Rollergroove

Rotterdam - February 23rd 2007

WOW!!!

Where do I start? This was such an awesome night.

We left Rollergroove Towers Friday morning for the trip to Luton airport allowing plenty of time for checking in. A nice, easy, hassle-free experience to start our adventure...

With the shortest of flying journeys - only 45 minutes air-time! - we land at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam. A lovely, modern facility where we breeze past customs and make our way to buy our train tickets.

We can learn an awful lot from the Dutch about public transport. We bought our train tickets from the automated machines, only 10 Euros each for the journey to Rotterdam and caught the intercity train, directly from the airport to Rotterdam. It arrives and leaves bang-on-time and only takes 40 minutes. With a cleaner, smoother, cheaper and more-reliable service it shows up our public transport for the shambles it is. We arrive at Rotterdam Centraal station and make our way to the hotel where we stayed, the Rotterdam Westin which is positioned directly opposite the train station.

This is one seriously posh hotel and we heartily recommend it. The venue and its staff are absolutely on the money, fan-bloody-fantastic. It's the only 5* hotel in Rotterdam and we managed to book it for half price (gotta love the internet ).

A quick change of clothes and we make our way to the tram-stop, right outside our hotel. Oh, didn't I mention Rotterdam has a very efficient tram service as well as buses? Why don't we??? We only wait 10 mins for our tram (the No. 21). The trams are beautiful, modern, clean and quiet vehicles. And cheap. The fare costs us only about 2 Euros each. We make our way to De Esch. When we reach the final stop, we ask the ticket inspector where HAL 4 is and it turns out it was at the previous stop. The driver takes us back round to the stop for free. I can't praise the Dutch public transport service enough, we really are so far behind in the UK. We thank the driver and make our way to HAL 4, it's only a couple of minutes walk.

As we approach the venue, we can hear the funky music coming from inside. We make our way excitedly into the venue and it's already busy. Brian of www.quadsk8.nl is giving his roller-boogie jam class. Brian is an absolutely fabulous skater and a master teacher. Equipped with a radio headset he demonstrates various moves and steps to an eager class.

Once the class was over, we are greeted by Groove Rider from www.quadsk8.nl and she introduces us to Brian and DJ Gerald V. The venue is an old theatre and it makes the most wonderful venue for roller-dancing. The DJ booth is smack-in-the-middle of the floor, which is very smooth concrete and GRIPPY. It's a bit like the floor at Roller Express.
There is a well-staffed bar with very reasonably priced drinks. We stuck to water and various soft drinks all of which were 1.75 Euros each. MUCH cheaper than London prices.

Let's talk about the music. Oh yes, the music. Love it! Love it! Love it! Love it! Love it! Love it!
The Dutch style is funky with an 80's groove lean to it, where the RD London style is more disco/funk so while the styles are comparable there is a definite difference.
I defy anyone to sit or stand still in the presence of such overwhelmingly good music. My funk-bone was most certainly shaking!!

DJ Gerald V was holding down the music for the most part, but both Brian and Groove Rider assisted on the decks. Music selected and played by skaters FOR skaters. Beautiful.
In the background on the far wall 8 Wheels and Some Soul Brotha' Music was being shown by projector.

Not only had we made the trip abroad, but there were also people from Belgium, Germany and most notably Gigi the roller-clown from Italy. This guy is more of a crackerjack than Golby! We had the most amazing night and we are definitely going to return. If you possibly can, you owe it to yourself to visit Rotterdam. It is the most amazing experience. We loved everything about the place. The people, the transport, the architecture. I am embarassed to say that every single person we spoke to could speak English, where in this country we make little effort to bridge the gap with our European friends. As a country, we need to pull our socks up because we are being left behind.

Finally, we would like to thank Groove Rider and all those at Quadsk8 for making us so very welcome, we hope to see you all again soon.