Jardin Atlantique
The Jardin Atlantique is a public park located on the roof of the Gare Montparnasse railway station.
Église Notre-Dame du Travail
Eglise Notre-Dame du Travail is a catholic church located near Montparnasse, in Paris. It was built in 1902 for the numerous construction workers (travailleurs) in the area. It is architected around a bare metal frame reminiscent of a factory.
Musée Bourdelle
The Musée Bourdelle is an art museum located in Montparnasse, Paris. It preserves the studio of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and also contains more than 500 of his works including marble, plaster, and bronze statues, paintings, pastels, fresco sketches, and Bourdelle’s personal collection of works from other artists. Admission to the permanent collections is free, but there is a charge for temporary exhibits.
Modern art & architecture of Rotterdam
Since its historic center was almost completely destroyed during WW2, Rotterdam was rebuilt in modern architecture after the war. In the last few years, many new towers have arisen and many new iconic buildings designed. The cityscape is also dotted with many modern sculptures.
Rotterdam walk: Along the Nieuwe Maas from Oudehaven to Kop van Zuid
Starting from the Cube Houses in Oudehaven, I first crossed the Nieuwe Maas on the way to Noordereiland, using the Willemsbrug bridge. I then continued to Wilhleminaplein and, after a detour through Rijnhaven, reached the Hotel New York and the tip of Kop van Zuid. Finally, I crossed the river again on the Erasmusbrug.
Cube houses (Kubuswoningen)
The Cube houses (Kubuswoningen) are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam in the 1970’s and designed by architect Piet Blom.
Laurenskerk (Rotterdam)
Laurenskerk (Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk) is a protestant church in Rotterdam. It is the only remnant of the medieval city, the rest having been destroyed during the Rotterdam Blitz in 1940.
Self-publishing a book with CreateSpace and Amazon
Recently, I finished a book publishing project I started around last Christmas. The book is titled “12 Partitions pour Xylophone & Métallophone à 8 Barres” and contains sheet music of French children songs that can be played on toy metallophones (aka glockenspiel) or xylophones. To self-publish the book, I used CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon. It is now for sale via Print-on-Demand on all Amazon stores :
Update Jan. 2019: I have made an English version of the book, titled “12 Songs for Toy Xylophones & Metallophones: Vol. 1 - Children’s Songs from France”. It is available through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), since CreateSpace is being shut down by Amazon. Check out the Amazon US store, the UK store and the Japan store. The publishing process through KDP is pretty similar to the one with CreateSpace, with basically the same options and workflow.
Fog in Rotterdam: Nieuwe Maas, Het Park
Starting from my hotel near Oudehaven, I walked along the Nieuwe Maas river until Leuvehaven and the Maritime Museum. Then I made a detour through the Westersingel canal, on the way to Het Park, where the Euromast is located. I had planned to visit the observatory, but I decided to postpone because of the fog. Instead, I walked back to Erasmusbrug along the river.
