A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
043: Groningen Centraal Station
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
groningen
All posts tagged groningen
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
042: Hovering woman statue
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© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
041: ‘Satisfied smoker’
When I took this picture, I thought that I had a clear idea what would be sold there in this store. The name ‘De Tevreden Rookster’ can be translated as: ‘The Satisfied Femal Smoker’. The first products that came into my mind were tobacco, cigarettes and cigars. But here they offer a totally different kind of merchandise! Until 1983, there was a hippie store, with the exotic name Kadjaloe, which sold Afghan coats, woolen socks and some little pipes. In the same year, owner Theo started his headshop and cultivated some cannabis plants for the production of yearlings. With the Dutch anti-drug laws becoming more sever during the years, the owner was forced to adapt his merchandise. At present, his assortment is more focused on vaporizers. Nothing of my personal interest, but the name was worth a picture.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
040: Cargo bikes
Everyone knows that there are many bikes in the Netherlands. Many more bikes than people: Over 22 million bikes to little over 17 million Dutch. On average, they cycle about 1000 km per year, equal to almost 3 km per day. One out of four people uses the bike for going to their work. Therefore, many bike stops are needed for proper parking of the bicycles. Unfortunately, not all cyclists respect that, and prefer to park the bike as near as possible to their destinations: walls, pavements, shop windows. There are not only two-wheeled bikes, but there is also a small number of cargo bikes, in which you can transport children to the school, or groceries to the clients, or small furniture when you are moving. You can rent those cargo bikes. The photograph shows a location where the cargo bikes can be rented.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
039: Bakfiets, a cargo bike.
With little over 200 thousand inhabitants, Groningen is the major city in the northern region of the Netherlands. The presence of a university attracts thousands of students to Groningen. The easiest way of transport in the city is by bike. Bike are found anywhere in the city, and are parked literally anywhere. Therefore, many residents have attached an announcement behind the window with a request not to park the bike against the window. You can imagine that students might lose the eye on their bikes, because of too many bikes of similar brands, shapes and colors. In order to recognize the two-wheeled vehicle with more ease, many students decorate their bikes in different colors and color combinations. But the three-wheeled cargo bike in the photograph won’t need any additional identification mark. The cargo space, most probably to carry children, is quite unique, easy to recognize.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
038: Dutch bark
Groningen is a city with a lot of history. Its origin is unsure – some even tried to refer to expelled people from Troy, led by the legendary figure Guno, that settled there. More likely, the first settlers must have arrived in the region about 1700 years ago. As happened with many historic cities in the Netherlands, Groningen gained a canal system (‘grachtengordel’) as a means of defense against invaders. The canal system in Groningen is called the ‘Diepenring’. The boat in the photograph is a Dutch bark, most probably a ‘tjalk’: a flatbottom vessel that is used for transport over the Dutch waterways. There are still many Dutch barks in circulation: some of them have been transformed into “woonboten’, barks used for permanent residence.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
037: Der Aa Kerk
When I visited Groningen on a day in March, it drizzled all day long, but it was not necessary to use my umbrella. I was wearing a couple of shirts and sweaters, a thick wintercoat, and gloves. Many bystanders were watching me as if I were an alien. But they didn’t realize that I was used to the tropical climate in Brazil. Despite the drizzle and the cold, I really enjoyed walking around in the interesting center that exhibits many monumental buildings. Of of the striking monuments was the 76 m dark ocre yellow tower of the Der Aa Kerk (A Church). The photograph was taken from the Vissersbrug (Fisherman’s Bridge) with Der Hoge Aa on the left side, and Der Lage Aa on the right side. Originally, the chapel was dedicated to Mary and Saint Nicholas, patron saint of the fishermen. In 1247 the chapel gained the status of a church. Nowadays, the church is no longer used for services, but occasionally for events.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2010, 2017
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