The Spirit of Rotterdam

You'd think I love the place, and, seriously, I don't.  What I do love, however, is the weather, but also my camera.  If I could apologize to it, I would beg its forgiveness for having dragged it along when we climbed Mt. Vesuvius last July (and how could I not bring it with me then!) because something happened during that climb to make it a little slower after it's turned on.  As I posted a couple of months ago, the shop found nothing particularly wrong with it and told me to just wait till it dies a natural death, by which time the next model would be available.  As if to defy expectations, it's been performing flawlessly since.

This is the War Memorial statue created by sculptor O. Zadkine.  It is located right behind the Maritime Museum and even while I was busy with it, the upteenth group of tourists arrived with their tour guide to learn all about it.  It commemorates the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940, that one cataclysmic event that tore out the heart of the old city.  It has never been the same since.  There are still buildings that bring back some nostalgia for the 'old times' but that generation is thinning out, as all old generations do, and there's no other way but forward.  The building that serves as a backdrop here is the new city, the modern city, but still with that old-fashioned 'roll up your sleeves and do your work' spirit that has been the backbone of Rotterdam for centuries, ever since the ports were established.  For me, it's the city that pays me for rolling up my own sleeves ... and that's all it will ever be.  That said, no harm in making the most of it with the camera.  By shooting parts of it, I can now at least say that I no longer (have to) find it ugly.  There's an extra shot of the statue.

Yes, today was supposed to be a free day, but there were these meetings (see previous post for explanation), and I didn't mind attending them.  There will be some serious marking in the next few days, the weekend included.  In between the morning and afternoon sessions, however, there was enough time to cross the Maas on the Erasmus Bridge, go to the Bijenkorf to use up the birthday gift card, and have a glass of apple juice and some strudel with vanilla sauce (extra, and I wondered if it should be the main shot).  I did think of going to the Vietnamese restaurant for a bowl of Pho but that would have meant rushing.  And what did I buy with the gift card?  A bottle of Rituals bath bubbles and two flasks of Rituals Hamam body gel ... hmmmm!

Have a fab weekend, BLIPlings!