landmarks

Part one - Friday, Saturday and Sunday 23,24,25 February 2018

Our weekend started here!!  After a hearty homemade soup with dear friends at the Sawmill Cafe in Stratford, a truly fabulous performance by School21 students of Les Mis - moving, inspiring and wonderful

Let's pause for a rousing chorus ....

Then good beer and good company at the Secret Weapon followed by bed and breakfast at our usual lovely Dalston gaff!

Saturday

And we were on our way west out of London.  First gastro stop a great little find - The Tin Kitchen up on a hill in High Wycombe.  Fabulous brunch to fuel us and off into the sunny Chiltern Hills - red kites soaring overhead too many to number.

Collected the fifth member of our little crew, meandered through the sunny Oxfordshire lanes and went for a little leg stretch in the lovely unspoilt and unpopulated Warburg Nature Reserve

with lots of beautiful bare trees playing with the winter sun

Checked in at our Sonning hotel, the Great House, then off for our fabulous evening meal at the Wellington Arms, Baughurst.  And what an amazing landmark-eve treat that was for the birthday boy!!

Sunday - the Big Day dawns

And it's Happy Birthday to You ......... breakfast brunch and another big 'O' birthday conquered!!

lots of pressies to open

and a winter's amble beside the mighty Thames

and maybe time for a blast of that old song family Waugh used to march along to on country walks when we were little:

We had the three men - if only we'd had that boat!!

Next it was over to Henley on Thames to see the David Chipperfield's lovely River and Rowing Museum where we indulged in an afternoon tea (yes, food again!!)

and a spot of Wind in the Willows jollity

whilst hankering after a boathouse on the river!

The sun shone and it was just the happiest of happy birthdays.

Then, as the afternoon drew in it was time for the big birthday surprise  .......

A Swim and Dine package at the oh so wonderful and newly renovated Thames Lido in Reading - what a treat

We were given fluffy towels, bathrobes and flip flops and there we were, February 2018, one of the coldest winters for years, lounging OUTDOORS in the hot tub and braving the beautiful clear waters of the swimming pool, with the odd hot respite in the sauna - and it was totally fabulous and luxurious and special.

And there was more to follow - a sumptuous and delicious 5 course taster dinner in the fabulous restaurant spanning the edges of the pool

It was nothing short of magical

And here's the special birthday boy once again - the proof of a happy day is in the pudding as they say!! ha ha.  And of course in the smile.

HaPpY hApPy BiRtHdAy DeAr MiKe   X x X x X

and the celebrations continue in Marshes and Mud - read on if you dare!

red sails in the sunset

Wednesday 26 to Sunday 31 October - 'Five go to Antwerp and Rotterdam'

(or if you'd prefer to start this holiday at the beginning, please start with "in the midnight hour")

SUNDAY

So this was the view we woke up to from our nhow hotel windows - what a joy!

 and we waited patiently for the lift to breakfast on the stylish heated seats

 Loved the edge of the impressive theatre on the edge of the river

 bit weird that the Metro sign looks horribly like the Ronald MacDonald's M

 but it was very snazzy down below

We were soon at the fun and amazing cube houses Piet Blom's Kubuswoningen, built 1984

by now the sun was warm, quite incredible for a late October day.  Loved seeing the immense bike parks all over the place, this one double deckered!

We enter the huge cathedral like Markthal only built a couple of years ago by the MVRDV practice and teaming with people and incredible food stalls.

fabulous wall murals on the inside and double decker cafes, while the apartment dwellers peered down from their little windows.  Enjoyed watching some waffle making but avoided temptation!

 and we found a great little coffee stop just outside - the tea lab

 and not far away was another Rem Koolhaus, his Timmerhaus, built just last year

But the afternoon was now drawing in and we all made a spur of the moment decision to take a boat ride on the Maas from the Erasums Bridge, which was great fun.

And here's the nhow hotel from the water - our 19th floor was only half way up - just near the joins!!

all aboard, full steam ahead and all that

and here's a good classic to float along to:

 past the immense container docks, busy loading and unloading every day of the week

past the rather incredible art deco ventilation shafts for the Maastunnel.
These ventilation buildings, designed by city architect Van der Steur, are also entry points for the bicycle and pedestrian tunnel.  And reading the Maastunnel article, it looks like there are original escalators running down there too, like Antwerp.  Amazing

Full circle: that little old building dwarfed by the new giants, houses the New York bar where we had our nightcaps last night!

