Sigma Kappa European Alumnae Chapter
18th Annual Weekend ~ Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Weekend and Hotel Registration Info
July 2015
Hello ladies!
I am so excited to be organizing our 18th annual weekend in Rotterdam! Its been a lot of fun digging into
everything this city has to offer! Rotterdam is truly a fascinating place with such a rich history and I
really think you will all enjoy it very much. I certainly cant wait to welcome everyone here
The plans for the weekend are now starting to shape up nicely and Im pretty excited to share the
tentative plans with you all. Please be advised that anything and everything is still subject to change but
for the most part, the itinerary will be as follows:
Friday ~ 6 November
03.00 pm Check in Bilderberg Parkhotel
06.30 pm Welcome aperitif at hotel bar
07.40 pm Depart collectively by foot for dinner (10 minute walk)
08.00 pm Dinner at Biblio at the Westelijk Handelsterrein (tentative) http://www.jazzclubbiblio.nl/restaurant/
10.00 pm After dinner drinks in the neighborhood of the hotel
Grandcaf Restaurant Biblio is located in an old warehouse at the Westelijk Handelsterrein. This area is
located in the Rotterdams Maritime Quarter and dates back to 1894, when it was built as a warehouse
complex for use by a group of Rotterdams leading trading merchants (as you probably know, the
Netherlands has quite a history of success in maritime trade, especially coffee, tea and spices; the VOC
Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or the Dutch East India Company is a great example of this). In
2001, the warehouse complex was carefully restored for a new purpose and Restaurant Biblio is now
one of various restaurants located there. The restaurant has a warm library-like setting, hence the name
Biblio, which is an abbreviation for the word library in Dutch, and also doubles as a jazz club on some
evenings and weekends.
Saturday ~ 7 November
10.00 am Formal meeting in the Magnolia room of the Bilderberg Park Hotel
01.00 pm Culinary lunch tour of Rotterdam* (departs from hotel) http://rotterdamdiscoverytours.nl/stadswandeling-rotterdam/
04.00 pm Free time
07.15 pm Meet at hotel lobby to depart collectively for dinner (water taxi/public transport)
08.00 pm Dinner at Hotel New York (tentative) http://www.hotelnewyork.com/restaurant/diner/
The company that will most likely organize the tour Rotterdam
Discovery Tours has in depth knowledge of the American roots
in Rotterdam. The guide who will be giving our tour is an expert
on the subject and is responsible for the placing of an American
monument called Footsteps in Rotterdams Delfshaven. The
tour will show some of the citys highlights, as well as stop at
one or two restaurants along the way for lunch and drinks.
Hotel New York is located on a peninsula called the Wilhelminapier (named after one of the former
Dutch queens). This area has a rich history, where hundreds of thousands of Europeans migrated from
this pier to America and Canada at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century by Holland
America Line (HAL) passenger ships. Today the pier is home to many of Rotterdams skyscrapers,
clustered closely together to somewhat represent Manhattan. Everything at this modern pier reminds of
its illustrious past: many docks and streets are named after American cities or HAL ships and this area is
still packed with all kinds of maritime objects. The restaurant at Hotel New York has an old-worldy feel
with somewhat of a nautical vibe. If weather permits it would be great if we could take a water-taxi
(http://www.watertaxirotterdam.nl/plan_uw_reis/) over to the restaurant to get a good impression of
what Rotterdam looks like at night from the water!
Sunday ~ 8 November
11.00 am Check out Bilderberg Parkhotel
12.00 pm Goodbyes for those with early departure
12.30 pm Depart collectively by foot/public transport for high tea (5 minute walk + 5 minute tram)
01.00 pm High tea at Fellini in the Markthal (tentative)* http://fellini-rotterdam.nl/over-ons/
03.00 pm Final goodbyes *Its possible that the tour may take place on Sunday instead of the high tea allowing for more exploration time
on Saturday. Jenna Ross has also kindly offered to do a morning slow flow yoga session on one day of the weekend
for those interested.
