Monday – August 21, 2017
We were docked in the city of Rotterdam for two days to mark the middle of the cruise and load the ship for our return trip to Boston. Some passengers disembarked this morning and a few more boarded to take their place. We could have done half the cruise but since the itineraries were different we decided to complete the circle; leave from Boston and return to Boston. On the way back to North America we’re going to stop at three more towns in northern Iceland and visit another town in Greenland.
Yesterday we took a one-hour bus ride from Rotterdam to Amsterdam because we wanted to visit the Rijks Museum. Today we planned to see the city of Rotterdam – our ship’s namesake.
First we had to get our passports stamped and go through an abbreviated customs procedure. Afterwards, we took the shuttle bus from our side of the harbor across the Erasmus Bridge over the Maas River to the “Centrum” of Rotterdam. We stood on the corner and looked around at the buildings and noticed the variety of architectural diversity which surrounded us. Contemporary architect must have had great fun designing all the multi-purpose “modern” buildings in Rotterdam.
Down the street were the “Cube Houses” which looked like rectangular prisms stacked and mounted on tall columns. When we approached the Cube Houses we realized we could walk through a center courtyard. Light streamed in between angles of the rectangles. One of the houses was open to the public so we paid 2 Euros and climbed the steep stairs into the cube.
There were three levels: living room/kitchen on the first; bath & bedrooms on the second. An attic with slanted walls and skylights was on the top floor. The house was small, modern, and compact with circular stairs, but it seemed like it could be a fun place to live for young people. Price tag: 250,000 Euros.
There was a steel structure in the middle of the plaza which looked like a flying saucer. We discovered that it was the roof of the train station.
The market was built in the center of the base of an apartment building and painted with huge murals. The market was a huge food/restaurant center with international restaurants and cafes. We walked through and around the stalls surprised at the choices: Turkish, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, Italian, Greek, Thai, Spanish, and Mexican. I’m not sure how to categorize a “spicy sushi burrito.” Free Wifi in the market meant that many people (some from our ship) were hanging around staring at their devices.
The hours passed quickly and we took the shuttle bus back to the ship in time to have a very late lunch. I tried to post my blog in the ship’s terminal with about a hundred other Wifi deprived seniors. Unfortunately, it didn’t work so I returned to the ship in plenty of time for our 4:00 sailing.
Jeff and I went out to the top rear deck for the Cast Away Party to watch the Rotterdam pull away from the dock. She blared her horn and off we went down the Maas River and out to the Atlantic Ocean. It took two and a half hours to get beyond the last buoy marking the entrance to the harbor. We stood for the duration and watched the huge, seemingly endless commercial Port of Rotterdam go by. We learned it is the third largest commercial port in the world after Singapore and Shanghai.
I was happy that we explored Rotterdam today. Several years ago when we were in Holland, we had decided not to see Rotterdam because it was a commercial city. We had no idea that it was such an appealing and interesting city. We only scratched the surface of ‘things to see’ so it would be fun to return someday.
