's-Gravendijkwal, the daily specials of restaurant Lux are written on the chalk board.

Westersingel, part of the sculpture by Richard Artschwager.

Lijnbaan, Looking out from within the Burger King

Van Oldenbarneveltstraat (thnx Roeb) during twilight. It's Skywatch Friday again. If you click on the link you will be able to see hundreds and hundreds of skies around the world. Fascinating!

Rottebandreef, Ski & skate centre Bergschenhoek claims to be the biggest outdoor winter sports centre of the Netherlands! In a country that is famous for its flatness, this is what you get if you want to ski :( That's why the Dutch flee to Austria, France, or more recently the Tsech Republic (coz it's cheap).

Conradstraat. I should never have said anything about the weather. There have been massive storms and rains since, and by the end of the week, the forecast says we'll be down to 7 C/44 F.
Anyway, this is the back of the offices in our present Central Station with a huge shower about to come down.

Sunrise in my back yard. Showers in the North and Mid UK and here (ok, ok, apart from the storms) it's almost spring (Dutch spring of course, so a lousy 14 C/57,2 F). Wonder if we will ever have a true winter again.

Westersingel. Mushrooms & the City.

Valkenstraat. 3 Lego cows popping up downtown.

Shopping mall Plaza. Huge grafiti-like Sinterklaas decorations are hung up in the mall. To me that modern style doesn't go with a feast like Sinterklaas. Then again, I may just be getting too old for it :)

Technically this Distillery and mill lay just outside Rotterdam in Schiedam. Nolet is most known as distellery for Ketel one vodka, The company dating back till 1600 something, is still in family hands. I am planning to take a tour here one of these days. Want to join me?

Bentincklaan. The storm of the past days has blown away most of the leaves.

Provenierssingel, these 3 fish with children on their back are from the Dutch sculptor Gerard Heman who was born in Germany but lived and worked in Rotterdam.

Parkkade. I told you the municipal barracks were getting funky, didn't I? In the back you see a little bit of Michelin starred restaurant Parkheuvel.

View on the Willemsbrug and Haringvliet from Kapitein Imanhof.

A.B.N. Davidsplein, named after the Rotterdam supreme rabby Davids who worked in Rotterdam till 1943 and was killed in Bergen Belsen Febr. 22 1945. From the almost 9,000 Jewish citizens only 1,400 came back after the war.
Today's post is a tribute to the tree planting ceremony that took place 1 month ago in Jerusalem, in memory of the 248 Jewish citizens of Hillegersberg and Schiebroek who perished in the holocaust. Thanks to Harel Schmuel, whom I met online and whose family is from Rotterdam, I can share this ceremony with you too here.

Parkkade. I like the yellow and blue colours in this shot. You can just see the tip of the Erasmusbridge in the back.

Koopgoot, pay attention here girls, Jimmy Choo is available as of tomorrow. Want to go for a bitch fight :) ?
In order to avoid the chaos when Viktor&Rolf or Cavalli was sold, H&M has set some worldwide rules. First of all you girls have to queue. The first 160 people get a tag that allows them to get in the shop at the time that is set on the tag. Then there is a limited time that you can spend in the ladies shoe area, bags and assecoires. Two hours after opening the whole shop is open for anyone. H&M doesn't guarantee the first 160 people they can actually buy something :) Everything might just be sold out with # 125.

Overschiese Kleiweg. De Kleiweg is an old road (dating back to the middle ages) connecting 2 Rotterdam areas; Hillegersberg and Overschie. This part still has a very rural character.

Schiedamseweg, view on the White Village (Witte Dorp). This little and at first maybe even boring group of houses is world famous with architects and urban designers. Up untill 1920 there was a polder between Rotterdam and Schiedam. Then the famous Dutch architect J.J.P. Oud, one of the followers of the `Stijl´ movement, designed some sort of an emergency village to give the poor disadvantaged families of Rotterdam a healthy living environment. When the city council announced in 1985 (the houses were due till about 1950) the entire village had to go, a storm of protest arose, but demolition could not be stopped. The original street plan however is almost intact and the village was rebuilt with another set of (cheap) (half) white houses for the working class.

Kerkhof Crooswijk. I still cannot believe how green some of our trees are. It's 8 degrees C today (46,4 F) and that's pretty cold to me!

Wytemaweg. This head of the poet Leopold can be found near the second oldest school of the Netherlands; Gymnasium Erasmianum. Leopold was a teacher of classical languages (Latin and Greek) at this school and our current national poet Ramsey Nasr also attended this school.

Walenburgerweg. The restaurant that was housed here and was closed for a while after the chef passed away has been re opened by his wife. She named it: Chakalooka Crimitambo because that is what her late husband used to say when asked for the secret recipe he used.

Giessenweg, Rotterdam Marble Industry. I bet you never knew anything about a Dutch marble industry right? Course not, coz there isn't any. This company (almost a 100 yrs old mind you) can deliver anything marble for floors, graves, bathrooms, you name it.

Part of the Rotterdam port and specifically the repair and maintenance yard of Damen Shiprepair. It's Skywatch Friday again folks. Enjoy your weekend!

Binnerotte, Coffee Studio not only sells this chocolate cake but also serves as a gallery. You can buy the photo's they are showing and if you are into fine cutlery or crockery sets, visit the Cooking shop attached to it!

Schaardijk. I was eating at restaurant 't Zalmhuis the other day and tried to play tricks with the reflection on their terrace screens. The bridge you see reflected is the Van Brienenoordbrug.
Isn't it marvellous we still have this weather?

Weena, Grand-café Engels has been at the corner of the "Groothandels Gebouw" for ever. Engels is the dutch word for English and they have a nice campaign running looking for staff, with the pay-off; Do you speak Engels?
The name of the café however refers to the family who owns it.

Oosterzeestraat. Fallen leaves.

My place. Although a typical American event, Halloween is slowly taking over Europe I think, and the Netherlands certainly join in. Last night my daughter and youngest son went to haunt our neighborhood and came back with her hat filled to the top!

It's the first of the month and todays theme is DOORWAYS.
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