3 B's: Boats, Bikes and Bridges - the Netherlands at its very best!

CRUSH!

Today I took my camera and went for a walk. And oh my god. I think I have a crush on the place where I live. Once I start taking pictures, there is just no stopping it! See, we live on this tiny island in the heart of Rotterdam, on the West coast of Netherlands. And living on this little island, naturally we're always surrounded by water, and boats, and bridges. And those just make for such an awesome scenery.

Our side of the Noordereiland, a tiny island on the middle of the Maas

The 3 B's

Boats, bridges. And bikes. I love taking pictures of bikes too, especially together with boats. It might be my genes. Because when it comes to this little country of ours, 26% of it lies below sea level, 21% of the population lives below sea level (that includes my husband and me), and only 50% of the country is higher than one meter above sea level. It's one wet, low, and flat place to live. If you don't enjoy water, then better go somewhere else, I guess. The bridges come with the water. And the bikes are just an awesome way of transport when the country is so super flat.

The neighbor's bike, very modern and simplistic. Goes well with the boat.

We have a lot of these around these days: O-bikes. Apparently you can access them through some kind of app. Never tried, I have a bike of my own. Which I was wanting to tell you about: we got new bikes for ourselves, and they are absolutely wonderful!

Look at them! Pretty neat, right? They're from a Dutch brand called Gazelle (both a Dutch and English word), and I just feel it's such an appropriate name for a great bike brand, because riding a quality bike must in a way be similar to riding a horse but then much lighter and a gazelle is just what fits that idea. Obviously, I never really rode a horse ;)

We got the same bikes, but a different size and colour. The smaller one, blue, is mine.

Borsten, billen, benen

So I was taking pictures today of Boats, Bikes and Bridges, and I thought I'd write up a post and show them to you and call it the 3 B's. Which would have made for a funny title twist, except that I had the 3 Dutch B's in mind: borsten, billen, benen (breasts, behind and legs), referring to the areas of a lady's body that most men feel attracted to, and often have one of these three which they prefer over the others. For example, a guy could say he's a 'billen-man', meaning of all there is to like about a lady, he's most interested in and most affected by her but. A 'benen-man' would feel the same about a lady's legs. Just for you to be able to make some conversation when you visit here ;).

Speaking about ladies. There were boats around today with some lovely names:

This one wasn't a lady's name, but still a name well chosen, 'Panta-Rhei' being Heraclitus's phrase and meaning 'all flows'. (With a sneak-preview of 'de Hef' in the back)

And then there was Bobby, with a little public-area-personal-garden in front.

Colourful chaos

I took more than 200 pictures today. Is that normal? I was outside for quite a while, and really, really enjoyed myself. Anyway, the pictures are too many for just this one post. But among my favourites of the day were these pictures that have everything what I love most about my island. The water, the boats, the skyline, a lot of colour, and a dose of chaos. Some rusty old-fashioned ships, the worn wood, the modern buildings and then in between that ever peaceful, ever tranquil, ever quiet water, welcoming all experiences and bringing you back to some deep breaths and a moment of happiness.

See-through (and ropes)

Ropes

Rescue belts (and ropes)

More ropes

And then the colours and the retro design on this boat, with the flower curtains, and just a hint of modern office buildings in the back. I love this image, although it's very possible that no one else would consider it a great picture. Lol. What do you think?

Bridges

I think a problem with this post is I've shown you bikes and boats, but less bridges. There are 5 around my island. The most famous is probably the Erasmus bridge, which connects North and South of Rotterdam, but doesn't connect my island since it's on the middle of the river. When I walk to the West side of our island, I can take pics of the Erasmus, but I always have to take those photographs against the light (probably if I go early morning the light would be much better, but I usually go in the afternoon and then I face the setting sun) and it never really looks so great. But I promised you bridges, so here was today's best Erasmus result:

Erasmus, view from Noordereiland

Bobby and the bridge and some seagulls

Then there's the Willemsbrug, which connects our island to the North side of Rotterdam. It's not so very pretty really. They did a good job restoring it last year, including repainting in recognisable bright red. Today I just forgot about the Willemsbrug a bit, and this is the most you'll get to see of it for now:

See the red in the far back? That's the Willemsbrug.

My favourite bridge however, de Hef - I took m.a.n.y. pictures of that one. And the Koninginnebrug, which is right next to it. And the bridge on the Stieltjesstraat, opposite of Noordereiland, leading to the Entrepot Port area. So as far as the bridges go, the best is definitely still to come! Thanks for reading and for all your support, and hope you'll be back for part 2 of the 3 B's!

As always, pictures and contents are mine and Steemit originals.
Camera: Canon Powershot G7X