Rotterdam

After returning the rental bike, I left Amersfoort at about 9:15 and took the train to Rotterdam. For some reason, we stopped on the tracks for about 15 minutes, so the trip took longer than expected, but that was okay, as I was not in a hurry.

When I got to the hotel, I found out that the young man working the desk was the only Dutch person under thirty who doesn’t speak English very well.  We had some miscommunication, which resulted in my having to wait until 2:00 to check into my room.  So I had about 3 hours to explore the city on foot.  I was going to rent a bike, but the guy scared me by asking if I wanted insurance. He added that if I didn’t have insurance and the bike got stolen, I would owe 500 euros — almost $750 Canadian dollars! Or I could pay 2.5 euros for insurance and then only pay 250 euros should the bike be stolen. Maybe it’s just me, but that didn’t seem like a very good deal, especially since the hotel provides the locks. I asked him if any bikes have been stolen and he said yes. A great salesman, that one! Anyway, so I opted to walk.

I walked past Rotterdam's City Hall, a rather imposing building:

I saw this church spire peeking out among the other buildings, and decided I would check it out later.

 

I was in the mood to shop, something that doesn’t happen often, so I walked around the shopping area and even bought some gifts at Bijenkorf, the classy Dutch department store. I spent less than 20 euros on some very nice items, and came out with two packages like this:

The sales clerk was an older lady -- maybe about 75-ish -- and she clearly really likes her job. She asked if my purchases were gifts, and when I said yes, she face lit up. She took about 15 minutes to wrap the items, causing me a few pangs of guilt, since there were people in line behind me. However, another clerk came to wait on them, so I could breathe easy. 

I went into a few other stores, but didn’t come out with anything. Even when I’m in the mood to shop I can’t seem to spend very much! Of course, it doesn’t help that I can only have carry-on luggage.  

I thought it was interesting to see these Dutch travel guides about Canada. Also, notice that there is one whole book about Florida!

And having recently attended sessions on indigenization of ESL curriculum, I found this little girl's top highly questionable!

Between window shopping and looking for a possible place to eat dinner (nothing looked good) I managed to kill 3 hours and went back to the hotel. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the reason I’d have to wait was that all the rooms with a city view were occupied. 

It turns out it was definitely worth the wait. This was the view from my window:

By this time I was getting hungry and since I really wanted to go bike riding, I decided I would live dangerously and rent a bike without insurance. The bikes I rented previously were all 7-speeds, but this time it was a 3-speed, an indication of how much flatter the landscape is in this part of the country. 

The first place I came to was the St. Laurens Church, beautiful inside and out:

Then I came to this big modern square with the famous Cube Houses and other architecturally unique buildings, including the Markthal, where I enjoyed a delicious fish dinner.

 

 After dinner, I rode down to the river to see the Erasmus Bridge. The Erasmus Bridge (white one) is the famous one in Rotterdam, but I also liked the red bridge, below.

I also saw the beautiful and historic "Witte Huis" (white house), which was once the tallest building in Rotterdam, and one of the few buildings in the city centre that survived the WW II bombing. Across from it are old buildings that form Oude Haven (old port).