Architecture – Willem's Planet

April 27, 2025April 28, 2025

Sunday/ a new condominium tower

I walked around downtown’s Third Avenue this afternoon, and took a few pictures of the new First Light 48-story condominium complex at the edge of Belltown neighborhood. I had no access to go inside, but just look up “First Light Seattle” for glamorous pictures of the pool deck, and views of Puget Sound and the Space Needle.

It has 459 units that range from studios ($650k and up) to 3-bed, 3-bath penthouses ($3m and up).

This is Virginia Street, with 3rd Avenue at the traffic light.
The First Light condo tower has 48 stories.
That cantilevered structure at the top is a deck with a swimming pool and a hot tub.

Third Avenue is on the route for several buses; also the C-Line Rapid Ride.
Great for the condo residents and their visitors to have bus stops right there, but one has to wonder how many will actually use it.
There is an 8-level parking garage with 373 parking spaces below the tower!

Looking up, standing on 3rd Avenue.
The City of Seattle has made great strides at keeping the downtown streets tidy and clean. There actually were cleaners out and about today with their three-wheel bikes fitted with large baskets with brooms and cleaning supplies.

The base floors of the building have these strands of cables fitted with disks of glass.
The First Light website says designer John Hogan’s “veil” of strung glass disks by the office floors diffuse the bland looks outside (parking garages and brick walls), and at the same time increases the privacy inside.

So yes: in the immediate vicinity of the First Light building (looking south down 3rd Avenue), the old parking garages and brick buildings do not offer a whole lot to look at.

April 19, 2025

Saturday/ more stamps from Japan

I completed a few more pages with stamps from Japan for my ‘world travels’ album.

April 13, 2025April 13, 2025

Sunday/ U-district

It was time for a jaunt to U-district on the light rail today.
The books are from Magus second-hand bookstore and the other pictures are all from around University Way NE.

March 24, 2025March 25, 2025

Monday/ a lot of gray

Enduring sightings of the sun, since spring had started here in Seattle, are still hard to come by, but we had 57°F (14 °C) today. The high might bump up to 67°F (19°C) tomorrow.

Late afternoon, I walked all the way down to the edge of South Lake Union, and back up to Capitol Hill.

Construction on the 45-story apartment towers at **1200 Stewart Street** is still crawling to completion. It looks as if the glass windows and doors have been installed all the way to the top now, but the balconies on those upper floors still need rails and who know what goes on, on the inside.

After I have crossed Interstate 5 on the Denny Way overpass, I always turn around to look for the Space Needle.
There it is, hiding behind the **Onni South Lake Union apartment towers** (completed May 2022) at 1120 Denny Way.

March 16, 2025March 17, 2025

Sunday/ the Seattle waterfront

I took the G-line bus to Colman Dock (the ferry terminal) and the Waterfront late this afternoon, and walked up to Pike Place Market.

Hey! Three gray Teslas at the Madison Street & Broadway intersection.
(I had missed the G-line bus up at the 17th Avenue stop by a minute and now I’m walking down Madison Street to the stop on Boylston Avenue).

Now I’m at the **Boylston Avenue** stop, and looking back up along Madison Street to see if the bus is coming. Yes! there it is at the top of the hill. Can you see it?

I hopped off the stop at 1st Avenue near the waterfront.
I could not resist taking a picture of the beautiful **The Federal Office Building** nearby— constructed in 1932 and ‘an exuberant example of Art Deco architecture’, says Wikipedia.

At Colman Dock (Pier 52) now, and a look at the city skyline from there.

One of two blue herons on the rocks below catching a little of the last sunlight of the day.
It was sunny today, but definitely not warm— 50°F/ 10°C for a high.

Art installation on the waterfront promenade. I will have to look up the artist.

Here’s the patio by **Old Stove Brewing Co.** at Pike Place Market with its lovely overlook of Puget Sound’s Elliott Bay.
A Scottish band’s members are playing their drums and bagpipes for the crowd, but I don’t know the band’s name or if it was for a special occasion.

