rotterdam – Dutch goes the Photo!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Stack

Better pick ’em from the top!

Welcome to week 215 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

First of all, thank you for the great response to last week’s theme; I will post the round up, some time on Wednesday.

For this week, I looked for something that tied loosely to our Assemble theme from last week, while going in a slightly different direction. One form of assembly could be creating a Stack or a set of Stacked objects, such as in the photo with this post.

One reason for my going with this theme is that while sometimes we feel the deck may be stacked, we can always stack the odds in our favor; we can go in many directions, and I look forward to the type of stack that you’ll find in your creative wanderings!

Here’s the creation of a market vendor…

This image comes from a walk among the many vendors at the market in Rotterdam; this market is a classic, as vendors set up their booths and display their wares to their best advantage. The quality of the foods is always outstanding and there are lots of places where you can sample. It’s a great experience on a Saturday morning!

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Can’t wait to see what you’ll stack! Have a great week!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Travel

Virtual trip around the world?

Welcome to week 207 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

In deciding on a theme for this week, there was something that led me to the choice of Travel. As most of use are not traveling at the moment, it might be nice to travel virtually through our various blogs and share some of those enjoyed moments with each other. So, let’s share some of those wonderful places that we have visited in this week’s challenge!

Very much looking forward to seeing all those great places!

Here’s a place that is dear to my heart…

The Centraal Station in Rotterdam is a magnificent transportation hub that is a great connector of all modes of transportation and filled with traffic during good times!

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Please be safe, communicate with one another and bring hope to all!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 180

Colors and flavors everywhere!

Welcome to the 180th round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

Thank you very much for a great array of groceries from all over the world! I was not surprised by the variety that you brought to this theme, as I’ve experienced a lot of the amazing locations that all of you have covered in your travels!! It really brightened my mood to see your photos and narratives and there were some extremely funny posts among the contributions!!

Hope you’re already having fun with this week’s theme!

Here are some more groceries…

This photo was taken inside the Markthal (Market Hall) in Rotterdam, Netherlands. This building provides an indoor market, where you can find a great variety of foods, interesting restaurants and living space! The gigantic curved space created by the arching structure also functions as an apartment building! Imagine living above and around the market and going for some quick, fresh food within steps from your front door!

Please enjoy the following blog posts:

Nicole kicks off the week with a great shoppe in her post in Une Photo, Un Poéme: it really gives me the feeling of taking us back to the days of Dickens!
Sarah focus on a very popular part of groceries in her post in By Sarah! Those cheeses look amazing and make me want to get a taste of them!
The town of Chabanais is well-represented in this week’s contribution in theOnlyD800intheHameau; those colors are simply stunning!
A wonderful trip takes us to the market in Bangkok with a lovely photo in Take a Walk… and Discover!
There’s a lot of truth in the post in Don’t Hold Your Breath: there’s nothing like getting fresh fruits and vegetables right from the farm to the market, as is evident in Kenya!
Na’ama proves that children’s words ring true in her post in Na’ama Yehuda: a salad is just not a salad without a good variety of colors!
Diane shares a wonderful comparison on grocery costs in her post in pensivity101: I like the idea of getting fresher food for less!
Maria clearly enjoys visiting food markets, such as in Budapest and Barcelona, as we can see in Kamerapromenader; wonderful color on those wares!
In a fantastic post in Life Amazing we get to enjoy some of the traditional markets in Turkey; they look stunning!
Elizabatz takes us to La Merced market in Mexico City in Albatz Travel Adventures; the variety of the offerings is truly amazing!
Jase may be seeing vapor trails, but the post in Proscenium is really cool, as long as we get from the farm to the kitchen!
Brian always has a wonderful outlook on the world around him in his posts in bushboys world; I urge you to go check out his post and find the funnies!
Jackie takes us to a fancy market in Toronto in her post in Junk Boat Travels, where the food looks good enough to eat!
Woolly reminds us of those wonderful shopping carts, where each wheel wants to go in a different direction, in a lovely post in Woolly Muses; pass me the watermelon please!
Cath takes us to some wonderful markets in her blog, Cath’s Camera! I’m definitely partial to the Parisian market!
Eric shares an amazing view of the market in his post in Up North, as this Peruvian market has a charm all of its own!
Cee shares some magnificent shots of stunning groceries in her post in Cee’s Photo Challenges! Awesome variety!
Deb has the absolutely freshest produce in her post in Twenty-Four, and it looks ready to pick!
Olga has an eye for some of the more unusual produce that we get this time of year in Stuff and what if…; those gourds are cool, but the chanterelle is tops!
Teressa brings a model into her photos in another lovely post in Another LQQK; fantastic trip to the grocery store!
The posts in iball round the world are alway of great locations, and the Marché Bastille in Paris is no exception! And to provide some great contrast, the second market in iball around the world is in India; it’s great to see both the similarities and differences!
David takes the approach of groceries past in a gorgeous photo in his post in David M’s Photoblog; the abandonment of this store gives an eerie feeling…
The spirit of the season is reflected in another fantastic post in Beautiful Photographs; Halloween looks pretty interesting!
Yes, there are times that the groceries can wait, as we see in Land of Images; time to get the pot of gold first!
Susan captures one of those great moments in her post in Musin’ with Susan; it’s quintessential shopping at the market! Also, please check out Susan’s week in review in Musin’ with Susan!
Robert brings us a stunning set of night photos in Photo Roberts Blog, as he visits the market in Hamburg at night.
That tomato blew my mind in a great post in Chateaux des Fleurs; even for beefsteak tomatoes, that one is a giant!
Sometimes what catches the eye is just perfect, which we see in Heart 2 Heart; that is a great market display!
This week’s photo shared in sgeoil is one of those images that really paints a picture and brings it all together as a unified composition. Well done!
Of course, I had to laugh reading the awesome post in One Letter Up – Diary 2.0! Now, I know what Grandma Friendly groceries are!
Debbie has the most interesting travel destinations, as we can see in Travel with Intent! Zanzibar has a fantastic market and it made me smile to see where Superbowl shirts wind up!
Tatiana provides us with a magnificent exploration of markets in Mexico in her blog Travelways; the colors and experience of being there come across wonderfully!
I love the market we get to see in the lovely post in A Day in the Life, as I could see myself picking up a lot of products there!

