A daily dose of Rotterdam since august 2019
One of my favorite photospots is in bad condition, the Luchtsingel. Made of wood the weather and use has made it unsafe in some places for use. But the repairs are in progress. The wood is gone but the view is still there!
During a walk a few days ago I passed this “bar”. Is it the smallest bar in Rotterdam? A streetparty gone or just partygoers full of beer and left the remainder for passers-by dying of thirst…
Photographed at Zomerhofstraat, Rotterdam
In the early hours of today when on my way to work I found this lonely rose on the pavement. Somebody didn’t like the romantic gesture or?
Finally a update of the blog! During the morningwalk I came across this. A wall poem located in the neighbourhood Oude Noorden…
How we hang on to the pasts that only exist in dreams
How we can be craving for a time to come
Today was yesterday tomorrow
Tomorrow is yesterday today
What we know
Is called the present
All the rest
Is a question that remains
I took this picture a few weeks ago and today it is the photo to post! A window of the Bijenkorf, a big department store here in Rotterdam.
Very early morning, strike a pose, feeling good.
Walking to work I spotted this old blue VW camper. A reminder of some blue holidays?
I walked past this fish shop and thought this fish deserved a photo on the blog! I like the cartoon like design of the fish, do you? Have a nice weekend, back on Monday!
No advertising for the store, just a picture…
I passed this travel agency so many times in the last decades and now I stopped and took this picture. Its closed now, due to the restrictions on travel because of Covid but it looks anyway if time stood still for this spot!
If you want to travel and buy your tickets here, you will find this travel agency at the Kruiskade.
Corona time. Shops closed. But walking is allowed. Unfortunately not somewhere to rest, then everyone could sit together with all the risks that entails! That is why these plants were placed on the benches of the Binnenwegplein, a kind of forbidden forest …
It has been a while since I posted a picture on the blog. January is a good time to get back on track! A few weeks ago during a walk I passed this classic, a Dutch manufacturer, world famous, the DAF! With its stepless automatic gearbox, just as fast forward as reverse! And now yourself, cool appearance in this rally version … I spotted the DAF at the Hofdijk.
This mural is almost hidden in a narrow passage from the street to a courtyard. If you walk a little too fast or you look at your phone for too long, you have missed a nice piece of art! Location: Bredestraathof…
A late update but here its is! This afternoon I passed this cafe-restaurant on the Goudsesingel. It seemed full of guests but it turned out to be a still life that was only good for take away orders …
Start of the shift. Carnisselande, line nr. 25, direction Schiebroek. I took this early in the morning. Its fall so dark, lonely and quiet. This place is both a start and end of the line.
P.S. This line runs from Barendrecht to Rotterdam-Schiebroek. So technically Barendrecht but the tram is and goes to Rotterdam, so a bit of artistic freedom!
Almost 30 years ago we celebrated our wedding on these party ships. Abandoned for a few years and poor maintenance were disastrous. The city’s new plans for the site have put the demolition workers to work. The end of the line …
P.S. Almost a year ago I took this picture on the same location >>
Spotted this corner with a table for two just beside the train tracks. Maybe for a romantic diner to get your relationship back on track?
Greyhound tourbus, on paper, lifesize and used as background during concerts. After the concert simply folded up and unfolded on the next gig! Kunsthal Rotterdam an art museum, exhibition “A journey into art and music”. Westzeedijk.
A ghostsign to buy your (winning) lottery tickets here… but I’m afraid the prices are already given… way back! Noordmolenstraat.
Just a weird and funny shop window, I like their hair! Seen on the Oostezeedijk.
Windowshopping fish or? Seen at department store the Bijenkorf, Coolsingel.
When you visit Rotterdam you should definitely use the bicycle. There are handy signposts everywhere for the best routes in Rotterdam and beyond!
During a walk in 2018 on the Noordplein, wind and clouds. There is a thunderstorm approaching!
Together with my wife, I visited the exhibition of Victor & Rolf fashion artists 25 years exhibition in the Kunsthal in Rotterdam in 2018. From the very beginning to the most amazing shows, many designs and ‘WEARABLE ART’. I took a photo of a beautiful dress made of recycled material …
Some facts, source website Kunsthal:
FASHION SHOWS OF GREAT SAYING POWER
The Viktor & Rolf fashion shows are like “performances” of great expressiveness. The 1999 Russian Doll show, in which Viktor & Rolf draped nine layers of clothing around just one model, top model Maggie Rizer, makes their international breakthrough. Many other high-profile haute couture shows follow, from which pieces can be seen in the exhibition, including from the collections Bedtime Story (2005), The Fashion Show (2007), NO (2008), Cutting Edge Couture (2010), Red Carpet Dressing (2014), Wearable Art (2015) and Van Gogh Girls (2015), and previously unseen works from the latest collections, Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2017), Action Dolls (2017/18) and Surreal Satin (2018).
