My place. I was hoping to post a different photo of people in orange selling junk (coz basically that's Queensday) but so far the weather is really bad. My daughter is all dressed up however and is finishing her orange tompouce as we speak.

Tomorrow our country celebrates Queensday (the birthday of our Queen's mother, but nowadays celebrated as hers). We will be dressing up, get drunk, try to sell our garbage junk and in general have a great time.
This billboard announces Queensnight or the night before Queensday. In Den Haag it is called Koninginne-nach (eat your heart out on that) and in Rotterdam we have the Night of Orange with Dutch artists performing.

Noorder Kerkedijk. An old piece of Rotterdam in what is now called IJsselmonde.

Rotterdam Central Station. Only a couple more months and Rotterdam will be the starting point of le Tour de France! If you have 4 minutes to spare; this is the official Youtube video to promote Le Grand Depart and shows a lot of Rotterdam sites.

The choice of Rotterdam, a vast urban centre with one million two hundred thousand inhabitants, is directly in keeping with the special start of the Tour in London in 2007. The proposed project Rotterdam and the Tour, a new energy seduced us. It fits into an overall policy that aims to an even bigger place for the bicycle in the citys heart, while leaning on the popularity of the biggest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France. From the banks of the Thames to the biggest port in Europe: the same desire, the same will.

Bergse Rotte. I know most people think of mills when they think of the Netherlands (apart from us being pot heads of course), so here's one to proof the tourist books are actually right.

View on De Hef & the Unilever building.

Binnerotte. Fish at the market.

Bergweg. Before 1897 this road was called De Blommersdijksche weg and is to be found on maps dating back till 1611! No, I don't think these fronts are that old but a hundred years or more I do believe.

Heemraadssingel. I simply love magnolia's.

Meent. 2 shopping carts in front of good old Albert Heijn.

Mauritsplaats, I was so happy the man in the red jacket paused there for a moment.
Unlike in the Netherlands, in Brasil graffiti is much more appreciated as an art form. 10 Brasilian painters somehow convinced our city council to use some free walls and this is one of the results.

Willem Buytewechstraat, De Machinist. This former school for shipping and transport is transformed into a day care center, work and meet and of course eat environment.

Burgemeester Meineszplein. I guess most have you have heard about the 2 vulcano's being active in Island and the eruption causing such a huge ash cloud that is drifting to Western Europe, that there are no flights since Friday night. The ashes cause the airplane motors to block. I was hoping the ash clouds would give a spectacular red sunset but for me, this is all there was.
The thing is, the last time these vulcano's erupted (1780 or something) it lasted 8 MONTHS. Of course the wind will change eventually but till mid next week flying in or over Western Europe will be difficult if not impossible. And when the wind blows to the States you guys will have serious troubles too.

Westzeedijk, Kunsthall with the exhibition : Inside Out, museum Boymans van Beuningen on show (till May 17).
The wealth of the art collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen takes up central position at the exhibition entitled Inside Out. Due to maintenance of its depots, over 12,000 art objects cross over, right through the Museum Park, to the daylight hall of the Kunsthal. Inside Out can safely be considered the biggest logistic operation ever within the history of the Kunsthal: for ten days in a row two lorries packed with art travel back and forth. Over a thousand paintings, amongst which numerous stunning acquisitions, provide an impressive outlook on the treasures that the Rotterdam museum accommodates within its depots. The high quality of the works and the enormous quantity make the exhibition a feast for the eyes!

Kunsthal Rotterdam has triplicated its usual wall surface within the daylight hall in order to be able to show as many paintings as possible to the public. Numerous seventeenth century masterpieces by Frans Hals, Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Steen, Paulus Moreelse and many others are put on display in salon arrangement, from top to bottom. Key works of Modern Art, from Giorgio Morandi to Frank Stella, and twentieth century art movements like minimal art, pop art and CoBrA have been brought together in a so-called ‘White Cube'. Besides collected Dutch works by amongst others Jan Schoonhoven, René Daniels and Co Westerik, also other startling paintings from the museum collection are placed in the spotlight. Many other works of art, art-historically of major importance, are presented as hidden treasures. Kunsthal Rotterdam literally turns Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen inside out! By opening up the diverse collection visitors get the opportunity to discover their personal favourites.

