When walking in the neighbourhood of the Esch, you can stumble over these tracks, belonging to the old waterworks that was once in operation here.
Lost track
Cycling routes Rotterdam and beyond
When you visit Rotterdam you should definitely use the bicycle. There are handy signposts everywhere for the best routes in Rotterdam and beyond!
Almost forgotten, luitenant Koenders
I drive past this place almost every day and I always thought to walk there to see for whom or what the memorial plate is. This is the text: “On May 14, 1940, our comrade First Lieutenant Koenders gave his life for the fatherland at this place. In grateful memory, IV battalion, 15 Infantry Regiment and Burgerwacht van Rotterdam”.
Every 4th May, a small wreath and some flowers are laid to commemorate. With only a few people and in the weeks after that no one at all thought about what happened. Almost forgotten.
This year France is closer to home
The world has become smaller with the luxury of traveling by plane, etc., but this year the distances have increased! So not in the holiday traffic jam near Lyon or on the périphérique near Paris. Someone here on the Nieuwe Markt hung these signs as a reference or as a tribute? Not jeu de boules but Jules de boules …
Heliport sunset, a busy day ends
Back from a evening walk in our little neighbourhood Heliport I noticed this nice light, the sun setting and this busy day is nearing its end…
A real Dutch and Rotterdam image in one
Today, after a short drive, I planned a lunch stop in the Kralingse Bos. A park with a number of windmills. Mill De Lelie is the smallest and the oldest mill. This dates from 1777. Mill De Ster is first mentioned in 1830. The Star burned down in 1865 and 1962 and was completely rebuilt both times. The mills used to grind spices and tobacco. You can find these windmills at the Plaszoom. Worth a visit!
P.S. I tried to take a not too touristy photo!
From the archives: New York view
In 2012 I visited the Dutch Photomuseum (Nederlands Fotomuseum) with my family. Through the windows of one of the halls I photographed New York, the hotel with that name, of course, and both the museum and hotel are worth a visit!
June 1st, 2020, theme day “Park”
Unfortunately I could not make a recording of the day this theme day. Therefore also this time one from archive. Made in 2019 with a film camera, the Nikon F50. It is the Pompenburg park, small but nice. See the shadows of two people? One of them is me!
From the archives: Thunderstorm
During a walk in 2018 on the Noordplein, wind and clouds. There is a thunderstorm approaching!
From the archives: Victor & Rolf fashion artists 25 years exhibition
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).
From the archives: French grey duck
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.
From the archives: Streetscene with a Dutch car
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.
House ghost
The old block of houses was demolished to make way for new houses. A passage on both sides of the walls received this decoration, a representation of the walls in old demolished houses. Is it art or is it melancholy? Location, Linker Rottekade.
From the archives: Tram remise depot
Taken in 2018, a early morning start in the tramdepot of RET Kralingen.
From the archives: Monastery St. Louis portal
Build in 1927 as a monastery and used as till 1977. In WWII many monks were killed by German soldiers during the attack on Rotterdam, in may 1940. Photographed in 2017. You can find this monastery at the Putselaan.
From the archives: De Brandgrens – the firestorm
The Germans bomded Rotterdam on May 14th 1940. These big lights did light up the sky to mark the border of where the firestorm did stop. Photographed in 2007, location Heliport.
A library entrance from 1923
While waiting for my turn to enter a store (a long waiting line these days) my eyes wandered over the nearby buildings, and I noticed this entrance to the old library, from 1923 according to the gable stone, the interbellum, an interesting time for me in terms of art, architecture, music, etc. What is your year or period in history?
From the archives: telephones on a bridge
Back in 2011 I visited the S.S. Rotterdam, see this picture also. On the bridge these phones took care of the important communication to the rest of the ship! Only local, not long distance…
From the archives: Underground station Blaak
Down the stairs from direction Oude Haven and you see this view, some sort of ‘warp core’ as on the TV show Star Trek! The two stairs left and right go towards the train platforms. Behind the ‘warp core’ you can just see the entrance to the metro.