A few summers back I photographed this car! A very nice French car, a grey duck! Or a socalled Citroën 2CV. During that summer I also drove a gray duck, not this one, but a rented one. Was one of the best road trips ever! Location: Karel Doormanstraat.
I took this one back in 2010. A streetscene with a real Dutch car, the DAF. This car can move forward as fast as it does reverse thanks to its revolutionary stepless transmission. Now a real classic as these cars have not been made for years … Location: Hoogstraat.
Now it is normal to turn on a lamp when it gets dark, simply with the push of a button. But not so long ago, not everyone had electricity. This house of the Gemeente Electriciteits Bedrijf (Municipality of Electricity Company) built around the turn of the century made sure that the neighborhood could draw its power! It is still working and neatly maintained at the Noordsingel.
Uw peuk hier, klein gemak, groot plezier! Translated: Your (cigarette) butt here, little convenience, great fun! Outside the doors of a school at the Heer Bokelweg, there are several with separate text for each location.
During our daily evening walk I came across this signpost. And on top was a little man who, like us, had his chest forward to face the future with confidence! Do you want to meet him too? Then walk from the Hofplein to the Schiekade and you will meet 
Have a nice weekend!
I took this picture at metrostop Wilhelminaplein. Through this entrance you have to use the treadmill just like at airports! No crowds, it will take a while before everything returns to normal use in public transport …
Today is a National holiday! 75 Years ago the Second World War ended in Holland! This picture was taken on the Maasboulevard, alle the flags fluttered for the feast and the liberation!
Liberation Day is the Dutch national holiday on May 5, on which the liberation of the German occupation in the Netherlands in 1945 is celebrated annually. On 5 May, the Netherlands will also consider the great value of freedom, democracy and human rights.
Its the 4th of may remembrance day here in the Netherlands. Every year at 8 pm on 4 May, the Dutch commemorate civilians and soldiers who have died in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or elsewhere in the world since the outbreak of the Second World War, both in war situations and in peacekeeping missions, with two minutes of silence.
They died for our freedom today, hence the photo of the birds here on our balcony, free as a bird …
I took this photo not far from where he was born, reading his book, executed in bronze, Erasmus. The oldest statue in the Netherlands was on the Grotemarkt before 1940. Unscathed from the bombing and hidden until May 1945, its then was placed on the Coolsingel. When the metro was built in 1963, it was relocated to the Grotekerkplein. The Erasmus statue is in a straight line to his birth house.
Notes:
A few years ago I visit the former flagship of the Holland America Line, 228 meters long, 28 meters wide, 51 meters high, the ss Rotterdam. Commissioned in 1958 by Queen Juliana she had her maiden trip in 1959. Here is a Youtube link with some footage of this maiden voyage at 3 september 1959. Worth a visit!
When you walk through the Delftsestraat you will certainly come across this artwork! There are conveniently placed supports so you can sit on the bike and then take a nice photo of a speed bike ride in Rotterdam!
I was on my way to an appointment by bicycle and in the pouring rain when I passed this building located at the Rosestraat. This is the entrance to the former station of the RTM Steam tram services. The starting point at the Rosestraat near the Rotterdam Maas bridges on South Rotterdam, now called Kop van Zuid. The head office of the RTM was also located at Rosestraat. The RTM ran on the following lines: IJsselmonde, Hoeksche Waard, Voorne-Putten, Goeree-Overflakkee, Schouwen-Duiveland and Sint Philipsland… From 1905 the RTM operated the lines to the South Holland Islands and Zeeland. The last tram ran on February 14, 1966.
A nice walk in the morning and I passed the zoo. No one there, the entrances closed, who is actually locked up?
A silent street, modern buildings, a just post-war office building at the right… And at the end of this narrow canyon like street, the middle ages with the big Laurenskerk. A heavenly view…
A springtime picture, taken in the Kralingse Bos. Take care and enjoy as much as you can the Easter days (Paasdagen). Stay safe!
This lighthouse used to steer ships safely into the port of Rotterdam, but today it is the striking starting point for a visit to the Maritime Museum Harbor, right in the heart of the port city. The name of the lighthouse is: “Het Lage Licht” (The Low Light). Build as one of the first lighthouses of Hoek van Holland, the “low” light, was placed during the construction of the Nieuwe Waterweg (1866-1886). The Low Light goes out in 1967 and moves to the head of the Leuvehaven in Rotterdam about ten years later. In 1990 the lighthouse is moved to where it now stands, near the Maritime Museum.
A few days back I photographed this nice house. You would not think of this as part of a slaughterhouse! But until early 1981, this house was part of the Rotterdam Public Slaughterhouse on the Crooswijkse Boezemstraat. This slaughterhouse was opened on May 1, 1883. Nowadays there are blocks of houses on the site and the former offices have been converted into houses and a restaurant!