Vivid colors on the mural at the entrance to light rail’s Westlake Station downtown. A quick 4-minute ride from here gets me back up to Capitol Hill.

February 3, 2025February 3, 2025

Monday/ perfins

A perfin is a stamp that has a name or initials perforated into it.
The word “perfin” is short for “perforated initials” or “perforated insignia”.
Perfins are used to prevent theft and control how the stamp is used for mail.
How are perfins created?
Individuals, organizations, or government agencies add perfins to stamps after the production process.
The holes are punched into the stamp’s design to create a pattern.
Source: Google Search Labs/ AI Overview

These are the only perfins I have found so far (among the thousands of stamps I have amassed for my collection and for my philatelic ‘research’ ).
The U.S. stamp bottom left is also pre-cancelled. Pre-cancelled stamps were used for mass-mailings, making it unnecessary for the post office to cancel them, and expediting their processing.

**1961 First Definitive Issue (New Design), South Africa**
Issued Jan. 20, 1969
Perf. 13½x14 |Phosphor frame |Wmk. RSA tête-bêche
SACC282 |1c |Rose-red & sepia |Coral Tree Flowers (Erythina lysistemon)
**Perfin initials “D.C.”**

**1982 Fourth Definitive Issue (Architecture), South Africa**
Issued Jul. 15, 1982
Perf. 14 |Design: A.H. Barrett |Engraving: Arthur Howard Barrett |Litho. |Phosphorized paper |No Wmk
SACC524 |10c |Carmine brown |Pietermaritzburg Town Hall
*Perfin insignia “C C C” (or possibly “V V V”)*

**1923 United States of America (U.S. Presidents and prominent Americans)**
Issued Jan. 15, 1923
Perf. 11×10½ |No Wmk
Scott 562 A165|10c |Orange |James Monroe (5th U.S. President)
**Perfin insignia “WFH”**
**Pre-cancelled “Chicago IL”**
[Sources: stampworld, South African Colour Catalogue 2023-25, Scott 2003 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1]

January 22, 2025January 31, 2025

Wednesday/ additions to my album

Is a stamp collection— any collection— ever complete?
One can always add objects that are ever-so-slightly different than the ones already in there.

Check out these additions to my South African stamp album, which is already a complete collection of all the issues by the South African post office*.

*The years 1910 to 2020, when the last postage stamps were issued.
Iceland stopped producing postage stamps in 2020 as well, and Finland has indicated it may soon follow suit.

I don’t carry whole stamp booklets in my stamp album, but these cute “razor blade” booklets with the art deco-ish fonts on their covers fit into the narrow plastic pockets that normally carry stamps, and voila! they are now part of my collection.
“Post your letters during the lunch hour” instructs the booklet on the back. Cute— but in 2025 we don’t really have lunch hours and definitely no letters to put in the mail anymore; a time now long gone

I modeled this page on a preprinted page I found online, of German stamp album producer Leuchtturm (hence the German descriptions for the colors, which I kept as-is, just for fun).

For an unknown reason, this is the only stamp in the series with a “hatched up” version of the text on the stamp (the “RSA 4c”, made up of stripes that go up from left to right), as well as a “hatched down” version.
Are they really different stamps? Of course they are.

One more example of a slight variation in one of the issues.
The 30c stamp in this series was printed on phosphorescent as well as non-phosphorescent paper, and therefore the two versions are also different stamps!
(I only had a pair of these stamps— no singles— and I don’t break up pairs, so the pair goes into the album as-is).
All other stamps in the series were printed on phosphorescent paper only.
One needs a UV-light to see the difference.

January 19, 2025January 31, 2025

Sunday

I made it to Volunteer Park today, all bundled up.
It felt colder than the 42 °F (5 °C) reported on my phone’s weather app.

Volunteer Park with its Victorian-style greenhouse structure in the distance, modeled on London’s Crystal Palace.

