Oude Haven in 2009 |
Oude
Haven
photo taken in 1970 |
[We had passed through Rotterdam by car in 1970 but, except for
a quick drive along the waterfront, we hadn't seen much of it, and I'd only
taken a couple photos. Now, on our 2009 visit, when we passed the Oude Haven
(Old Port) it seemed
familiar, so I photographed it. When we got home after the cruise, I checked my
old photos from Rotterdam and was astonished to find that it was the exact same
scene we'd seen 39 years earlier.]
We had signed up for a combined bus and boat tour to see the
city. The bus left at 9:00 and drove us through the city center. More than half
the time was spent waiting at traffic lights. Also, because of Rotterdam's
importance as a port, almost everything had been destroyed in WWII, so what
there was to see was mostly fairly new. The one medieval building to survive the destruction was St.
Lauren's Church (about 1500). The Post Office and City Hall (both 1936) also survived, and we
saw a group of late 19th century houses that survived because they were outside
the area of destruction.
St. Lauren's Church |
19th century buildings
that survived World War II |
City Hall |
Cube houses
|
The Cube Houses (1984) seem to have surpassed all these
older sights in popularity with the tourists. Because the cubes are tilted, it's
hard to figure out how the inside is laid out, but each unit has three floors.
The bus then took back to river to catch our "Spido" tour boat.
Unlike our tour boat in Lisbon, this one had plenty of room for the number of
passengers aboard. And the cruise was quite long (long enough that our guide
from the bus, who seemed somewhat of a grouch anyway, grumbled that it put us
half an hour behind schedule). Unfortunately, there was little to see along the
river besides ship berths, cranes, and shipping containers. However, we did pass
the Euromast (1960) with its 100-meter high restaurant.
Spido tour boat |
Spido passing the Eurodam |
Typical scene along the river |
An old windmill |
The Euromast |
Lots of odd architecture in Rotterdam |
Back on shore, we got back on the bus that was to take us to the
city center for some free time. Again it took a good 20 minutes to go the few
blocks because we spent half the time waiting at stop lights. The bus dropped us at
City Hall for 45 minutes on our own. The guide didn't give us a clue as to what
to see and we couldn't find much. There were some pedestrian shopping streets,
but most of them were closed for lunch, and we weren't interested in shopping
anyway. There was a freezing wind and we couldn't wait to get back on bus.
Everyone was waiting well before the bus came. Then it was more stop lights
again. We finally got back to the Eurodam at 2:00. The ship was due to leave at
5:00 but didn't sail until 6:20, again due to late tour buses.
That evening we had our last formal dinner, and the
traditional parade of the baked Alaska took place. It was not very
impressive in the open seating dining room, though, because few people
were ready for dessert at the time. The cooks and waiters weren't even
carrying any baked Alaska.
We had some nice views as the ship sailed down the Maas River to
the North Sea. At one point there was a long line of windmills along the bank,
but these were modern electric turbine windmills rather than the picturesque old
ones we associate with the Netherlands.
Jane at dinner |
Parade without baked Alaska |
Modern windmills along the Maas |
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