Rotterdam photos

Wow, time just flies by, doesn't it? It's already October, and I still have pics from the beginning of July to put up, and I haven't even gotten to the bike tour yet.

So, Rotterdam.One of the largest ports in the world, if not the largest. Did you know that the "dam" in Amsterdam and Rotterdam means an actual dam? That's where each of those cities started, when dams were built.

So, massive port, hundreds of years old, center of maritime history/activity for Europe. Why did we go?

Because Jackie Chan filmed part of a movie there.

 The movie has some of the best fight choreography ever. This fight scene takes place on top of a building in Rotterdam.

This building, actually:

No spoilers for the movie, but see that sloping part of the building? Yeah.

 Rotterdam was almost completely destroyed by the Germans in WWII because it was such an important Dutch port. Here's one of the older buildings that survived. It's called the White House.

 


So unlike central Amsterdam, most of the architecture in the center of Rotterdam is very new. They really seem to like the overhanging motif.

 

But back to Jackie Chan. One of the fight scenes in Amsterdam takes place at the Cube Houses.About half of them are private residences and the other half are a hostel that is part of the StayOkay hostel company. When I found out we could stay there, I grabbed a reservation.

You don't have to be a youth to stay there, but you do have to bring your own soap. If you don't have your own towels, you can rent them for four euros, three of which you get back when you return the towel. You can also rent bikes for 6 euros/day. Tourist rental bikes tend to come in really bright colors, probably to tell the locals to watch out.

 

View from our room down to the street. The windows are the next-door cube's.

 The floor plan for the second floor, where we stayed. I think the green in the middle is where the elevator is. But there are also staircases made of gorgeous smooth wood. They're nauseatingly curvy.

Some more Cube House pics.

 

 And on the inside: 

The center, where the elevator is.

Corner of a room/cube sticking out into the hallway

Wall of our room with window, out of which you can see Blaak Metro station with its weird flying saucer thing. Beyond that is a bizarre new building they're constructing -- a giant arch that will have an enormous grocery store inside of it.

And this is the bar in the lobby of the hostel, which is how you know it's just a hostel, not a youth hostel. Although this is Europe....The breakfast buffet is around the back of this area.

Some other cool stuff in Rotterdam: 

I think these two pictures both show counter-weight drawbridges

The far side of the river from central Rotterdam -- maybe why the older buildings survived the bombing. Or maybe they were rebuilt?

The Holland American Line building that is now Hotel New York.

So, back to Jackie Chan's "Who Am I?" One of the scenes in the movie was shot on the Erasmus bridge, also known as "The Swan".

Rotterdam has a massive maritime museum. When we were there, they had an excellent exhibit on pirates, and used "Pirates of the Carribbean" lego people to show scale on the model ships.

Sword that belonged to Erik the Red. I think. Hard to tell in this picture that it's about six feet long from end to end.

If you get the chance to go to Rotterdam, do it. It's a little more advanced than Amsterdam, because you actually have to ask for menus in English; the locals won't assume you're foreigners immediately. It's not that  much of a tourist town. But we did find one fairly inexpensive, casual restaurant near our hostel that had English menus....

...and it's only about an hour's train ride from Amsterdam, and everything's pretty close. You could do it as a day trip from Amsterdam. Or stay at the Cube Houses. Just remember to bring your own soap.

Or if you can't get to Rotterdam, watch Jackie Chan's "Who Am I?" It's a fun movie. 

Coming up: Windmills!!!

Amsterdam, more of July 2

More Amsterdam photos.

 

 

 

 

 

The most famous "coffee shop" in Amsterdam.

 

A cat in that coffee shop. Is it even possible to tell if a cat is stoned?

Voted the best fries in Amsterdam for 2012. The first time we got fries in Amsterdam (not at this place), we were unimpressed by the much-vaunted peanut sauce -- it was thick and sludgy and barely tasted like peanuts. This place had about 20 different sauces for their fries. Most people have them with mayonnaise.

Another transport/delivery "arm", this time with a pulley.

Cheese shop near the flower market. You can sample. It was all yummy, but I don't think you can bring any of it into the States.

Our favorite bakery, just down the street and across the canal from our hotel. Across a narrow street from another coffee shop, called "Dutch Flowers". That little intersection showed up in not one, but two tourist videos about Amsterdam. The sign advertises their specialty, "syrup waffles" -- two thin, crispy cookies with a layer of thick syrup (or maybe honey?) in between. Really good.

Poppyseed pastry at the same bakery

Our "usual" chair was taken the second time we went to the bakery, but we were able to share the table

 The lobby restroom at our hotel.

Amsterdam -- June 28 - July 1

Greg in front of row houses in Amsterdam - June 2013

So I forgot to take the camera with me for the first two days we were in Amsterdam, which was basically most of our time in Amsterdam this trip. It was our second trip, if you count the 13-hour layover the first time we went to Germany. That first time, we had so much fun biking around and it was such a beautiful city, we decided we should go back sometime. Here are some pictures from Amsterdam in the summer of 2009.

We rode all over and didn't really stop to take pictures until the afternoon. This canal wasn't in the central area. Birds handing out on the roof of the greenhouse, or whatever that low addition is.

Swans with what looks like a nest.

The KLM fleet at the Amsterdam airport

All the older houses in Amsterdam (and even most of the newer ones) have arms sticking out of the front, some with pulleys, which is how they get stuff into the top floors. I guess the stairways are too narrow? Anyway, here's how that works, and I'm so sorry I can't get it to rotate 90 degrees. I'm not used to taking video.

And here are some pictures from Amsterdam 2013:

The lobby of Hotel Agora, which turned out to be in a really great location

classic Amsterdam house front

Art

 

The only dark beer Greg could find in Amsterdam (the cider on the left is mine)

Indian food

The start of the flower market, which turned out to be just down the street from our hotel

The back side of the flower market. And look! The sun finally came out!!