January 16, 2025

Thursday/ beautiful inside

It was my last day in Munich, and I ran out to Marienplatz one more time with the streetcar.
It was just about noon, and the glockenspiel* on the townhall’s clock tower played to a smattering of on-lookers that risked getting frostbite on their fingertips as they held up their phones to record a video of it. (I was one of them).
From Marienplatz I went to a few beautiful U-bahn stations on the U1 line to take pictures.

*The Rathaus-Glockenspiel is a large mechanical clock located in Marienplatz square, in old town Munich. Famous for its life-size characters, the clock twice daily re-enacts scenes from Munich’s history.

Here is a jousting scene depicted by the glockenspiel. One of the knights was mortally injured, and falls backward on the horse.

These enormous and dramatic lamp scones are at Westfriedhof on the U1 line.

And I made this yellow one appear to sit on top of the SOS pillar.

On the far end of the U1 line is the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum station. There are huge metal studs that line the wall, creating a spaceship-futuristic look.

Nearby, and also on the U1 line, is Oberwiesenfeld station with a black and white tile pattern on the one side ..

Candidplatz on the south end of the U1 line is painted in the colors of the rainbow.

January 15, 2025January 18, 2025

Wednesday/ snow on the ground

It started snowing at around 8 am this morning here in Munich, but it could not have been more than an inch an or so, from what I could tell.

I used the Line 19 streetcar again to get Hauptbahnhof (the main train station), and from there, ran out to Odeonsplatz and a comic book store on Fraunhoferstrasse.

The view from my hotel room (using my phone’s 5x zoom to zoom in on the Deutsche Bahn train maintenance station) at 8 this morning.

Here comes the Line 18 streetcar, at Am Lok-schuppen station.

At **Sendlinger Tor station**, I stepped off the streetcar and went underground to the U-bahn.
(The sidewalk surfaces were treacherous with the snow and ice, and there were no pedestrian crossings to speak of. Then I realized that is the other use of any U-bahn station: it’s an under passage for pedestrians to get from one side of an intersection to the other).

Here is **Odeonsplatz**, named for the former concert hall, the Odeon, on its northwestern side. The church is the Theatine Church of St. Cajetan and Adelaide (German: Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan und Adelheid)— a Roman Catholic church. It was consecrated 11 July, 1675.

Taking a closer look at the heraldic elements in the center (the lions and the white-and-blue checkered pattern is taken from the coat of arms of Bavaria).

Here is the nearby Hofgarten (Eng. ‘Courtyard garden’), established in 1613.

Back inside the **Sendlinger Tor** U-bahn station. I love the giant white saucer-shaped light fixtures.

This is a comic book store called **Comic Company** near Fraunhoferstrasse station.
I bought used three comic books for all of Є8.40. More books to weigh down my luggage but hey, I was still 10+ pounds under the weight limit with both my suitcases when I checked them in at Cape Town.

By the time I hopped off the Line 18 streetcar close to my hotel, the snow had started to melt.

January 14, 2025January 14, 2025

Tuesday/ a cold day in Munich

I put on full kit and kaboodle this morning, before venturing out in the frigid weather. I limited my excursions outside to Hauptbahnhof and Marienplatz.
(The day started at -7 °C and the high briefly reached 0°C.)

The **Line 19** street car stops almost in front of my hotel, at **Am Lok-schuppen station**.
I used it to run out the **Hauptbahnhof** (main station), and to Marienplatz. There is a ticket machine on the street car– very convenient, and only €11,10 for a Zone 3 day ticket.
There is not much of the Hauptbahnhof buildings visible from the street, because of a major construction-refurbishment project that is underway.

**Marienplatz** and its ‘new’ town hall. New is a relative term here. Marienplatz has been the city’s main square since 1158. I took this picture from inside the Hugendubel bookstore on the square.

Taking a closer look at the clock tower of the town hall.

Inside the U-bahn station by Marienplatz. This track serves the trains running on the U3 and U6 lines.

Here are the platforms at the **Münchner Freiheit** U-bahn station.

