De verwoeste stad

[Fat_old_dwarf]

I never drink in the land of coffeeshops, unless I'm with a drinker who insists, but for whatever reason I contemplated a beer in Rotterdam. Not at the station bar, though, as it only had Heineken; there are limits. But by the time I found what looked like reasonable neighbourhood pubs, with a fair selection of Belgian beers, it was late, and abstinence seemed better. I did another spell on the swivel seats, and it was only when I was safely ensconced on my way home that I realised the jacket had been well and truly given to the city, once again forgotten. Appropriately, it was left facing the building I still failed to acknowledge as a masterpiece: the Groot Handelsgebouw, modelled on the somewhat older Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and even less interesting. I love the name, though, and would have loved to be a fly on the wall at the meeting where they decided on it, avoiding duller alternatives.

Tl:dr – Rotterdam isn't really a city for the cannabis connoisseur, but if you happen to find yourself there, you won't be deprived. If you're changing trains and want a quick smoke, walk down Nieuwe Binnenweg for a choice of six coffeeshops, three of which allow smoking on the premises. If you've chosen the civilised route on the Harwich-Hoek van Holland ferry, you'll probably arrive in Rotterdam before 10am, so you might want to walk the other way, left towards 't Trefpunkt, in order to have breakfast at the nearby Hema. Something I'd always intended to do, but never seemed to be around one at the right time. And I missed it on this occasion as well, because I assumed there'd be quite a few around as in Mokum, but there appears to be only one, which I found too late. Still, there's always next time.

[Nuggz]

I never drink in the land of coffeeshops, unless I'm with a drinker who insists, but for whatever reason I contemplated a beer in Rotterdam. Not at the station bar, though, as it only had Heineken; there are limits. But by the time I found what looked like reasonable neighbourhood pubs, with a fair selection of Belgian beers, it was late, and abstinence seemed better. I did another spell on the swivel seats, and it was only when I was safely ensconced on my way home that I realised the jacket had been well and truly given to the city, once again forgotten. Appropriately, it was left facing the building I still failed to acknowledge as a masterpiece: the Groot Handelsgebouw, modelled on the somewhat older Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and even less interesting. I love the name, though, and would have loved to be a fly on the wall at the meeting where they decided on it, avoiding duller alternatives.

Tl:dr – Rotterdam isn't really a city for the cannabis connoisseur, but if you happen to find yourself there, you won't be deprived. If you're changing trains and want a quick smoke, walk down Nieuwe Binnenweg for a choice of six coffeeshops, three of which allow smoking on the premises. If you've chosen the civilised route on the Harwich-Hoek van Holland ferry, you'll probably arrive in Rotterdam before 10am, so you might want to walk the other way, left towards 't Trefpunkt, in order to have breakfast at the nearby Hema. Something I'd always intended to do, but never seemed to be around one at the right time. And I missed it on this occasion as well, because I assumed there'd be quite a few around as in Mokum, but there appears to be only one, which I found too late. Still, there's always next time.

For this last post specifically, you should have wrote: TL;DR - I contemplated doing quite a few things, but in the end I didn't...

[aVeryOldLady]

Great write up, cracked me up a couple of times.
Don't know why I haven't seen this one earlier.

[CruMember]

"Omschrijving: Kerstman met "een gestyleerde kerstboom" en een bel" ("Santa Claus with a "stylised Xmas-tree" and a bell")

http://www.bkor.nl/kunstwerken/santa-claus/

...think Santa just holds a huge "gestyleerde" Xmas weed pipe

Cheers, dude! Great review!