July 8:

This was a strange morning. We were able to catch the 9:25 train to Utrecht on our way to Rotterdam. I didn't think we could do it and we had to run the last few meters to get on the train, but we made it.

All the neighbors had been telling us to visit Rotterdam, so we finally did it.


I had done a little research on the web and found a hop-on/hop-off trolley that would give us an historical introduction to the city. We caught it outside the Centraal Train Station. Actually, we didn't catch it the first time. The girls were ahead of us and jumped on a tram and Dan and I had to follow. After convincing them that we were on the wrong train, we got off at the next stop and waited a short time for the "real" trolley. Oh well, it didn't cost anything for that little ride.












As we travelled around the city, the ticket taker told us in English interesting facts about the city. One of these is that most of the city is under sea level and needs dikes to protect it from the Meuse River. We traveled up and down over the dikes and hardly noticed. The harbor is the largest in Europe. I was surprised to hear that - I thought Hamburg was larger. 

Another interesting fact is that the harbor is called the Delft Harbor because in the 17th century Delft was more important than Rotterdam but didn't have access to the sea. To solve this problem, they built a canal over to Rotterdam. 

As we knew, the city was bombed by the Germans at the beginning of WWII, so its mostly new construction. And the construction has created some interesting looking buildings.












Continuing on with that theme, we spotted these apartments that had flat floors but that was about it.

We decided to stay on the trolley for the entire one hour tour and then decide where to get off. That turned out to be a huge market just to the side of these apartments. This huge, domed structure was built atop a metro stop three floors below the main floor. 

This was a food market and restaurant venue. The space was cavernous and painted. Checkout the cow. Linda found a fish place. We ordered on the main floor and then they delivered the food at our table upstairs. Janie and Dan had a mixed fish grill, Linda are a shrimp dish and I ordered paella. It was all good, just not filling. We would need more food later.

We shopped at an Albert Heijn grocery store on the lower level and then caught the next trolley. To get back to our train station we needed to repeat part of the tour. Part of this section of the tour was an old neighbor.














And then, there was this scuplture called Santa Claus. The locals make fun of it because he seems to be holding a member of his body.


This is the Euromast built in 1960 for the Floriade (big flower show held once every ten years). The large round part is a restaurant and the top part goes up and down to the very top.










And then there was this car perched on the top of the building. Don't have a story about that.




And this interestingly shaped church.










And, a mexican restaurant. We couldn't stop to check it out.

The train got us back to Soest without incident. A little later, Noor came over and produced some more art.

Then, her Dad, Peter came by with Duco and they stayed for snacks and drinks. This was the first time we had seen Peter since we returned from Italy. Janie and Dan learned from Peter that his father served in the German Army, he said "they stole my youth", and never wanted to leave home after the war, even for a vacation. 

Liesbeth was at a Queen concert at the palace. I think that's why he visited with us longer than normal. Noor and Linda went for a walk and could hear the music from the palace.