No Visible Windmills...
When I think of Holland I think of wooden windmills, clog shoes, grassy landscapes, and tulips. However Rotterdam has none of these in this major metropolis. 
It has factories, shipyards, trendy stores, works of art, odd and modern architectures, food from around the globe and people dressed to the latest fashions. I started off pretty early and took one of the ship's bikes you could rent for just $1. I was by myself today since I'm the only real adventurous one today that wanted to go biking. No problem. The bike was actually good. It was a mountain bike with great shocks and my only complaint would be that the seat was too narrow and after about an hour, my butt was killing me. We dock next to Café Rotterdam and also the Erasmus Bridge. Rotterdam is an architects haven and citywide museum of interesting shapes. From buildings built on stilts, to huge overhangs, slanted skyscrapers, a pencil shaped building, and houses that are cubes standing on point. The first building I rode past was the Belvedere. Its façade is slanted and is all windows that illuminate at night with thousands of flashing green lamps. If you stand and look at the Erasmus Bridge and the Belvedere, they compliment each other in the way they lean. I then rode over the Maas River on the Erasmus Bridge (nicknamed the swan) where I was headed to a side of town I didn't see before. I crossed over the Willemsbrug Bridge into an island called M/S Noordereiland. This island was actually built up from a sand bank and a dump to a bustling residential island that's supposed to portray a ship sailing down the Maas River. You can actually go to a website (www.co-co.nl/m.s.noordereiland) to view a ship's journal. I have yet to check it out so I don't know if it'll be in Dutch or not. I didn't stay long because I had so much more to see and being an embark day I had little time to do it. 
I crossed back over the bridge and traveled into Oude Haven or Old Harbor. Here were very strange buildings. The first and most interesting thing was the Blaake Bos or "The Black Forest (cube houses). Yes they're 6-sided homes. Imagine a cube standing on its point and that's the design of the home. For 2 Euro I got to see the inside of one and it was fascinating. You travel up the steep stairs of the column to the living and dining areas on the main floor (the center of the cube). Upstairs is the bedroom, bathroom, and study. It was actually quite spacious and the outside is very deceiving. It looks very small. 
Upstairs of the bedroom is a room mostly of windows and is at the top point of the cube. You can only stand straight up in the center and I assume for most of the Dutch they'd still be bending over. There are a lot of tall people here. I wish there was something like this in the states. I'd love to live in it. Next to these buildings is a building called the Potlood. It's shaped like a pencil. Next to these structures is a train station that looks like a spaceship called Station Blaak and yet behind all these buildings is the largest library in the Netherlands where these huge tubes are flanked on the outside of the building. I biked all the way over to the other side of town where I took a trip up 185 meters in the Euromast. There's a restaurant on this tower at 100 meters and a rotating cab that rides up the spiral another 85. It gave me a breathtaking view of the city. Although at the platform where on the same level as the restaurant, my knees go a little weak since there where no huge fences like in the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building. It was just open air. The reason being was that you could actually buy an excursion where you scale the tower on ropes. Yikes! I then traveled through the beautiful park next to it It's called the Secret Park (Schoon Oord). It's open to the public, but it's privately owned by a prominent Dutch family who maintains the gardens and pathways here. There are lots of little rivers and trees and places just to sit and relax. I pressed onward and back over the Erasmus Bridge to Rijgnhaven where the justice building stands and over into Noordereiland again. I wrapped up my biking adventure at the mall today before heading back to the ship. Whew!
After we had our boat drill today for passengers, we sailed away for our next port of Le Havre, France, which is the gateway to Paris. It's going to be an early one tomorrow. As we left, tons of families and friends stood shore side waving to their families and friends on board. Our ship is full of Dutch officers and crew. Today was a busy day for visitations. However they're only a small percentage of the crew on board. The Indonesian and Philippino crew are the most populated on board. I wonder what sail away will be like when I leave Indonesia next year.
It has factories, shipyards, trendy stores, works of art, odd and modern architectures, food from around the globe and people dressed to the latest fashions. I started off pretty early and took one of the ship's bikes you could rent for just $1. I was by myself today since I'm the only real adventurous one today that wanted to go biking. No problem. The bike was actually good. It was a mountain bike with great shocks and my only complaint would be that the seat was too narrow and after about an hour, my butt was killing me. We dock next to Café Rotterdam and also the Erasmus Bridge. Rotterdam is an architects haven and citywide museum of interesting shapes. From buildings built on stilts, to huge overhangs, slanted skyscrapers, a pencil shaped building, and houses that are cubes standing on point. The first building I rode past was the Belvedere. Its façade is slanted and is all windows that illuminate at night with thousands of flashing green lamps. If you stand and look at the Erasmus Bridge and the Belvedere, they compliment each other in the way they lean. I then rode over the Maas River on the Erasmus Bridge (nicknamed the swan) where I was headed to a side of town I didn't see before. I crossed over the Willemsbrug Bridge into an island called M/S Noordereiland. This island was actually built up from a sand bank and a dump to a bustling residential island that's supposed to portray a ship sailing down the Maas River. You can actually go to a website (www.co-co.nl/m.s.noordereiland) to view a ship's journal. I have yet to check it out so I don't know if it'll be in Dutch or not. I didn't stay long because I had so much more to see and being an embark day I had little time to do it. 
I crossed back over the bridge and traveled into Oude Haven or Old Harbor. Here were very strange buildings. The first and most interesting thing was the Blaake Bos or "The Black Forest (cube houses). Yes they're 6-sided homes. Imagine a cube standing on its point and that's the design of the home. For 2 Euro I got to see the inside of one and it was fascinating. You travel up the steep stairs of the column to the living and dining areas on the main floor (the center of the cube). Upstairs is the bedroom, bathroom, and study. It was actually quite spacious and the outside is very deceiving. It looks very small. 
Upstairs of the bedroom is a room mostly of windows and is at the top point of the cube. You can only stand straight up in the center and I assume for most of the Dutch they'd still be bending over. There are a lot of tall people here. I wish there was something like this in the states. I'd love to live in it. Next to these buildings is a building called the Potlood. It's shaped like a pencil. Next to these structures is a train station that looks like a spaceship called Station Blaak and yet behind all these buildings is the largest library in the Netherlands where these huge tubes are flanked on the outside of the building. I biked all the way over to the other side of town where I took a trip up 185 meters in the Euromast. There's a restaurant on this tower at 100 meters and a rotating cab that rides up the spiral another 85. It gave me a breathtaking view of the city. Although at the platform where on the same level as the restaurant, my knees go a little weak since there where no huge fences like in the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building. It was just open air. The reason being was that you could actually buy an excursion where you scale the tower on ropes. Yikes! I then traveled through the beautiful park next to it It's called the Secret Park (Schoon Oord). It's open to the public, but it's privately owned by a prominent Dutch family who maintains the gardens and pathways here. There are lots of little rivers and trees and places just to sit and relax. I pressed onward and back over the Erasmus Bridge to Rijgnhaven where the justice building stands and over into Noordereiland again. I wrapped up my biking adventure at the mall today before heading back to the ship. Whew!
After we had our boat drill today for passengers, we sailed away for our next port of Le Havre, France, which is the gateway to Paris. It's going to be an early one tomorrow. As we left, tons of families and friends stood shore side waving to their families and friends on board. Our ship is full of Dutch officers and crew. Today was a busy day for visitations. However they're only a small percentage of the crew on board. The Indonesian and Philippino crew are the most populated on board. I wonder what sail away will be like when I leave Indonesia next year.
posted by Chris | 2:04 PM
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