Please let all of these great bloggers know your thoughts about their posts!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Tourism

At any scale…

Welcome to week 181 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge! Due to some family circumstances, I haven’t completed last week’s round up yet, but will later tonight.

From all the groceries that I saw flying by on my screen over the past week, I know that I have a lot to look forward to! As that had me in a Dutch mood, I thought that it might be interesting to scour my photos from the frequent travels to the Netherlands for some more material. As a result, I thought that Tourism might be an apt theme for this week! From all the travel images that I’ve seen over the years from lots of my loyal contributors, I’m sure there might be a wealth of opportunity here!

So share some of your favorite spots from among your travels and tell us a bit about why you enjoyed it! Can’t wait to see the avalanche of material!!

From my tourism collection, I thought I’d give you two views of one building…

These images come from a single trip and were taken 2 days apart. In the top image, you get to see Central Library in Rotterdam in its full glory bathed in warm Winter light; it’s an interesting building and the inscription at the top reads ‘Heel de aarde is je vaderland’: ‘the entire earth is your home country’, attributed to Erasmus. The lower image shows you the model of this library in Madurodam, which is a wonderful exhibit in The Hague, featuring models of a variety of noteworthy buildings from across the entire country of the Netherlands. The exhibit is updated as new buildings come into prominence, but, of course, many of the old favorites will always be there!

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Let’s see what your traveling has produced!!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Groceries

This little piggy went to market!

Welcome to week 180 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

After rocking those stone photos for the past week, I have worked up an appetite! As I was browsing through images, I came across this one from my travels, which made me wonder: everyone in the world gets their Groceries somewhere, but where might that be? So, for this week’s challenge, share where groceries are acquired, either where you live or somewhere along your travels. I think it will be interesting to get a global view of groceries!

I look forward to seeing all your fun contributions to this week!

There’s some variety of items here…

This shot goes back to a February day in Rotterdam, when we visited the market to get some wares for the week; this market is pretty good size, even during Winter. As the Netherlands is a significant producer of fruits and vegetables, the variety is always pretty good. Utilizing greenhouses for growing, the season becomes nearly year-round for many produce items.

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Let’s get something to eat and take a photo or two!

The Port of Rotterdam

Another power of water!

The WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge has the very fluid theme of Liquid, which is right up my alley, as the Netherlands is all about water!

Staying with the Dutch theme from my prior post in this WPC theme, I’m focusing on the city where I was born: Rotterdam. Rotterdam is very much a port city in its character, as trade is the life-blood of its economy; it is the largest port in Europe.

