows high on the ceiling, they are the windows of the apartments.

This is how it looks from the outside. The covered market is in a central and green area of Rotterdam and you can't miss it if you visit the White House or the Cube Houses. Only for that market and I will definitely come back to Rotterdam.

Rotterdam Port

Marvel at Nederlands Engineering in the Harbour and visit the Maritime Museum

When I documented Rotterdam, I found out that you can take a cruise around the harbour and visit the flood protection gates, out in the sea. It's not an activity that I would favour, but after watching a 5 minutes YouTube video of the cruise, I realised that there are people interested in that. If you are, I am sure that the Tourist Information Offices around the city can tell you all you want to know. We only saw parts of the harbour (the largest port in Europe) as we walked and also our hotel was in the harbour area facing the water.

Delfshaven

Quiet, cosy, old neighbourhood

If you go to Rotterdam you mustn't miss the Delfshaven, an old neighbourhood which is a separate municipality. You can walk from the city centre, but I wouldn't recommend it. We took the metro from the Covered Market and arrived in the area within 10 minutes. More information about transport and prices are at the end of this article. As you can see, we arrived in Delfshaven when it was dark already, but I can only imagine how nice it must have been on a sunny day. Nevertheless, we could see the little buildings and walk towards the mill and went into a local pub and tasted some local beers.

Cube Houses

Smell the sea

I have to say that I mostly go to Nederlands to smell the sea air. I miss Ireland so much and my neighbourhood by the sea, that every time I go to Nederlands I expect it to be like Ireland. Well, it isn't, but that doesn't spoil my desire to visit every little town in Nederlands by the sea. I told you about the mix of architecture and about the incredible engineers that live in Nederlands, but I cannot say it enough. You see, the Cube Houses are just that, cubes. They stretch across a busy highway and I simply couldn't find a right angle to photograph them. You can also visit one of them and see for yourself how people manage to live in the Cube Houses, but for me just seeing them was enough.

Stores open on Sunday

I had no intention of going to my favourite stores (TK Maxx and Primark), but when I found out that they are opened on Sunday I had to give it a try. I only went to TK Maxx and I have to say that I almost didn't buy anything. I am so hooked with the way the store is supposed to look (like in Dublin or Saarbrucken) that if it looks in another way I can't find my way around it. Rotterdam's TK Maxx is smaller and is crowded, but it exists. Because I so got used to the stores being closed on Sundays, I didn't even imagine it any other way and so close to Luxembourg, too.

Rotterdam Railway Station

Fairly close to Luxembourg

In a little more than three hours we made the journey from Luxembourg to Rotterdam, by car. You can pass through Belgium and I found out that similar to Liege-Maastricht, Rotterdam is very close to Antwerp. In the image above is the Railway Station, which reminds me of a cosy little railway station in Predeal, Romania. I didn't check it, but I am sure that you can go to Rotterdam, from Luxembourg, by train, too.

Luna in Rotterdam

Dog friendly city

Rotterdam is a dog friendly city. Luna was in her element there and she was allowed anywhere, even inside the Covered Market and inside stores and pubs. It is amazing! Also we didn't pay anything for her when we used the public transport and I read it on their website, that dogs also go for free in the Water Taxi. So Rotterdam is definitely a city you can visit with your furry friend.

Vibrant night life

I know in the picture is a Belgian beer, but I couldn't help it. Kriek is one of my favourite beers which I was lucky to find in Rotterdam. About the night life, I've already told you that Rotterdam is a lively city, but we happened to be in the Cool District during the evening. I think it is very close to the Museum District and the centre. I spotted some really nice pubs, bars and restaurants, some cosy art galleries and art stores. The shops were opened until 8 p.m. or even later and the whole atmosphere of the district was a nice one.



Prices and other tips

When I booked a room in Rotterdam, I discovered that the prices for rooms are higher than what I am used to. We payed a little over 100 euro per night, with the dog tax included. For me, that is expensive. Indeed, we choose a very chic hotel, but it was advertised as "every room has a water view", but I guess we choose the short straw and we got a room with a parking view. For just one night it wasn't such a big deal, but we did pay the same price and we couldn't admire the passing of ships in and out of the harbour, as advertised. If you are keen to find out the name of the hotel, email me and I will give it to you.
Also I thought that the public transportation was a little pricey, 2 euros and something for 90 minutes trip. Later I found out that I could have bought a day ticket and saved some money. So if you are in our situation, buy the day ticket. I don't know how much it costs, but you can find everything online.
Coming form Luxembourg, the prices of food and drinks were reasonable, but you have variety. If you are not a picky person, go to the food market and you can eat whatever your heart desires.
Of course, this is a very personal and at the same time subjective blog post. Take it as it is. I was not impressed by the Erasmus Bridge, because the Lira Bridge in Dublin is even more beautiful, also I am not into high altitude restaurants or viewing points, that is why you will not find on this post anything about Euromast Tower.

