F E L I N E R S

Rotterdam central isn't that big. Everywhere is sort of like walking distance by my standard but maybe because my 'walking distance' definition is something like 14 blocks.

I saw quite a lot today, and I've even come to a conclusion. Rotterdam is cool; it has great architecture, yes. No doubt about that. On the other hand, I'm not exactly smitten with it.

The city has a clean, spacious and modern feel. I think I'm more old world. I like narrow cobbled streets, quirky neighbourhood, pre-war buildings, windmills (Garf, I know you're too cool for windmills but I like them). Rotterdam was bombed flat during WWII; hence the contemporary, modern and courageous architecture.


This Dutch guy that I spoke to today said to me that there is a Dutch joke which goes like this: Money is earned in Rotterdam, distributed in The Hague (the country's administrative centre) and spent in Amsterdam.


Rotterdam has a reputation as a working city. The 'business' city. It is has the largest port in Europe. It became the world's busiest port in 1962, until it was first overtaken by Singapore, and then by Shanghai since the 1990s.

The Kubuswonig, or cube houses, was one of my first few stops. They are a set of innovative houses designed by architect Piet Blom on Overblaak Street. The architect tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. There are 32 cubes altogether, all attached to each other. And people do live here.


When I said courageous architecture, I really do mean it! This is Blaak metro station.

Stadhuis (town hall). One of the three buildings in the city center that miraculously survived the bombing.

Sylvette, a sculpture created jointly by Carl Nesjar & Pablo Picasso. Apparently Picasso admired the woman in real life.

Art at Witte de Withstraat, the 'artsy' street in Rotterdam.

Garf, is this windmill IN-YOUR-FACE enough??!

Blits restaurant by the Maas River

Willemsbrug

Erasmugbrug links the northern and southern parts of Rotterdam, which is separated by the Maas River. It is nicknamed "The Swan" because of the shape of the pylon.

Historic boats/ships at Oude Haven

First skyscraper in Europe, The White House, was built in 1898. It is an 11-story structure in the French chateau style. At the time of its completion was the tallest building in Europe.

Here are some other architectural eye kandy:

Netherlands Architecture Institute by Jo Coenen. It reminds me of KLPAC.



I also found some cool graffiti. Puss, these are dedicated to u: