Afrikaanderplein

The back of my building looks out over Afrikaanderplein, or African Square.  Twice a week, there is a market on the square.  There is a large paved section where city workers set up the booths one day and take them down the next.  In between markets, kids ride bikes, and roller skate, and scooter around.  There are painted "roads" on the ground, I assume for the kids to play on and as a way to learn traffic safety.

There are trees, too, with platforms around them and lots of times you will see folks sitting on the platforms eating lunch or just hanging out and chatting.  There are also several different playgrounds that are entirely fenced, presumably so that parents only have to watch for escapes at one place.  The playgrounds are age segregated, so there is a little playground that is suited for little bitty kids and other playgrounds that have taller slides and bigger jungle gyms for older kids.  There are a couple of day-cares/schools that are nearby and I think that they sometimes use the equipment.

There is also an indoor sports pavilion where kids can go play basketball and do other activities.

There are rows of public port-a-johns along one side of the park but I think they are only used when there are events.  There is also an administration building of some kind, which has toilets, and during market days, it is open.  They are pay toilets and you have to pay 0.30 euros to use them (about 50 cents).






There is also a row of storage sheds painted in bright, primary colors.  They store balls and sports equipment in there for people to use.

There is a huge, open, grassy center to the square.  It has paths running through it every which way and there are benches and tables scattered all through it where you can sit.  There is even a bit of the canal, over which you can cross on a bridge and look at the birds and the submerged shopping carts.

Since it was beautifully sunny on Thursday, I went out and sat on a bench in the sunshine and read school books for this coming year.  It was really pleasant and, even though the book was really boring, I finished it, so that makes me happy.

For some reason, there is a large stone hippopotomus at one of the entrances to the park.  I do not know why.

Also, the park is full of all kinds of birds.  Primarily seagulls, some kind of brown seagulls, some kind of smaller, cuter seagulls, some Eurasian Coots, and even some Mallards.  People bring old bread and feed them in the park and it is pretty entertaining to watch the gulls fight over the food, although it does put one in mind of "The Birds".  I don't know what the general pecking order is among the birds but I do know that Coots beat Mallards, because they kept pecking at and chasing them away.

I had heard that some people did not appreciate my ornithological side trails (I almost said "wild goose chases"---he he) so I didn't take a lot of bird pictures.  Then I remembered that this is about what I am actually doing so I took a picture of another Coot, just because, and because I happen to look at birds a lot.

I was trying to get a picture of its eye because at least some of them have really creepy, glowey, red eyes but this one didn't really, so it may be only the males have the red, red eyes.