From Here to There – A Move Across an Ocean

The other day, MyMan had a haircut appointment in Rotterdam, so we all decided to go along with him.  His appointment was early in the morning, so after he was done we walked to Markthal to have a look around.  It was market day that day, so it was bustling!

Very interesting architecture can be found in Rotterdam.  It was completely bombed during WWII, so all of the buildings are “new” for  European standards.  And you can see that architects have taken advantage of this opportunity by using their imaginations!

These are the Cube Houses.  There are no straight walls on the interior of these homes.  Furniture and tv placement would have to be uniquely placed, I’m sure!

Next door to the Cube Houses is this building.  It looks like many pairs of sunglasses to me!

It was market day, so all the tents and awnings were out with merchants making sales. 

Then you come to Markthal.  Just beside the train station, Markthal is a very centrally located market place and residence.  All those square windows???  Those are apartments for people who love to live in the middle of hustle and bustle.

Inside Markthal was so very unique.  Again, you can see the windows from people’s apartments inside as well.  They look down onto the masses of people who are on the floor buying various goods.

The ceiling was one giant mural.

And being that this is a market place – you can find ALL sorts of food here.  From restaurants that display some of their menu items…

Cheese Shops

Fruits and vegetables

Can’t forget the tomato stand!  They had SO MANY varieties of tomatoes!  These were all cherry tomato sized. 

Then they had these TINY tomatoes!!  Such an easy snack!

They had Greek food and all the olives you could want.

They had fruit on a stick, which you could dip in a chocolate fountain.

Or you could make fruit pies drizzled in chocolate.

If chocolate covered fruit isn’t your thing, they have cannolis galore !

If you aren’t too into canolis, they have American donuts (you can’t really find great donuts here).  These were actually quite good!  The girls got a few to take home.

And if your sweet tooth STILL isn’t satisfied….there’s always candy.

Gotta have some drinks with all that food.

And for the residents who actually live in the Markthal – they have a true grocery store.  But I can’t imagine not spending a small fortune every month on all the available food markets and restaurants they have here!

I like this picture.  I feel like it sums up Rotterdam and The Netherlands quite well.  You have an open market on a partly cloudy day.  The building is a modern style apartment building with all glass walls looking out onto the market. 

And it was just a pretty fall day in Rotterdam.