Rotterdam, Netherlands

Friday August 3rd

So we did not know what to expect while in Rotterdam, but we definitely experienced a different part of the Netherlands culture.  On this Netherlands tour, we have been able to experience the rural culture of the farms, cheese and people who actually wear clogs on a daily basis, to the crowds of people and bikes, as well as the old historical setting of Amsterdam to what seems to be the more modern business class of Netherlands.  We were very surprised by how much construction and new buildings there were in Rotterdam.

The first building we saw coming off of the train was The Cube.

As we were walking through The Cube, we found a giant chess board, but we realized that the different pieces were actually specific iconic buildings throughout Rotterdam.  

The game was tight and actually lasted about an hour…this was the first time we ever played chess against each other….and what better place to do it then in The Cube in the Netherlands, playing with special architectural pieces!

We spent our first hour and a half in Rotterdam playing an intense game of chess!!  It was great!!

Jenna took the win!

The chess game and its pieces actually lead us to another game that afternoon…we rented bikes and had to find all of the buildings that were chess pieces!  It was fun and we were able to find them all!!

Sweet art

On our bike ride!

Steve figuring out where we are!

The awesome stop lights for bikes!

We were on a budget meal plan today, this was our lunch and dinner, for only 7 euros!  Nothing like a 1L bottle of red wine for 3 euros!

                                 Baguette, Meat, Gouda, and Wine!                   The Stinging Nettle cheese we got in Volendam

One thing everyone has to see while in the Netherlands is a traditional windmill!  We had plans to bike an hour and a half to see a rural setting of 19 different windmills (since transit did not take you there), but by the time we got our bikes rented it was too late, so we found the only windmill in Rotterdam.

Bikes, Windmills, and the Dutch...what more could you ask for!

 yay windmill!

On our bike ride we came across a Spitfire Skateboard team being filmed by Trasher Magazine.  They were heading to the Vans competition in Amsterdam.  We caught them playing on some urban obstacles.  Steve was extremely impressed and spent 10 mins living vicariously through the talented skaters.

As we were leaving Rotterdam this morning, on Saturday August 4th, we passed through a market that they must have every saturday in Rotterdam.  There were so many sewing booths and flowers!

Architectural Highlight in Rotterdam

Erasmusberg

Architect: Ben VanBerkel

Bending the bridge...so strong!

We are saying good-bye to the Netherlands, which has been really great!  Now we are off to Brussels, Belgium for one night, basically to eat lots of belgium chocolate and drink beer!  And then Luxembourg for 2 nights, where our fairy tale dreams are suppose to come true…I've already got my Prince Charming though, so I'm not sure how much better it can get! :D