Blogs from Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 6

It was like the prodigal son had come home when the Ms Eurodam sailed into Rotterdam. Although the headquarters of Holland America are now in Seattle, there is still a strong tie with Rotterdam and the cruise. The cruise terminal we docked at was located on Holland America Avenue/Street and the old headquarters of the company were located nearby (now turned into an upscale hotel). As we sailed off into the sunset, crowds of passerbys stopped to cheer and wave from the waterfront parks. I think the warm welcome and send off had something to do with fact that the cruise (with its 2000+ passenger capacity) was currently Holland America's largest and the ship had been away touring the Caribbean since the fall. My last visit involved walking out of the central train station, looking around ... read more

Hi All. First thing. We have taken the private settings off the Blog so it is now open to the world!! Hopefully this will make it easier for everyone to see. Tuesday we started slowly. Caught up on the mail, washing etc. Hennie gave us a guided tour of the Hank Loch historical monuments - birth place, places he saw during the war, famous parks etc. It was really interesting. There must be a family at number 16 who wonders why their house keeps getting photographed. We then went off to Rotterdam to see the Maeslant Storm Barrier. For we male, engineer types, it is an amazing piece of engineering. 2 giant gates come across the river preventing the storm surge from flowing up the river and causing floods and damaging dykes. It is big, very ... read more

Rotterdam and Amsterdam don't get on to say the least. Residents of the former take pride in their gritty, hard-working image manifested by the city's position on one of the world's biggest harbours and the busiest port in Europe. Amsterdam is the 5th most popular tourist destination in Europe and its economy is fuelled by its substantial financial districts. Amongst people of my age it is renowned for its party atmosphere and relaxed attitude. Where Rotterdam stands for work, Amsterdam stands for play. Only fair to sample them both for ourselves. Thursday morning saw us leave Essex, bidding tearful relatives goodbye and carrying backpacks weighing the equivalent of a five-year-old child (Si actually took a five-year-old child along but had it confiscated at customs). During the six hour sailing from Harwich we were both subdued. Si ... read more

I woke up in the morning at about 6:30 and then got dressed and waited awhile and around 7:30 we got our free breakfast. They had this buffet thing and there was some bread and deli meat and cheese and then there was this good nutty cereal with raisins that I got Cindy to try (without the raisins) and I think she liked it. There was also this good pineapple juice. After breakfast we had to go shopping to get my dad a towel, and Cindy got some sneakers that she liked. Then we came back and dropped our stuff off and went to get some lunch from that same gas station shop, but this time since it was during the day we could get freshly made stuff. I had a healthy baguette. It was really ... read more

After leaving Germany, we headed Northwest to visit one of Sylvia's good friends in Rotterdam. On our way, I made Sylvia stop in the city of Arnhem so I could track down some World War II history. The city of Arnhem, as well as the nearby cities of Nijmegen and Eindhoven, contained bridges that were important Rhine river crossings. The allies attempted to capture these bridges in Operation Market Garden. This attack was the plot of the movie "A Bridge Too Far." After our time in Arnhem, we arrived at our destination. Rotterdam is famous for being the busiest seaport in the world, although it is a good distance inland. Sylvia's friend Lucika lives on a well-known street in Rotterdam and her apartment is above a shop on the street, so it was a nice place ... read more