Fellini is located in Rotterdams De Markthal where a plethora of food stands, restaurants and shops
come together under one gigantic arched roof in the heart of the citys Financial District. This first-ever
covered market in the country was opened in October 2014 by Queen Mxima of the Netherlands, and
rivals any of the markets in many major European cities. The roof of the market is the largest piece of
artwork in Holland, titled Horn of Plenty and created by Arno Coenen; with its impressive size of
11.000m2 and explosion of vibrant colors, the buildings ceiling is often referred to as the Sistine
Chapel of Rotterdam. The market was built near where the original foundations of the city were laid in
1270; as such, during its construction, many medieval objects were excavated such as vases, tools and
cannonballs. Fellini is one of the 96 stalls and 20 restaurants and shops located in the Markthal. The
restaurant has a living room kind of atmosphere where youll feel at home right away great for
relaxing with a cup of tea after a SK night on the town!
I would like to emphasize again that all of the above venues are subject to change. I am still in
negotiations with them and it could be that a final decision is made to dine elsewhere.
Furthermore, I can only provide an approximate budget for the restaurants and tour at this time:
Dinner at Biblio = 35
Lunch Tour = 40
Dinner at Hotel New York = 45
High Tea at The Markthal = 25
The total should be around 150 (excluding wine and/or other beverages).
At Biblio they will offer us a half bottle of wine and a half bottle of water for 11.00 per person. Hotel
New York has no wine deals, a bottle of house white or red will cost approx. 20.00 per bottle.
The websites for the restaurants (except Hotel New York) and the lunch tour are in Dutch, my apologies
for this. If you have any questions on any of these venues or dietary restrictions, please let me know by
sending me an email at: [email protected]
Hotel Reservations
The hotel that weve chosen for our weekend is the Bilderberg Parkhotel, located in the heart of the
museum district and across from the trendy and lively Witte de Withstraat (literally packed with cafs,
restaurants, galleries and shops).
https://www.bilderberg.nl/en/rotterdam/parkhotel-rotterdam/
All of the hotels rooms are being renovated this summer so the photos on the site may be different to
what you will actually get when you are in town for the weekend. Our rates* for the hotel are as follows:
Thursday November 5** 179.50 (double occupancy) and 169.50 (single)
Friday November 6 109.50 (double occupancy) and 99.00 (single)
Saturday November 7 109.50 (double occupancy) and 99.00 (single)
Sunday November 8 109.50 (double occupancy) and 99.00 (single) *All rates include service charges, VAT, and breakfast but exclude 4.5% City Tax. **There is a convention in Rotterdam on Thursday, November 5
th as such room rates are significantly higher for
this night.
We have two single rooms and ten double rooms blocked for our weekend.
In order to reserve your room, please fill in the registration form and email it back to me by
September 25, 2015 at: [email protected]
If you already know who your roommate will be, please indicate this on your form. Please note: both
you and your roommate need to fill in the form and return it to me! I will then deliver all of the forms
at one time to the hotel.
I have already received a number of emails or Facebook messages from various sisters indicating that
they will be (tentatively) attending (all or part of) the annual weekend. If you have previously sent me a
message, please do so again and include the hotel registration form. Only once I have received your
form, will your reservation be considered to have a confirmed status.
You do not need to send anything to the hotel yourself. I will collect all of the forms and provide them
to the hotel when our group is complete. Again, all rooms must be reserved by September 25th, so
please send me your reservation form asap to ensure your spot! After this date, I will provide the hotel
with a list of roommates. Those who have not previously indicated a roommate will be allocated one by
me, I will go about this carefully.
Bilderberg Parkhotel Rotterdam Cancellation Policy: All reservations can be cancelled free of charge up
to 24 hours before the arrival date. To cancel, contact Tessa Visser at [email protected] asap.
For those coming into Rotterdam on Thursday or earlier, or those staying Sunday evening and later,
please let me know if youre interested in me booking a restaurant for you. I will hopefully be available
both Thursday and Sunday evening to join in on the pre- and post-weekend fun!
