Dordrecht (bilingual and bicoloured post) 1/2

Sambata am batut strazile orasului Dordrecht, unul dintre cele mai vechi orase olandeze.
Imediat am dat de aceasta imagine tipic olandeza. In multe orase olandeze pe unde am fost in weekend am intalnit o flasneta care insufleteste atmosfera stradala. Ritmul este batut de o persoana care cere o contributie din partea trecatorilor, avand o cana metalica cu capac, in care se afla monede, pe care o scutura.

Last Saturday we walked the streets of Dordrecht, one of the oldest Dutch towns.
Immediatley we found this typical Dutch image. In many Dutch towns we have visited on weekends we have met street organs which animate the streets. A person belonging to the the “show” carries a metal cup with a lid, holding a few coins, and shakes it in the rhythm of the music, trying to make the people passing by contribute with some more coins.

Cum era ora pranzului, ne-am indreptat spre o cafenea ca sa mancam ceva.
Am gasit, am intrat si ne-am minunat. Cafeneaua era plina ochi, dar mai era si veche si frumoasa.

As it was lunch time, we looked for a café. We found one, we entered and were amazed. Not only was it crowded, but it was also beautiful and old.

Dupa un Waldkorn (paine neagra) cu branza de capra calda si miere pe deasupra, iar pentru Jack doua kroketten de vitel pe paine, am avut ochi si pentru ceea ce se intampla afara, pe trotuarul opus celui cu cafeneaua: grupuri de turisti se opreau rand pe rand sa admire si fotografieze cladirea in care ne aflam.
La iesire, am facut si noi la fel, dupa ce mai intai am citit placuta aceasta:

After a Waldkorn (type of brown bread) with warm goat cheese topped with honey and for Jack two veal kroketten on bread, we finally had eyes for what was happening outside, on the sidewalk across the street from the café: groups of tourists were stopping to admire and take pictures of the building we were sitting in. 
When we left, we did the same, after first reading this:

Numele cladirii este Crimpert Salm, a fost construita in 1608 si are una dintre cele mai frumoase fatade renascentiste din oras. A adapostit breasla cumparatorilor de peste, iar numele are a face cu loviturile care se dadeau somonilor prin care deveneau mai rozalii si mai atragatori pentru cumparatori.

The name of the building is Crimpert Salm, it was built in 1608 and it has one of the most beautiful Renaissance facades in town. It used to be the home of the fish buyers’ guild and the name suggests the blows given to the salmons to make them more pink and thus more attractive for the buyers.

Vedeti si o poza veche a cladirii pe site-ul cafenelei (textul este din pacate numai in olandeza).

Am facut o oprire la una dintre librariile noastre preferate, van der Leer, unde mi-am facut un stoc de felicitari, am gasit unele retro carora nu le-am putut rezista, pana si plicurile sunt frumoase, mai jos o poza cu cateva dintre ele.

See also an older picture of the building on the café’s site (the text is unfortunately only in Dutch).

We stopped at one of our favourite book stores, van der Leer, where I stocked up on cards, I found some retro looking ones and couldn’t resist them, even the envelopes are beautiful. Here are only some of them:

Asa am ajuns la statuia pictorului romantic nascut in Dordrecht Ary Scheffer, in piata care ii poarta numele.

And so we arrived at the statue of the romantic painter who was born in Dordrecht, Ary Scheffer, on the Scheffer square.

In Olanda, cu cat sunt mai batrane orasele, cu atat sunt mai multe case inclinate, iar unele si foarte inguste. Poate de asta turnul din Pisa nu a facut prea mare impresie asupra noastra, ba la un moment dat ne intrebam daca nu e o liuzie optica 🙂

Un exemplu, scuze pentru stalp, vedeti aici, cafeneaua pare impinsa spre dreapta de catre magazinul V&D:

In the Netherlands, the older the towns, the more askew the houses, and some of them also very narrow. Maybe that’s why we were not that impressed by the tower of Pisa and we were even thinking at some point that it might be an optical illusion 🙂

One example, sorry for the lamppost, can be seen here, the café seems to be pushed to the right by the V&D store:

Parasind piata, am zarit pe o strada laterala aceasta reclama murala la un restaurant care serveste clatite si poffertjes (un fel de mini clatite, care se mananca cu zahar pudra). Sper sa fie o reclama veche, asa cum si arata:

We left the square and saw on a side street this mural advertising for a restaurant serving pancakes and poffertjes (a sort of mini pancakes eaten with powdered sugar). I hope the mural is as old as it looks:

Sambata in centrul multor orase olandeze se organizeaza piete stradale. In Dordrecht mi s-a parut chiar mai mare decat in alte orase, rasfirata pe mai multe strazi. Nelipsite din piete sunt standurile cu peste sau cele cu cartofi prajiti.

On Saturdays the centers of many Dutch towns host street markets. The one in Dordrecht seemed even bigger than other ones, spread on several streets. Always to be found on a market: a fish vendor, here also accompanied by one selling fries.

La parasirea pietei am dat peste aceeasi flasneta, se pare ca am avut un traseu comun:

When leaving the market we found the same street organ as earlier, it appears we had a common itinerary:

Partea a doua din “Dordrecht” va urma peste cateva zile.

The second part of “Dordrecht” will follow in a few days,