Now I’m back at Marienplatz, and the sunlight that had added a few degrees to the chilly temperatures is fading fast. So it is getting really cold again.

The iconic town towers of the **Frauenkirche** nearby Marienplatz. This church was constructed from 1468–1488.

Volt Germany is a social-liberal pro-European, eurofederalist political party in Germany.
A federal election will be held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag.
Check out this poster.
**LET’S TAKE BACK THE FUTURE— with a strong Europe against Trump and Putin.**

Sunset here is at 4.48 pm. I have just stepped off the street car at Am Lok-schuppen station for the 3 minute walk to my hotel.

January 13, 2025January 14, 2025

Sunday/ in Stellenbosch

My brother and I ran out to Stellenbosch University (our alma mater) on Sunday.
We stopped at the Faculty of Engineering, at Dagbreek Men’s Residence and at the Neelsie Student Centre.

A major remodeling of the main wing of the Faculty of Engineering is underway.

The buildings for the individual departments of the Faculty of Engineering look a little different from 40 years ago, with lettering and new windows. The engineering library is now called the ‘knowledge center’ (Afr. kennissentrum). Hmm.

A little house remodeled into offices, across from the Faculty of Engineering.

Here’s Victoria Street in summer time, with the trees a neon green, and the sky azure blue. The historic dormitories of Stellenbosch University as well as administrative buildings are found here.

The tennis courts where I had spent countless hours playing on as a student, are still there, as is **Helshoogte Men’s Residence**, and **Simonsberg mountain** in the distance.

The **Neelsie Student Centre** is quiet now, but will be abuzz with students come February when the new academic year gets underway.

**Red Square*** (Afr. Rooiplein) with its sun dial.
*Officially, it is the Jan Marais Square. A long time ago, though, students jokingly started calling the Administration Building nearby the ‘Kremlin’ because the notice boards (where exam results and class marks were pinned up) would declare their fate as a students. So this is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the main city square in Moscow that is the real Red Square.

January 12, 2025January 12, 2025

Saturday/ around Mossel Bay

It was time to drive back from Plettenberg Bay to Cape Town on Saturday.
I stopped at my uncle and aunt in Mossel Bay, and took a few pictures around downtown and the beaches.

The town of **Mossel Bay** lies on a outcrop called The Point, about 2 hours’ drive west from Plettenberg Bay. This is where Portuguese mariner and becoming the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa.
In recent years it has become a very popular destination for retirees and for younger people moving from South Africa’s northern provinces to the Western Cape province.

Here’s the sands and calm waters of **Santos Beach** that has just a hint of surf.

The boat and water sport enthusiasts hang out on the other end of the beach, where there is a **launch ramp** for fishing boats and other craft.

The ‘**Stone Church**‘ (Afr. Klipkerk) of the Dutch Reformed Church on Church St in downtown.
The cornerstone was laid in 1878 and the church was consecrated in 1880.

Further down on **Church Street** the blue water of the bay come into view.

The **Prince Vintcent Building** on Bland Street dates back to 1901. It hosts architects offices, cafes, bakeries and studios.

The St Blaize Terrace building from 1909 is on Marsh Street near The Point.

Nearby is this beautiful building for **the old The Point High School** (which now houses **Milkwood Primary School**).
Keating & Co did the construction, also in 1909. The stones were quarried in the hills and transported with cocopans on the rails to the school. Different stones were used: dark pink stones contrasts with the sandstone around the windows.

This tide pool is across from **The Point Caravan Park**.

January 9, 2025January 10, 2025

Thursday

Here is a selection of photos du jour.

There was no palm tree at this beach house that belonged to my family thirty years ago. My dad sold it in 1996 and some time after that it was turned into a self-catering guest house.

The 6-story atrium inside the **Beacon Isle hotel**.

This is a **western cattle egret** (Bubulcus ibis).

A decorative mask from Ghana, for sale in the Global Village art store here in Plettenberg Bay for US $184.

