Last night after our not-so-great Surinamese dinner, we wandered a bit. Here are some photos. Above: Maybe the “grands” live here?
Day: May 12, 2026
Red Grooms
In one of the convention center size rooms making up the Migrant exhibit at the FENIX is a bus made out of fabric that visitors can walk into. The Bus is the work of an American artist named Red Grooms. Red is from Nashville. He’s estimated that he has traveled by bus twenty-four times to…
A taste of Suriname
Rotterdam, according to some sources, is one of the best places in the world for Surinamese food. Outside of Suriname I suppose. Surinamese food reflects a mix of North African, Indonesian, Indian, Chinese, and a hint of Dutch (Suriname was a Dutch colony at one time). Grubb had a yen to try. We tracked down…
Favorite Piece of Luggage
Ella’s already given you an introduction to the FENIX and the exhibit on the first floor of luggage that has traveled through Rotterdam in the last hundred years. The narrative that went with a suitcase that I enjoyed was the one where a gay guy from Rotterdam in the the 1920s made it a habit…
View from a Bridge
Inside the SS Rotterdam there were tipsy ghosts in full-skirted flower-patterned gowns serenaded by Frank Sinatra. They sat on squat chairs designed for bustles to be draped over the back. Outside, on the deck, the promenading ghosts seemed to have been whisked away by the chill weather, but the stiff breeze offered an opportunity to get…
The fabulous FENIX, Rotterdam
Our time at the FENIX was so poignant that it will take a few posts to describe. And by the way, gratitude to our friend Esther for telling us about the museum. The FENIX opened just one year ago. It was inaugurated by the queen of the Netherlands, Queen Máxima. FENIX is an art museum…