From the archives: Witte de Withstraat
The last few weeks have been quite chaotic and I was not always able or in the mood to take pictures. Therefore occasionally some photos from the archive … Made in 2010.
Urban garden
In the city you also have a lot of greenery, parks, trees in the street, gardens etc. But even if you don’t have a garden but a balcony, you can still start a mini garden, a real urban garden!
Back to the other end
This is the end of the line or the beginning? Depends on where you want to go 🙂 This is the tramstop De Esch, tramlines 21 or 24, the start or the final stop, you may decide!
P.S. Yes another tram photo, you have to follow my tracks…
The best of two seasons
Do you remember when I showed this picture? November 2019, autumn, towards winter. Now the spring version of this place! Do you agree with both seasons, in terms of light and color?
Red dot on white, streetart
When you walk towards the train station Rotterdam Central via the Delftsestraat you pass a side street, the Delftsehof, where I saw this small sculpture. A little color between all that gray, white and beige!
Electricity for the neighborhood
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.
Throwback thursday, the Beagle has landed
Again, one from the archives. Taken in 2010 at Blijdorp Zoo. An impression of the ship the Beagle with which from 1831 Darwin studied local animals, plants, fossils and geology in, among others, South America, Australia, the south of Africa and various island groups in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. In the cabinet you can open the drawers and see examples of specimens he studied. Recommended when you visit Rotterdam!
Quickly past Erasmus
Quiet roads and streets so briefly stopped when passing the Erasmus University to take a picture! Built in (typical concrete style, brutalism) 1973 but established in 1913. Location; Burgemeester Oudlaan…
This bank welcomes you!
Yes, I know, almost every bank welcomes you! But this one welcomes you as a person not for your money! You want to try this bank? Go to the Kerkhoflaan (Graveyard avenue, whats in a name…) and take a seat…
P.S. Is a bank: a. bench b. bank c. sofa?
Geometric windows
I liked these windows on a old building located at Noordplein. So here’s a picture of them!
Ghostsign 1
Every time I pass this facade I forget to take a picture, now finally done. You can find this old facade advertisement on the Noordplein. The company no longer exists of course …
P.S. Drogerijen en verfwaren translate to dryers and paints
A smoke screen in front of the door
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.
A man has his points
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!
A final resting place, cemetery Crooswijk
A few days ago I took another small photo walk and I passed the Crooswijk cemetery located at the Kerkhoflaan. It is an old and very beautiful cemetery with an old chapel, lots of nature and certainly with the beautiful spring weather a nice place to come to contemplate.
A short history; In 1829 it was decided that burial in the church was no longer allowed. The Municipality of Rotterdam built the first municipal cemetery: Crooswijk cemetery. The Rotterdam city architect Pieter Adams designed the cemetery. The cemetery was inaugurated in July 1832. The cemetery is not yet ready, but due to a cholera epidemic, Rotterdam has a large number of people to bury. There is also a military plot dedicated on May 30, 1940. Here 115 Dutch soldiers are buried. In addition, a separate section has been set up for Islamic funerals. Here, dead can be buried within 36 hours.
Still a long way to go…
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 …
The great value of freedom, democracy and human rights
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.
Free as a bird, 4th of may remembrance day
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 …
A thank you from work
I received these flowers by mail. A thank you from work for keeping the public transport available as much as we can.
Not far from his home
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:
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- In Brooklyn on the square of the Erasmus Hall High School is a life-size copy of this statue by Simon Miedema.
- “For a few centuries it is actually the only public statue in the Netherlands that has not belonged to a warrior, prince or statesman, nor to a poet, but to a scholar, one who still had quite neglected that homeland.” Quote by Johan Huizinga, Dutch Historian
May 1st, 2020, theme day “Shopping”
I admit it, I completely forgot that it was a theme day … So here is a “shopping photo” from the archive … A closed barber shop. Appropriately I think “Who’s next”!
P.S. I shot this picture in 2007, location Hillesluis.
Throwback thursday, a cruiseship named Rotterdam
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!