If you make it to Rotterdam, you must go to the Markthal - try to be there at dusk when it is lit up - amazing Market Hall! https://www.markthal.nl/en

Fabulous teacher !

<i>menachem on Apr 8, 17 at 12:44am
no. it would be "graag gedaan", or "tot uw dienst"</i>

I checked with my friend in Haarlem. Paula replied "He is right. Graag gedaan or Tot uw dienst is the correct reaction. Nonetheless is the last expression rather old fashioned. Use 'graag gedaan' "

Score a point for menachem.

Now to
<i>WoinParis on Apr 8, 17 at 6:02am
Now you tell them how to pronounce it, Menachem ;-)</i>

The Dutch letter g has no equivalent in English, except for clearing your throat. And graag has two of those g letters in one syllable. Nevertheless it is a very useful word in Holland, as in "Graag een pils."

or - to continue basic Dutch in bars - een bier alstublieft ;)

gailscout, I live almost opposite Markthal. We bought a house in the area in 2000. Back then, we had a small Albert Heijn supermarket, and almost no one wanted to live there, mostly offices and failing shops. 15 years have really transformed the area around Binnenrotte. The Markthal has been an important factor in that, but it is one element in a strategy to make the neighbourhood more appealing. This has also led to a re-appraisal of what was a neglected period in architecture: the post war Reconstruction Effort. The area east of Mariniersweg is the beautiful example of evolving views on how to reconstruct a city from its ashes, so to speak. The exciting thing about Rotterdam is that it is ever evolving, changing all the time.

I have to disagree here.
Graag en belgisch bier.
That way you have something good ;-)

Anyway I have à French accented accented when speaking Flemish. So be it.
But I can pronounce 'schild en vriend' in a passable way which may have saved my life at the gulden sporen battle.

menachem - yes, Rotterdam blew us away! I only selected it on our way to Amsterdam as I found a B&B named Rene & Mary's, which is the father's and mother's names of my husband and his sister, who I was traveling with. Felt it was a sign we should go there. We loved walking around and who doesn't like a city with a "cool" district. You don't live in those cube houses that tilt forward, do you?

Rotterdam also has the iconic Sensi Smile coffeeshop -one of the oldest in Holland

https://sensiseeds.com/en

Was a popular stop for some bikers on bike trips I once led thru Rotterdam!

Not for everyone but anyone can walk inside to see the archtypal Dutch coffeeshop (where cannabis not coffee are featured on the menu!).

gailscout: coolhaven, or cool heaven, that's quite a difference :)

and looks like a very good b&b and right off Witte de Withstraat as well!

We live in the apartment block opposite the cube houses. We did consider them, as at the time, they were the only affordable family homes in the neighbourhood!