December 22, 2024January 1, 2025

Sunday/ in Frankfurt

Here are a few pictures from today, as well as a few clippings from the Sunday newspapers.

This closed-for-traffic street across from the **Hauptbahnhof station** (main train station) is lined with restaurants from the Middle East and the Far East. **Döner kebab** is very popular in Frankfurt: a dish of Turkish origin made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie.

Inside the Hauptbahnhof. This train from regional operator Hessische Landesbahn GmbH (HLB) is a Bombardier Talent 2 model ET150 (a German manufacturer as far as I can tell, not the Bombardier that makes business jet airplanes). It is about to depart for Giessen, a 42-min trip to the north of Frankfurt.

Hello. A fluffy pup inside the food court at the Hauptbahnhof station.

My lunch from seafood franchise Noordsee. It’s Norwegian salmon. Very nice. An elderly woman took the seat across from mine.
“Ich spreche nur ein wenig Deutsch” (I speak only a little German), I said. It was a little noisy to carry on a conversation, anyway. As I got up, she pointed to my phone and said “Dein Handy” (your cell phone). Cute word— and appropriate— that handy thing called a “Handy” in German.

**Paulaner from Munich** also makes non-alcoholic beer now. (Weissbier is a wheat beer: a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley (from Wikepedia). I will have some more when I stop over in Munich on the way back from South Africa.

Back at the Flughafen train station, and across the street some nice dinosaurs on the sidewalk walls promote the **Senckenberg Nature Museum** in Frankfurt.

“A MOOSE COW HAS ESCAPED FROM SCHONFIELDE WILD PARK”
“WELL, ONE CAN SPOT THEM EASILY, BIG AS THEY ARE .. “
” .. BUT THEY CAN STILL BE ASTONISHINGLY DIFFICULT TO FIND”
[Cartoon by Naomi Feam for newspaper Tagesspiegel]

A loose translation of a few paragraphs in this piece titled “**When trees and nerves are burning out/ How to survive Christmas nonetheless**” reads like this:
Christmas can be a pretty stressful time. We have baked cookies, made the Christmas wreath, drunk mulled wine at overcrowded Christmas markets— and what now? Now the time has come. The extended family is about to arrive. Or: you find yourself in a crowded train traveling across the country and have to split your time between Christmas Eve and Christmas Holiday because your parents are separated. Grandma Inge wants to see you again, and Uncle Bert and his new girlfriend have invited you to dinner. Once you have managed all of that, New Years Eve follows. You should be totally festive here, as well— but now with sparklers and a glass of champagne in hand. And heaven forbid it’s not a great party! In short, December is a seemingly endless series of social, personal and societal expectations and gatherings that could send you straight into end-of-the-year burnout. How the hell is one supposed to survive all of that?

This cartoon refers to the chaos in the German coalition government. (Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote, deepening the political turbulence in Germany).
“Are these all returns? Rejected by the electorate? And what is inside yours?”
“Candidates for chancellor”.
[Cartoon by Stuttmann for Tagesspiegel newspaper]

December 21, 2024December 22, 2024

Saturday/ the Christmas market

Hey, on this winter solstice day I made it to the Christmas market at Römerberg. It was cold and raining, though, and I did not stay very long.
(It did seem that the inclement weather increased the glühwein sales volumes!)

Pictures:
Entrance hall to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main train station). There was a strong of police presence at the station. Hauptbahnhof station looked a little more ragged and rundown from the last time I saw it— especially the floors leading to the U4 & U5 subway lines’ platforms.
Poster for Messe Frankfurt (exhibition center) close by Hauptbahnhof station.
It’s two stops on the U5 subway line (turquoise train car) from Hauptbahnhof station to Römer/ Dom station to where the Christmas market is. The U5 is getting a 2.7 km (1.7 mi) extension that will open in 2027.
Last picture: the S9 regional train (red train car) arriving to take me back from Hauptbahnhof station to Flughafen (airport) station where my hotel is, a 14-minute ride.