summer in june - a la plancha

Rotterdam - 9th of June 2021
A La Plancha is a pop-up restaurant on the Noordereiland, the island in the river Maas in Rotterdam. During spring and summer a terrace is built on the bridgehead of the old Willemsbrug. Sustainable fish, fried on the grill (a la plancha) on the menu. The location and the atmosphere provide a special experience, as if you are on holiday.

Yesterday evening we first had a citywalk and later on dinner in the sunset at the Maas with the four of us; Soufiane, friend and (Noorder)island resident, son Minne and Henk & moi.

Summer in June, carpe diem.

two days in maastricht

Two days in Maastricht.

Wednesday 14th of October

15904 steps

Breakfast at home

Checking in at The Student Hotel in Maastricht, room with a view on the 7th floor of the Eiffel building, a nationally listed building, the icon of the Sphinxkwartier.

Coffee at Lumiere, Cinema Restaurant Café built in the old power station of the Sphinx Factories. A building with a high Wes Anderson content and my 'boss' Dorine de Vos did the interior decoration.

Lunch on the terrace at Le Fernand.

Sightseeing and minimal shopping.

Dinner at De Brandweerkantine. The last evening all restaurants were open, due to new corona measures, a 4-week closure has been imposed.

Beer and ginger tea with a view on the rooftop bar on the 8th floor of TSH at Bold


Thursday 15th of October

13247 steps

Roomservice breakfast at The Student Hotel

Coffee to go at The Common restaurant.

Inspirtion and gift shopping at Loods 5 in the former Sphinx ceramics factory (huge and amazing buiding!)

Walk along the Maas

Coffee to go and take away lunch at Cafe Zondag

Sightseeing in the Wyck district.

Continue our walk along the other side of the Maas.

Museum visit at Bonnefanten.

On our way back we visited a small organic market in Wyck and had another coffee to go.

Maastricht, nicknamed the Paris of The Netherlands, we had a wonderful city break, from now on we will mainly be at home...

rotterdam citywalk

A photo report of the citywalk with our friends (Marieke, Marleen, Mick, Stefan and 'baby' Gandi) in Rotterdam last Sunday.

Slow start with coffee & chocolate cake in our 'Parisian' frontyard.
While we drove to Rotterdam, dark clouds appeared in front of us.
As soon as we arrived it started pooring. So we ran to shelter from the heavy rainstorm and had a drink at Aloha, not on the terrace as we planned...
After a while the heavy rain stopped and we decided to get started; citywalk with umbrella!
We crossed the river Maas via the Willemsbrug and walked accros the Noordereiland. (in the meantime our shoes were soaked!)
But hey, no complains about the weather guys.
We skipped the visit to Hotel New York and continued our walk via the Erasmus bridge to have lunch. When we arrived at Bazar, we even could sit outside on the terrace.
We had lentil soup (always) and lots of lovely food and after coffee we crossed the street to have a look at the cool vintage collection at Episode. I found an amazing kaftan dress from Thailand, didn't like the huge butterfly sleeves, but bought it anyway. Marleen found herself a cool nineties house blouse and the sun arrived!
En route to the Museumpark and the Maastunnel building. Along the quays of the Maas we walked back to the parking.
The 100 meter running track on the Maasboulevard was challenging. For me it was the first time to run in a kaftan and it was fun, but I didn't win... (despite the false start)

We had such a fun afternoon together!