Dordrecht, ISU, and AirBNB

Get set, this will be a long one.

Back in November I had found out about a World Cup Short Track Speed Skating event that was happening in my own city. I was curious about it so looked into getting tickets, they were not expensive at all, so I ended up going and had a great time.

After that event there were two more, in Japan and China, and then a break, and then two more, in Dresden and Dordrecht.

I was curious to see how much it would cost to go to either of the Dresden or Dordrecht events and it seemed like I could swing it for around 1200$, which includes the air travel, train travel, AirBNB, event tickets and food. It turned out that both flights and AirBNB worked out better for Dordrecht, so that is where I went.

I arrived in Amsterdam the morning of Thursday, Feb 13, and took a train from Schipohl to Amsterdam Centraal station where I hooked up with a co-worker of mine who works out of Amsterdam. We spent the morning walking around the area of the station, stopped at a breakfast place to have pancakes and had some good conversation. Sadly, I had intended to take a photo of the two of us, but that didn't happen. It could be that the constant rain that was falling distracted me from taking out my mobile device.

I took the train back to the airport and saw this:

NL's commuter trains go faster than the commuter trains in my city.

I had pre-purchased a rail ticket to take me from the Airport direct to Dordrecht, however, the train I got on stopped at Den Haag (The Hague). Once it stopped and stayed stopped it became clear to me that I had to get off and find a different train that would take me to Dordrecht. I spoke with an agent who was wandering on the platform, had to wait about 25 minutes, and then the train came and we departed ten minutes later. This train stopped at many interim smaller stops between Den Haag and Dordrecht, but in the end I got there.

Prior to having left home, I had committed to memory the route to get from the train station to the AirBNB apartment, it wasn't particularly complicated. Take the street that is perpendicular to the station and walk to Singel street, turn right and look for #156. I met with the AirBNB host, she introduced me to her home, showed me my room and let me know about the place. I showered and shaved and then headed out for a walk around Dordrecht Centruum. Below are just a few of the photos I took while on this walk.

I had researched a number of different restaurants that I would try out, and on this first night I decided to go to 't Bevertje.

I wasn't certain how much English would be spoken outside of Amsterdam, so with a little trepidation, this was the first restaurant I went to on this trip. There were three waitstaff, one of which was comfortable and confident to speak English, the other two could manage. I ordered the beef liver with fried apples and longonberries, it came with a side order of potatoes. The main meal had a wide variety of vegetables mixed in with the fried apples, it was delicious. I should have refused the fries as the main meal was more than enough.

Though the resto was mostly full after I got there, it wasn't super noisy, so it was fairly easy to hold a conversation. The staff were very attentive, friendly and helpful. As a solo traveler it was very easy here as I could just sit at the bar.

After that I walked back to the AirBNB putzed around on my phone for a bit and then went to sleep.

The next day I walked a lot. There is a spot called Kinderdijk (pronounced Kinder-dyke) that is a Unesco World Heritage site. I got to see lots of windmills. It may have been possible to take a Waterbus from Dordrecht to Kinderdijk, however, the route requires a switch at Ridderdijk, and the Waterbus from Ridderdijk to Kinderdijk only runs from May to October, so it wasn't available to me. So I decided to walk there and back (12km each way).

NL has an interesting way to show on town entry and exit signs what is the name of the town you are entering, and what is the name of the town you are exiting:

Alblasserdam was one of the towns I walked through to get to Kinderdijk (the other was Papendrecht). As I got closer to Kinderdijk I could start to make out the windmills:

And then I could get close to one:

I found a bench were I stopped to eat a croissant and a banana that I had brought with me. This was the first time I sat down since having left the AirBNB, some 2.5 hours earlier. Then I walked around a little and found these two signs:

I paid 11 euro to go inside one, learned about the family that lived there and took care of it all. This is how I could get so close to this one:

I wandered around a little bit more and then headed back to Dordrecht. Took the Waterbus from Papendrecht (both directions).

I was going to go to the Strada del Vino resto for supper that night, but it only opened at 17h, so I found that Finn's was open, so I went in there and had a couple of whiskeys.

At about 16h54 I paid up for my drinks and headed over to Strada del Vino. When I got there the resto was pretty quiet, as it had just opened, so I mentioned to the person at the front that it was just me, and she put me at a table at the window which is quite separate from the rest of the resto.
In this first photo there is a person at the bar, it turns out she was waiting for a four-pizza take away order. You can see that all of the tables are empty.

Turning just slightly towards my left, you can see that there is a bar at this place, but it was very narrow and not particularly amenable to sitting to eat.

I order the ravioli with ricotta and spinach and also had a dessert of cannoli and ice cream. It was all very good. This was the only time throughout this trip that I took a dessert.