Did you discover anything else in Rotterdam that I might have missed? If so, please message me on my Facebook page: a Romanian in Luxembourg.
Raluca

Pop Art Exposition - A good reason to visit Arlon, Belgium

I don't know how many of you know where Arlon is, judging by the fact that every time I have to explain to people that Arlon is in Belgium and not in Luxembourg, but for those of you who went to Arlon for Maitrank or for the Carnival here is another good reason to revisit. The Palace in the city centre is organising these fabulous exhibitions of well known artists. I know in the past they had Chagall's paintings and now they have art works of Andy Harhol and Roy Lichtenstein, in an exhibition called Pop Art. More details about it, here.

Since the exhibition has some weird opening hours (Tuesday to Sunday from 2 p.m. till 6 p.m.) we only now got a chance to visit it, but you still have time, because it is opened till February, 26th.

I took only a few pictures so I won't spoil the joy of visiting the exhibition by yourselves. 

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Raluca

Luxembourg - Romanian movies at CinEast Film Festival in Luxembourg

CinEast Film Festival stands for Central and Eastern European Film Festival and takes place every year in Luxembourg. Since we live here I had the opportunity to watch Romanian movies, some of them not even premiered in Romania.
This year at the festival there were five Romanian movies and I have to say that I missed just one. I am proud of myself :). I went to see, Dogs, Illegitimate, The miracle of Tekir and Two lottery tickets and I have to say that the last one was my favourite.
Two lottery tickets is a remake after a very famous Romanian short story written by I.L. Caragiale, but this remake somehow brings the story into this time without damaging the essence. I liked everything about the movie and it is a breve of fresh air in the Romanian movie world. I've read somewhere that the movie was made with little money and that all the actors in the movie played for free. The little money were spend on post-editing. This is indeed good news and Two lottery tickets is at the same level as many other Romanian movies, if not even better.
Two lottery tickets is a comedy, that should be said form the beginning, and the actors are all known and admired in Romania. One of them, Dragos Bucur, is playing the lead role also in Dogs, but that part is totally different. Dogs in more of a drama and although I wanted to know more about the subject I left the cinema disappointed. For sure we could make better movies and we have better movies in our filmography.
Another movie I did not get was Illegitimate. I liked the actors and I discovered with this occasion some very good young Romanian actors, but the movie was plane. It didn't move me, but that is just my opinion.
The miracle of Tekir is a very heavy movie. I would really like to talk with someone who isn't Romanian and who has seen the movie to know what they understood from it. I could relate to it because I am Romanian, but I don't know what a Luxembourger would understand. Actually I don'e even think that a single Luxembourger went to that movie.
This brings me to one of my problems with the festival. There is a circle that has to be solved before the next edition of the festival. Too few Romanian came to see the Romanian movies, the organisers say that the events outside the festival are few for Romanian because Romanians are not interested in the festival, but Romanians are not interested because they feel that they are not represented in the festival. I went to a Polish movie and the audience was even sitting even on the stairs. This did not happen at the Romanian movies.
Also, not even a single Romanian known actor came to represent the movies, compared to Poland and Czech Republic who had actors and directors and events especially for their communities here in Luxembourg. I am just wondering why?
I think a possible explanation is that there is no Romanian among the organisers or if there is it is not a vocal one. I give all my appreciation for the selection of Romanian movies, but I feel that we need more. We need events which target Romanian expats, because I feel that the Romanian community here in Luxembourg is as big as the Polish one or Czech or other Eastern European one.
Overall it was a good festival. I can't wait for the one next year!

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Raluca

Walk around Luxembourg

Do you remember the time I walked around Dubrovnik? If not, follow this link. I really liked that, and yesterday I found out that I could do the same thing in Luxembourg. Turns out that every time we walked on the Corniche we only did half of the tour. Yesterday was the big day when we found the other half and I have to tell you it was great. Here are the pictures to prove it.

As usual click on the picture and it will enlarge. 

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Raluca

Luxembourg - Stop-frame animation - "We call it IE"

I made this movie in a digital storytelling summer school organised by the coordinators of my master, in September 2016. 

I was asked to bring an object, that has a special meaning for me and then in one week to create a short (3 minutes) movie about it using stop-frame animation. Easier said than done, because prior to that week I've never worked with stop-frame animation. It was a good thing though, because it forced me to get out of my comfort zone and do something new, for me.

Of course I choose a Romanian Blouse, what better object? I have to say that since then I had a ton of ideas about other movies using stop-frame animation and a Romanian blouse, or several, and I hope that some day I will actually get to do them. But until that time, this movie has to do. It is not a masterpiece, but you have to bear in mind that it is a movie done in one week, or even less.

If you never worked with stop-frame animation, you might say that it's not a big deal, but it is time consuming. Just to give you an example, the short piece with a Romanian Blouse, it was done in a little over two hours. So two hours for ten seconds of movie or even less. Never mind, the placing of lights, the preparation, the pieces left out because of a shade, the mistakes and the starting over, the final piece you see in the movie is the best that I could do in that condition.