A key part of the success of the port of Rotterdam is the digging of the Nieuwe Waterweg. In the first half of the 19th century the port activities moved from the centre westward towards the North Sea. To improve the connection to the North Sea, the Nieuwe Waterweg (“New Waterway”), a large canal, was designed to connect the Rhine and Meuse rivers to the sea. The Nieuwe Waterweg was designed to be partly dug, then to further deepen the canal bed by the natural flow of the water. Ultimately however, the last part had to be dug by manual labour as well. Nevertheless, Rotterdam from then on had a direct connection between the sea and harbor areas with sufficient depth. The Nieuwe Waterweg has since been deepened several times. It was ready in 1872 and all sorts of industrial activity formed on the banks of this canal.

Mystery-110611_MG_8628 — *Lots of water!*

In this image, we see the Meuse river in the center of Rotterdam, with a water taxi speeding along. Most of the ports are downstream from this location, which is to the right in the image. Each of the port areas specialize in certain cargo types, such as containers, crude oil, refined fuels, bulk supplies, etc.

If you get the chance to visit Rotterdam, I recommend that you take a harbor tour with one of the Speedo ships; these tours are both enjoyable and informative!

Have a wonderful day!

Something Dutch

Part of the Old World charm is that we have places where we get together to have a cup of coffee, tea or a glass of beer. These cafes usually have some light food fare, such as sate or a kroket (or croquette, a cylindrical breadcrumbed fried food filled with a mixture of potatoes and chicken with spices).

I always enjoy going to a cafe to hang with my people 🙂

The City of my Birth – Rotterdam

Sterker door strijd!

When people think of visiting the Netherlands, they always think about Amsterdam and, possibly, The Hague, but relatively few think about visiting Rotterdam. Each of these cities has their set of attractions with Amsterdam’s museums and canals, and the beach and parks of The Hague, but for my money you can’t beat the variety of what Rotterdam offers! And, as the mystery slide for this week is set in Rotterdam…

20150612-Rotterdam_57A1444 — *Centraal Station*

The best way to visit Rotterdam is by public transportation; if you’re coming from outside the city, you’ll likely arrive at the central train station, or ‘Centraal Station’. This completely modern transportation hub combines train, street car, bus and metro (subway) in one convenient package. When using public transportation in the Netherlands you’ll want to get get an OV-Chipkaart, which is used for all modes of transportation; as a tourist you can buy an anonymous OV-Chipkaart, which comes preloaded and can be loaded at many check-points using your credit/debit card. Just don’t forget to swipe your card when you get off you disembark!

20150612-Rotterdam_57A1436 — *Skyscrapers!*

A unique feature about Rotterdam’s architecture is the presence of skyscrapers in the center of the city. Every other city center in the Netherlands consists of older architecture. This is due to the fact that during the early days of World War II, the center of the city was flattened by German bombs during the so-called Rotterdam Blitz. The notable surviving building from this onslaught is the St. Lawrence Church (St. Laurenskerk), which was damaged, but was restored and still stands proud surrounded by modern architecture.

20150612-Rotterdam_57A1472 — *De Koopgoot*

The center of Rotterdam is well-known for its shopping district that extends along the Coolsingel and the streets surrounding it. As the Dutch love walking in their cities, the center has been set up to minimize the need for crossing the street. An example of this is the Beurstraverse, which is better known as ‘de Koopgoot’ or, literally, the shopping gutter; as you can see, one just walks down the incline and continues shopping at the stores below ground level, as you cross the busy Coolsingel to get to more shops.

20150612-Rotterdam_57A1556 — *Delftsevaart*

As Rotterdam is a major port-city (‘Gateway to Europe’), water is never very far away. As the port has expanded over the years and ships have become larger, some of the old harbors are no longer used for shipping, such as the Delftsevaart above. They have either been filled in to make room for building or preserved as picturesque living areas right in the center of the city.

Hope you enjoyed this little overview of the city of my birth!

Friday Travel Photo – vol 6

Port city and much more

This week, I am giving you a glimpse of a couple of locations in Rotterdam, the city of my birth.

This photo shows the new Centraal Station, the main train station for the city of Rotterdam. The old train station was built in 1957, and no longer met the needs of a major regional transportation hub. A project team called Team CS, comprising Benthem Crouwel Architects, MVSA Architects and landscape firm West 8, was tasked with redeveloping the existing station.

This modern structure was reopened in 2014 and handles trains and subway on multiple levels, as well as the ground transport provided by streetcars. It’s a striking structure in a thoroughly modern city.

The Markthal is a dual-use structure, in that it serves as a permanent food market and apartment complex. The windows in the ceiling belong to the apartments, and their hallways that comprise the outside of the building.

20150612-Rotterdam_57A1528 — *Market stand*

This market stand is typical of what you’ll see on Dutch markets, which provide great variety of high quality.

If your travels take you to Rotterdam, I recommend you take a walk through the downtown area and check out these and many other great sights!

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