Categories for Rotterdam

A walk through the Kralingse Bos. The weather was good today. Sometimes the wind felt a bit cold, but i never closed my coat.

I loved sitting in the park for a while and listen to the birds. A meditation. The drone of the cars rushing by in the distant. Never absent, no. I would like to hear nothing, but here in the west part of the Netherlands that is a hard bit to find. I did close my eyes and heard all the different birds around me. Singing their hearts out. Lovely.

Monday morning i worked. In the afternoon, after i was done and had e-mailed a pdf file to the client, i went out for a walk. It was cold, sunny. Not that much wind. It was still quiet in the center. Mondays usually are.

I walked to the Euromast park. The zooming of the cars is all around it. On one side the cars go into the Maastunnel. Another side is the Vasteland, a busy street. Zoom. I heard it while i sat for around ten minutes at the water. There were quite a few other people in the park. The sunshine gets people out. And many birds flying about and walking to pick up food from the ground. A heron was standing right besides the wooden board at the end of the garden.

I picked up some Euromast entrance cards lying on the ground. Some plastic bottle caps were lying in the grass. I picked those up too. With a bit of a sigh. I couldn’t clean up the whole park. No way.

I walked back home. Through the center once again. The thought of getting something to eat, like a Vietnamese egg roll did come up. But i guess Monday is their day off. So no. I thought about the apple and yogurt and cottage cheese and walnut mix i had in the fridge back home. Good for an afternoon snack.

I do feel quieter. A lot more quieter than yesterday. My phone’s glass broke yesterday. I let it fall. In the garden. Today i did go to a mac store to ask for the price of fixing it. They don’t, they simply replace it. For 199 euros. Pffff. Since i don’t really use my phone to look at that much, i’ll let it pass. Maybe one day i’ll take a new phone. Depends.

Goodbye for now. Cheerio!

Yesterday’s weather was changing from hour to hour. When i walked to the garden to empty my compost bucket, it was windy, blue sky with clouds racing through it. When i walked to the dietician shortly after that, it was still windy, but a blue clear sky.

After the appointment with the dietician i walked back another way, it was a grey cloudy sky and a bit of rain. And still windy.

Inconstant Dutch winter weather.

It’ll be colder the next week. No snow i hope, but the cold i’m looking forward too!

2017-01-11 13.36.25.mov – created in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 51°55’35.04″N 4°29’29.04″E

The main department store in Rotterdam is the Bijenkorf, the Beehive. My mother used to bring her three daughters with her separately to the big city close by, Rotterdam to get each one of us new clothes. We usually spend time in the C&A, the Hema, the V&D. I do remember having lunch in the Bijenkorf at those times. The chicest biggest store in the whole of Rotterdam.

I remember the Bijenkorf in all its phases over the past forty years or so. The great cloth department, gone for like twenty years or so. The separate coffee corners on each section. The big one remained, with the open window on the rest of Rotterdam. The bit on the side, for the young people. Gone, another shop is there, with apartments above it. Today i noticed the coats section is gone, or moved to downstairs maybe? The books were above, moved from downstairs, so that is possible. The MAC section, where i bought my eye shadows. The kitchen section on the top floor. The lightning section there gone for a couple of years now.

I walked past the bag section. Only a couple of Fred de la Bretonniere bags remained. His newer brand Shabbies is more visible than his older brand. I won’t get my next bag here, i will need to go to Amsterdam to get another one.

I’ve shopped here so many times. Sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. Other brands used to be available. A bit cheaper. That red dress from Karen Miller looks lovely on the skinny model. The Prima Donna bra is in the collection for a couple of years. It is my main bra.

The le Creuset pans i love. The Iittala ones too. I have three. From when i had more money.

I did go to the restaurant and treated myself to a cup of cappuccino and a dark chocolate and truffle filled pastry. Lovely. I read the Vogue magazine and looked through a cooking book from Heidi Swanson. Which i already have myself, in english.

On my way out, past the Chanel counter once again. The nail polishes. Wonderful!

I had a few talks in the Bijenkorf. One with a woman in the Iittala shop. About the pans, which i do have, use every day and truly admire. Another with two girls sitting on the kitchen section on the ground. San was the name of one. I had made two photos of her. Not the best! She did give her permission, but i won’t show the photo anyway. Too private. And another talk when i left the restaurant, with two people leaving at the same time. I remarked about the cream they left over. We had a good talk about the pure luxury in Western Europe. The totally obscene extravagance of this commercial capitalist culture we have formed all together. I talked about the garden i work at. They told me about their time in Southern Europe, where things are simpler.

So that was my time in the Bijenkorf today. It wasn’t my intention to go there, but when i lied on my couch, looked behind me and saw the blue sky, i had to go outside. I did take my phone with me. And halfway the walk i decided i would go into the Bijenkorf. And write my post about it.

Enjoy the photos!