I know it's not that good, but for me it's great!

I intend to use more and more videos in my blog, so be prepared for other stop-frame animation in the future.

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Raluca

If you are interested in stop-frame animation I can give you some tips. I want to mention here that we were trained by Salmagundi Films team, from London. 

Polonia - Cracovia - Muzeul Etnografic

Dragilor,

eu am ajuns la Muzeul Etnografic din Cracovia după ce m-am plâns unui coleg din tabără de ce mi s-a întâmplat în Varșovia (aici). Eram într-un pub după o vizită în cartierul evreiesc și pentru că era a doua seară de tabără (eu îi tot zic tabără, dar a fost o școală de vară de fapt, tot un fel de tabără, doar că și cu seminarii și ateliere și de data aceasta am fost în tabără ca profesor și nu ca elev) ne cunoșteam între noi. Și despre ce să vorbesc eu dacă nu despre ii (unul din subiectele prezentării mele) și pentru că vorbeam cu un polonez, i-am zis de Varșovia. Și polonezul, de loc din Cracovia, mă întreabă dacă am văzut muzeul etnografic din Cracovia. Habar nu aveam că există. Ba pentru că și el era profesor și organizase niște seminarii la muzeu, cunoștea pe cineva și s-a oferit să îmi intermedieze un semi tur privat.

Așa că nu doar am vizitat muzeul, dar am avut în permanență pe cineva care mi-a răspuns la toate întrebările și mi-a explicat tot ce se poate despre toate exponatele, mai ales despre costume. Am și ieșit la o ciocolată caldă după vizită și am continuat să vorbim, mi-a arătat cărți (am și cumpărat una), mi-a zis de lucrări academice (desigur în poloneză) pe tema costumelor populare. Ce mai, a fost o după-amiază foarte faină, după care am rămas cu impresia că am acumulat o grămadă de cunoștințe. 

Clar, a fost o vizită în spectrul opus celei din Varșovia. 

Muzeul, că despre el vorbeam, este unul micuț în comparație cu celelalte din Cracovia, este și un pic mai ferit (adică nu e chiar în centru) și se ajunge la el cu mijloacele de transport în comun (ocazie cu care m-am bucurat că am reușit să îmi iau eu bilet, singură, din autobuz). 

De cum intri în muzeu te întâmpină niște vitrine din sticlă (chiar în zona de unde se iau bilete), cu jucării și alte obiecte mici de lut. Aceasta e prima vitrină pe care am văzut-o eu și conține și o mică broască țestoasă. Semn că vizita avea să fie una bună. 

Un blidar

Muzeul are două etaje, la primul etaj, parter, sunt reproduse bucăți din casele poloneze și se prezintă viața țăranului polonez, iar la etaj e expoziția de costume și diverse expoziții temporare. 

Sală de clasă 

Cuptor de oale 

Vitrine cu costume populare 

În vitrine erau costume grupate după regiunile de proveniență. În cele mai multe erau atât portul femeiesc cât și cel bărbătesc. Ghidul meu mi-a povestit că cele mai multe costume au ajuns în muzeu din donații, dar că sunt și piese care au fost cumpărate de muzeu. Am aflat că și costumul popular polonez a fost influențat de clima și că cele mai multe costume conțin și haine de iarnă peste cămăși, de aceea unele cămăși nu sunt foarte vizibile, dar s-a încercat păstrarea tuturor pieselor de costul împreună.

Mi s-a explicat că polonezii nu își brodau cămășile așa cumo o făceau românii sau ucrainienii, dar că totuși și cămășile lor sunt oarecum brodate. De obicei se folosea roșul pentru broderii.

Broderie cu mărgele de pe o vestă 

Și pe cămășile poloneze broderia era prezentă pe mâneci pentru că de cele mai multe ori doar mânecile erau cele care se vedeau din bundițe. Pentru funcționalitate, țăranii polonezi au renunțat la un moment dat să își mai brodeze cămășile și au apărut manșete brodate ce se puneau peste cămașa de lucru și în acest fel cămașa de lucru devenea una de sărbătoare.

Pantaloni ce seamănă cu cei românești

Mi-a plăcut vizita la muzeul din Cracovia și mi-a redat speranța, mai mult pentru ei decât pentru mine. Și ghidul de aici zicea că muzeul nu e foarte vizitat, dar că se salvează închiriind spații pentru diferite evenimente și au parteneriate cu universitatea de arte. Chiar în acea seară urma să aibă loc un dineu și se pregăteau intens pentru asta.

Așa cum v-am spus am vorbit mult pe tema folclorului și asemănărilor dintre România și Polonia. Și să știți că sunt multe asemănări. Mi-ar fi părut rău să nu ajung la acel muzeu.

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Raluca