Several museums in the Netherlands are planning to, or are even actively busy constructing new depots. A lot of space is required to store all art treasures from the Dutch musea. The exhibition Inside Out causes the public to come up with questions like: how should art treasures be preserved when you are aware of the fact that in the past assessment criteria were so different from those now considered valid? What necessity is there to maintain and keep art objects that are not often shown and what are the dilemmas involved? At what pace is the Dutch art collection growing and would disposing of works of art not be a far better idea than constructing new depots? And, moreover, would it not be good idea to use institutions without a collection of their own, like the Kunsthal, to actually show the treasures present within the depots of several Dutch museums?

Heemraadssingel. This canal dates back till 1900 and has dozens of different trees around it. I love the fresh green that is springing.

Bentincklaan. Our western holy cow. After a cow-coat and cow-bags i cannot but admit, we Dutch have some cow fetishes to deal with.

Beukelsdijk. The Polish church has set up a little place to honour and remember the Polish president and his wife and other officials that died in last weekends air plane crash.

Mevlanamoskee seen from the Aelbrechtskade. The weather these days has been shy sunny but full of promises.

Coolsingel. Instead of a chip you had to tie a tag to your laces this year for the Rotterdam marathon. My sons both ran 1Kilometer with schoolbuddies, but these feet belong some die hards that went all the way. If you want to see the results or more about the Kenian Patrick Makau winning in 2.04.48, click here

1e Pijnackerstraat. The lamps at restaurant Branco. If you are not sure how to spend today; all museums are free this weekend in Rotterdam and this afternoon the whole city will be filled with runners for the Rotterdam marathon!

Nieuwe Luxor theater. These are the dancers of Blaze who performed and excellent vibrant show last night. Tonight's their last night in Rotterdam, but if they are touring in your neighborhood, go check 'm out!

Lijnbaan. The gate and tree belonging to the demolished Coolziekenhuis (not a cool hospital, but named hospital Cool or Coolsingel) are the only remains and the cause why the Lijnbaan makes a square here, instead of a straight line.

Beukelsdijk. This green bus with some Rotterdam icons on it, is one of the busses that showes that Rotterdam wants to have the safest and cleanest public transport in Europe. It also means the new bought trams and metro's/subways are so called regenerative ones. The energy it costs them to brake, is given back to the electricity supply net.

Lijnbaan, roofterrace of bookstore Donner where they sell a wide variety of bagels and muffins. And that mint tea was mine.

Van Oldenbarneveltplaats. This is a games workshop where some really nice Lord of the Ring or Warhammer nerds sell and demonstrate action figures to other nerds (to-be).

Westblaak, this bike has to be a Rotterdam bike! It's a means of transport belonging to the shop is it in front of that sells professional/work clothes.

My place. Happy Easter everyone!

Kunst & Kitsch. No not my house. If only. Home decorations store Kunst & Kitsch was opened 12.5 yrs ago and is celebrating this month.

Korte Hoogstraat. Slowly. very slowly, spring is getting here.

The Willemsbrug is a bridge next to the Erasmusbrug in the centre of Rotterdam, spanning the Nieuwe Maas. It links the northern part of the city with the Noordereiland and (in combination with the Koninginnebrug) the district of Feijenoord. Together with the already mentioned Erasmusbridge and the Maastunnel the Willemsbrug provides an excellent connection between the two city parts.
The bridge was completed in 1981, designed by C. Veerling and named after King Willem III of the Netherlands. It replaced an older bridge which had been opened in 1878 but was severely outdated by the time the decision was made to build a new one. Because of the intensity of the traffic using the old bridge it was decided to build the new one 150 metres upstream to avoid upsetting the daily flow of traffic across the river. After the completion of the new bridge the old one was demolished.
The Willemsbrug is a cable-stayed bridge with a total span of about 318 meters. It is painted in a red color which puts it in sharp contrast with the light blue painted Erasmusbrug.

Today, not only being Aprils fool's day, but also Theme day, the theme among the city daily photo bloggers around the world is RED. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants