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Someone With a Sense of Humor
But there is a tide in this section of the canal The trip from Gouda to Rotterdam was a pleasant one - if you haven’t been able to tell yet, we have been enjoying our travels through the canals of the Netherlands. One difference in this section was that there is now a small tidal current as we passed through a lock just after leaving Gouda. We were surprised that the impact of the tide came up so far, but then we remembered that the same happens in the Hudson River up to Albany. Most people at the dock in Gouda that we talked about it with said that it was minimal and they don’t even plan around the tide, but fortunately we did so we could have a positive gain from Mother Nature.
Coming into Rotterdam you knew at once that this was going to be much different than any other city that we have visited while in the Netherlands. Just the skyline alone told us that. Of course from our pre-planning research we knew this due to the fact that it had been leveled during WWII. It was impressive to see after having traveled through so many small villages and towns with their more traditional buildings while in the
Netherlands. Even Amsterdam could not compare to this as it was not leveled during WWII as Rotterdam was. There were a few buildings (or at least sections of buildings) that remained in Rotterdam, but overall it needed to be rebuilt.
We had been told about the Rotterdam City Marina and aimed for that as our home base for our time in Rotterdam. It worked out very well as it was an easy walk into the main part of the City. It actually reminded us of St. Katherine’s Dock in London in many ways as they are both located what had been the warehouse area. Both had been converted to house apartments, shops and restaurants. One difference that did have to be watched especially with a tall mast at Rotterdam was that they left 2 of the cranes at the warehouse. Fortunately the harbormaster thought of this and put us away from the crane. He said that in high winds the chains swing back and forth and could be a problem with a mast – good thinking on his part!
One of the first things you notice when walking around Rotterdam is all of the modern buildings. It was
Is that Fixed Bridge Tall Enough?
Looks can be deceiving, but the meter tells us its OK! not a long row of tall skyscrapers such as in NYC, but with very unusual shapes which actually attracted your eye. Even if you are not a fan of modern architecture it really was a pleasant change to see. After having seen so many traditional buildings in the various towns we have traveled through “leaning” due to the settling of the sand base they are sitting on, it was ironic to see these modern buildings with the “lean” designed into them.
On our walk into the City we passed the “Flag Parade”. Quite an impressive sight to see as it has 193 flags flying, those that are members of the UN as well as a few local Rotterdam flags. Rotterdam is an international seaport and the mission behind the flag parade is to welcome all nationalities to the City both as residents and visitors. An excellent example for us all.
We found that the Laurenkerk is the only building still remaining from the medieval city center. This Late Gothic church was originally built in 1449, but received it current shape in 1525. It was heavily destroyed during WWII with only the tower and walls remaining. It was decided
that it needed to be re-built and this is what we visited today. Unfortunately we ran out of time before they closed to hear all of the audio tape as it was very informative. One thing that really impressed us with the fact that it is one that truly welcomes everyone. One of the displays talked about the numerous festivals/holidays that they openly celebrate – everything from the Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter; the Eid and Feast of Sacrifice (Islamic) ; Vesak Buddha (Buddhists); Holi Pagwa (Hindu); Feast of Tabernacles (Jewish); Chinese New Year and numerous others.
One chapel within the church was that of the library. The invention of the printing press in the mid-15
th century was the impetuous for this. By the 17
th century Rotterdam had become known as a center of enlightenment with the amount of publishing being done. The clergy in 1604 decided they would create a library within the church – most were religious books which included not only bibles but also the Koran. They were not lent out to people, but were chained to the tables. Currently there are about 300 of these books still in existence at the Rotterdam Library. The
Our First Views Coming into Rotterdam
much different than any others we have seen here Church has created a new library which still contains many older copies of the writings of people such as John Locke, Erasmus and others.
The former Post Office survived the 1940 bombings and the sculptures on the facade are still there to indicate its prior use as post office, telegraph office and telephone service. What you also notice is the amount of damage in the way of bullet holes not only on this building but numerous others. It is definitely a somber reminder of what this City went through during the War.
We walked near City Hall and saw numerous emergency response vehicles and fire trucks parked in front on the sidewalk. A reporter was there appearing to be waiting for something to happen. When we asked, we were told that they were protesting their salary levels and that the sirens would be going off shortly. A minute or two later all of the emergency horns and sirens went off full blast and we joined everyone else in walking away closing our ears to the sound. When we did we wandered through an arch opening in a building to find a beautiful garden in the inner courtyard. That
was lovely to stumble across, but in this same area there were a few carvings with no indication of where they came from. It was obvious though that they depicted events during the war including the Germans pushing people into trains. We would have liked to find out more of where these came from, but again these types of things bring you back to the reality of what happened here during the war.
On the opposite extreme you have the Market which is combined with housing in a unique way. The building is in the shape of a huge arch with the arch being where the apartments are located and the market and food stands located under the arch. The ceiling of the interior of the arch is painted with a wonderful “Horn of Plenty”. The other housing that is unusual is the Cube Houses. Unfortunately we were not able to visit one of the cubes as the museum house was not open when we were there. The architect was actually commissioned to build a bridge over a busy arterial highway and this is what he created. These cubes are used for housing as well as retail locations. Each
cube contains 1,076 square feet of space, has 3 floors, a storage area and entrance hall. It definitely would have been interesting to see the interior of one of these!
The War took its toll here in physical buildings but also in human life. In 1942 4,313 from Rotterdam were deported and then in 1943 2,233 more Dutch Jewish citizens were deported. 254 more were rounded up in 1944 with them being used as forced labor and/or sent to extermination camps. You hear of the “recruiting” of forced labor, but while walking back to the marina using a different path we came across the Jewish Children’s Memorial. It commemorates the loss of 686 Jewish children from Rotterdam between the ages of 1 and 12. It is located at the site of the walled area that the Jewish citizens were housed before being deported. The reality of the war keeps coming back when you see these names and ages engraved on a monument such as this one.
We unfortunately didn’t stay in Rotterdam too long as we were still being pushed by our deadline to get to the Channel Islands by June 30
th. There is definitely much more to
see in this very modern City, but what little time we did have here we thoroughly enjoyed. We are glad we got to get a small taste of what it is like. It is definitely a City that has mixed the old with the new and some would even say eccentric in a very pleasing way.
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