Public Transport
There are two main airport options for travelling to and from Rotterdam (Central Station):
Rotterdam/The Hague Airport is a small airport that services cities all over Europe, primarily through
low cost carriers. Public transport is available from the airport to Rotterdam Central Train Station.
Every ten minutes (:01, :11, :21, etc. past the hour) Bus 33 gets you to the city in about 25 minutes.
The bus departs to Rotterdam Centraal directly outside of the airport entrance/exit (its a small
airport) and costs 1.70 for a one-way trip.
If flying into Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, you can take the intercity train leaving every 30 minutes
(:09 and :39 past the hour) which will get you to Rotterdam Central Station in about 25 minutes. The
airport train station can be found near the arrivals hall and exit of the airport. The cost for a one-way
trip to Rotterdam Centraal will cost 11.90.
From Rotterdam Central Station you can take one of two different trams (4 and 7), that will get you to
the hotel in about 8 minutes without any transfers (please note that both trams stop at different places
and are about a 1-2 minute walk from the hotel). The fare is approximately 1.00 for a one-way trip.
To plan your travel on public transport to and from Rotterdam Centraal (Dutch for Central) Station
more specifically, you can use this site: http://9292.nl/en/#
To look up travel options to and from the Bilderberg Parkhotel, use the following address:
Westersingel 70, Rotterdam
For public transport in the Netherlands, you need to purchase a travel card, known as an OV-Chipkaart.
OV stands for openbaarvervoer or public transport. You can buy disposable cards for a single use/short
period. This card is pre-loaded with a travel product valid for a limited period, such as one week of
travel. Alternatively, you can purchase an anonymous travel card for 7.50 (as opposed to a personal
travel permit) that must be loaded with a credit at various locations/kiosks before you can travel with it.
A disposable card usually works out more expensive, depending on your travel needs.
Either card can be purchased at a counter or device, at airports, stations and newsagents
or supermarkets. The payment options may differ at different places. Sales points are
indicated by the pink OV-Chipkaart logo.
A disposable card can also be purchased on the tram and/or bus.
An anonymous card must have a minimum credit (or boarding fare) for travel with public transport:
4.00 for trams, buses and metro, and 20.00 for trains. The card is valid for up to five years so you can
keep the card to use it again. The credit will also remain valid. You can also receive the left-over credit
back at a public transport company counter; please be aware that you will pay 2.50 in administration
costs for this.
Every time you travel with public transport, you must check in and out with
your OV travel card (can be done on board trams or buses, or at the station
for trains). When you travel on this type of credit, the boarding fare will be
debited from your card when you check in. When you check out, the boarding
fare will be refunded and you will be charged for the number of kilometers
you travelled. If you do not check out, you will pay the full boarding fare.
For more information on OV travel cards:
https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/aanvragen/welkekaartpastbiju/toeristen/?taal=en
General Info
For more information on Rotterdam, please check out these great online resources:
https://en.rotterdam.info/visitors/
http://www.cityguiderotterdam.com/aktivitaten/shoppen/beste-laden/fachgeschafte/rotterdam-info/
http://wikitravel.org/en/Rotterdam
http://citizenmag.com/city/rotterdam/
With this mail, I have also included the Rotterdam info that was sent out a few months ago to give you
an impression of all that this amazing city has to offer!
See you all in November! Until then, if you have any questions or comments at all, please contact me by
phone +316 5490 4813 or by email [email protected] or send me a message on Facebook.
LISK,
Tessa
Appendix: Overview of Important Weekend Locations
Centraal Station Rotterdam, Stationsplein 1, 3013 AJ Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Bilderberg Parkhotel, Westersingel 70, 3015 LB Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Grandcaf Restaurant Biblio, van Vollenhovenstraat 15 C, 3016 BE Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Hotel New York, Koninginnenhoofd 1, 3072 AD Rotterdam, the Netherlands
De Markthal, Dominee Jan Scharpstraat, 3011 GZ Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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