Santa Claus?

So this (in)famous statue in Rotterdam by American artist Paul McCarthy is officially called 'Santa Claus', but is universally known by both locals and tourists alike by a different, slightly less wholesome name. Go ahead and take a guess!

Hint: It's exactly what it looks like, and will almost certainly be the first thing that comes to your totally normal mind....

UPDATE: Yes, that's right, it's actually called the Buttplug Gnome by pretty much everyone. Because that's exactly what it is, a gnome proudly holding up a giant buttplug. The Netherlands are special, what can you say?

Cube Houses

Another of Rotterdam's must see 'attractions', these Cube Houses look like peak early '90s architecture to me, but were actually built in 1977, the brainchild of Dutch architect Piet Blom, whose main goal was to:

"...create an urban area that felt like a village. The cube houses around the world are meant to optimize the space as a house and to efficiently distribute the rooms inside."

Not sure how village-like they feel, as this is smack in the middle of the city, but locals seem to be super proud of them, and at least there are no ginormous buttplug wielding gnomes involved....

I ❤ Juxtaposed Clichés

Taking cliché shots of old buildings and new buildings juxtaposed is one thing I'll probably never tire of. Clichés are cliché for a reason, right?

And coincidentally another thing I'll probably never tire of is using the word 'juxtaposed' - looks cool, sounds cool, serves a very concrete linguistic purpose, just a great word all around.....

Comfy sidewalk seating

Some comfy sidewalk seating. Only thing missing is the café or bar to go along with it....

Rotterdam Sunset

Sunset over Rotterdam's Nieuwe Maas river with the Euromast observation tower in the distance....

The Original Ice Tea Redux

For those who missed the earlier, much smaller Ice-T ice tea advertisement. If you're gonna sell out to pure evil megacorps, the least you can do is be as self-aware as the OG is here. This one is also just a few steps from the Rotterdam's (in)famous Buttplug Gnome....

As Dutch as it gets

Bicycles, Heineken, sidewalk cafe, brick building, giant classic painting reproduction - this scene is about as Dutch as it gets. All it's really missing is a street named for an island, city or other geographical feature in a former colony.

Which is either semi-ironic or very fitting (or both?), because it's in the heart of a very multicultural (ie the euphemism that most Dutch people seem to use when what they really mean is immigrant or non-white or in this case really just Muslim) neighbourhood....

Rotterdam Centraal

Rotterdam Centraal is a pretty cool, futuristic train station. Unless you want to enter it from the north side just to pass under the tracks and perhaps also stop to use the pay WC.

Then it's very uncool and dystopian, because there are security gates that can only be opened* by scanning a valid train ticket. Apparently the local authorities prioritise keeping the riffraff out much more than facilitating mobility and bladder health....

NB: Another very uncool thing about this station - and Dutch railways in general - is that sometimes (and not infrequently) the entire system just fails and all the trains get cancelled, which can really mess up someone's day if they're trying to get to the airport in Schiphol, or say Utrecht to catch a connecting train across the the continent. But that's a complaint you'll likely hear more about in the days to come.

*Turns out that they can also be opened by just tapping any payment card, and then if you tap again when you leave from the same station there won't be any charge. Oops! Good to know for next time!

Reminders of friends back home

No matter where you go in the world, you can never escape reminders of certain friends back home - especially when those friends have certain hobbies synonymous with certain times....

Here's to you, Old Gal! 💃

Stereotypes manifested

When dinner in Europe is exactly what an American would picture the stereotypical dinner in Europe being like....

Close call

The Amerika building at Rotterdam Marina, where there's no railing of any kind along the 4-metre drop off down into the water - a fact I came uncomfortably close to finding out the hard way while taking this photo....

To the roof!!

Not sure what's up there, but it must be something cool....

Drake Does Dutch

Top: "Throwing your cigarette on the ground"

Bottom: "Throwing your cigarette in the trash"

Before seeing this, I only knew like two things about Drake, and neither of them were that he spoke Dutch....

Sadly no cats to sit here

View of Rotterdam from my friends' guest bedroom with much better weather and light than a few days ago. But sadly they've still got no cats to sit, so I wasn't able to extend my stay when they went on holiday....

Dinner with a view

DIY Vietnamese spring rolls and orange wine from Slovenia with panoramic views of Rotterdam for dinner....

Warm vibes only

It's always nice to see cafés that politely remind people they're a café rather than a remote working station. And I say that as someone who works remotely....

The SS (no not that one, hopefully)

SS is one of those letter combinations that feels like it's been historically ruined for quite obvious reasons. But if you ever see it in an elevator, it's an abbreviation for 'sous-sol', which is French for basement.

This is extra confusing in my friends' building in Rotterdam, as it's what you press for the ground floor, despite the fact that that's what 0 is usually for....

Dutch aquarium

Moments Contained

Moments Contained (2023) by British artist Thomas J Price has apparently "sparked both great enthusiasm and passionate debate" since it was unveiled on the main square outside Rotterdam's central train station a couple of years ago. Read more from The Guardian - or don't, since they've spent the last two years making it depressingly clear that they're just a bunch of shameless, pro-genocide propagandists like the rest of the mainstream media are....

AriZona

They're not $0.99, but you do see the AriZona Ice Tea brand popping up in more and more places around the world. This was at a really great Asian shop in the previously mentioned Markthal, where I didn't purchase any Yankee sweet tea, but did load up on very reasonably priced soju and sake for our DIY Vietnamese wrap dinner….