So now it was a super dash to get to Centraal Station in time for our trains to Brussels and London - but we had one more feast to go - our intrepid foodies had caught word of Fritez for the best ever (and I mean that) take away homemade-skin-on chips, dowsed in beef stew, that you have EVER tasted.

 and we make it - dodging bicycles and trams - the incredible beautiful Centraal Station, remodelled a couple of years ago by Benthem Crouwel Architects

and I know this is horribly blurred, taken through the glass on a high speed train - but I needed to share the deep pink sunset that blazed in the sky as we sped past Antwerp.

End of a perfect holiday - over all too soon but packed with fun and wonderful things and the best of companions.

If you feel the need to go back and see it all again from day one, just click here "in the midnight hour"

this could be Rotterdam

Wednesday 26 to Sunday 31 October - 'Five go to Antwerp and Rotterdam'

(or if you'd prefer to start this holiday at the beginning, please start with "in the midnight hour")

SATURDAY

Early morning at the palatial Antwerpen Centraal - an incredible station with layer upon layer of platform levels and huge cathedral-like spaces inside.

We also spied Antwerp Zoo right next to the station - we've got to visit that next time we return - looked amazing on the outside and it's said to be one of the oldest zoos in the world, founded in 1843.

And yes, we are still inside the station . . .

 awaiting the crowded 9:45 to Rotterdam - we had to stand all the way, it was jammed!!

We travelled through a thick white mist as we crossed the Belgian/Dutch border but as soon as we hit Rotterdam the sky cleared and the sun came out.  We stashed our cases in the left luggage and headed straight out to the bus terminus to await our bus to the Spaanse Polder industrial zone, north-west of Rotterdam.

Waiting for the bus was a dream on these swivel seats.

First stop a wonderful 2 hour tour of the incredible UNESCO-listed Van Nelle Fabriek.  This was a real treat and such an incredible modernist building built in 1931.  We heard all the fascinating history of the family and it's use as a tobacco, coffee and tea factory.  It was designed by Leendert van der Vlugt.

View of Rotterdam from the roof of the Van Nelle factory

and of the De Schie Prison below - designed by Carel Weeber

And somehow the Van Nelle factory preservation got me to wondering what they will do with the old purpose built modernist Cadbury's factory in Moreton where so many of us worked over the years.  Its 70 acres now empty and up for sale.  So much inside: all the different old production lines and packing stations and the staff theatre, recreation and dining rooms. And all those old clocking-on machines in the entrances!!  I hope they allow tours before it's possibly demolished for much needed housing.  Might have to turn urban explorer if not . . .Now I know I am diverging from Rotterdam, but a quick google and I have uncovered that the landscaping around the factory, still there to see from the Merseyrail, was the work of Geoffrey Jellicoe as this fascinating post explains - The Cadbury factory, a pivotal modern landscape.

But back to the lovely Rotterdam . . .
We left Van Nelle, walking through the estates it's workers had lived in, and took the tram into the city centre.  Our next stop was the beautiful Rem Koolhaus art gallery, the KunstHal

first stop, you've guessed, was for lunch and I had a pretty amazing lentil soup

loved this Anthony Gormley figure on the top

and how about this for a green transport system . . .

loving Rotterdam very spacious and modern with a great excitement and outward looking feel about it.
This was a theatre designed by Bolles and Wilson, right next to our hotel

And we finally check into said hotel, the fabulous Nhow - also designed by Rem Koolhaus

and this was the view from our windows on floors 19 & 20 as night set in - the famous Erasmus Bridge by UNStudio spanning the River Maas - you'd think it didn't get much better than this - but wait til you see the morning light on it tomorrow!!

Anyway, after a great 4 course tasting meal in the panoramic restaurant, we strolled along the quay to the New York Bar for a final nightcap then wandered back to our hotel with all the city sparkling at our feet along the river.  Magical

So ofcourse I had to finish with this one, as it was swirling around in our heads all day!! Click and enjoy . . .

and tomorrow was our last day in Rotterdam so be sure to tune in and read all about it.