As people were coming in, it seemed to be that everyone had a reservation, so clearly this is an in-demand resto and is perhaps why I got the feeling that having just showed up like I did was not as warmly accepted as it could have been. I had been told that I had to leave by 19h; which was fine with me. Within about half an hour of arriving, all of the tables had filled up:

After the two whiskys and the two glasses of wine at Strada Del Vino I was a little foggy about where I was and how to get back to the AirBNB, but I eventually found my way there.

The next day, Saturday, was the first day of competition so I walked to the arena where it would take place. Along the walk (and in other places in Dordrecht that I had noticed this before), the owners of the homes have directed their trees to grow in a very specific pattern:

I'm curious what these would look like in the summer when they have leaves.

To get to the arena I had to pass through the campus of Da Vinci College, which had this rather unique bus shelter:

I had different seats for the two days of competition, neither of them were particularly good. On Saturday, for example, a significant part of the track was blocked by the camera work people:

Still, I could see most of the track:

None of the photos I took of the skaters in action came out very well. It makes me think that if I'm going to continue going to events like these I ought to get a better camera with the ability to take high speed photos.
During an 'ice break' (when they stop temporarily competition so the Zamboni can resurface the ice) I took a walk and photographed these three:

The only other one I would have liked to have had was one of Kristen Santos (USA). These four are major skaters in the competition that I have been following pretty closely.
After the event on Saturday, I walked back and grabbed a burger, fries and Coke from Snacky Dordrecht. There are a few of these in the city, a really small place that serves a really large number of items.

I took the food back to the AirBNB and ate at the dining room table there.

Sunday, while I could technically see more of the ice surface, I was further away so everything was smaller:

On both Saturday and Sunday they had a morning program that was not very well attended for repechage races. I went to the morning program on both days, and on Sunday I decided to move closer for a couple of the races to see what it would have been like had I spent the money on better seats.

Doing this made me figure that if I'm going to go away to an event like this in the future, I'm going to spend more on tickets to get better seats. At least this way I may be more visible to my Canadian skaters whom I'm there to support.

Of all of the races, this 5000m men's final was the one that got the crowd going the most, it was such an exciting race as it drew to a close, I'm including it here (11:09):


That evening I went to Ferdinands, a French resto right across the street from my AirBNB. Again, they opened at 17h and I was the first one in, the waitress/hostess was very friendly and we chatted a bit. She mentioned that cod was the fish of the day, and I said that I can get cod anywhere, but in a French restaurant I can get duck which I can't really get hardly anywhere else, so she asked me if I wanted breast or leg and I took leg.

It was all really good, and it surprised me that my meal also came with fries; this also happened with my meal at 't Bevertje. In neither case did having the fries really be necessary; the meal itself was filling enough. Here are a few more photos of the resto:

About 15 minutes after I had arrived, and perhaps two minutes after my food arrived, this other older couple came into the restaurant and sat at the bar right next to me and we started talking. They were very friendly. As other customers came in, so too did a young woman who was the other of the waitstaff in the resto.

Monday I took the train back to the airport and this time made sure that it was the right one:

The above was taken from within the train, but it clearly shows that Schipohl Airport was on the route.
I was curious to know if the Canadian skate team would show up at the airport on this flight, since the team is based in my city, and about 80 minutes before our scheduled departure time, first the five women of the team showed up, and then a few minutes later the five men. The women sat in a section across the concourse and were separated from us while the men sat a few seat blocks away from me.
Part of me want to go and congratulate them on the skating they had done over the event, to say how proud I was of them, and to wish them the best of success in Korea next month where the World Championship will take place. But the larger part of me didn't want to do this as who am I to them? Just some stranger. So I elected to let things happen to chance, if, queued up for boarding, or if, within the aircraft, or if, queued up at customs back home, if at any of these times I managed to encounter any of them I would chat with them then. But none of this happened.

Here's the plane we took:

It was still being loaded with food at the time of this picture. There was a delay in our departing due to a parts issue, but we did end up leaving.
About an hour before we landed they gave us a parting snack, a cute little pizza:

On the bus ride home from the airport I decided to message Court on Insta (Courtney Lee Sarault, one of the women on the skating team that I follow on Insta) to say that I had been in Dordrecht to watch them and saw them at the airport but didn't want to disturb them. But that I did want to congratulate them on their performance, say how proud I was, and to wish them the best in Korea, and finally, personally to her, that she get a good night of rest.

I haven't received a response, but that's okay, I didn't really expect one.

I was fortunate this season that the World Cup came to my city; next season it isn't likely this will happen again. Given this, if I am to go and see them race, I will definitely have to travel, so I may only get to see them at their race one time. If I do go, I'll be sure to get the best seat possible. And maybe, just maybe, between then and now I'll get a camera that can do high speed photos, and maybe also a telephoto lens.