Saturday, October 15th:
We said goodbye to our suite, the MS Rotterdam, and my parents (they are heading to Ireland for a week) this morning. It was sad, but it's time to go home!
Diane came and got us at 8:00 AM and escorted us off the ship. We thanked her for being so great and asked her to say goodbye to Roni and Jon (our amazing room attendants) for us!
[Cute ducks that a nice lady on the cruise gave Theo]
We quickly found our luggage and our black Mercedes SUV transfer. He drove us across the Erasmusbrug (aka the Swan) and to our hotel, which was 5 minutes away.
We arrived at our hotel, Inntel Hotels Rotterdam Centre, and headed inside to check in. I assumed that our room wouldn't be ready, since it was 8:15 AM, but we were pleasantly surprised when the lady at the front desk said it was. YAY! We headed upstairs to our room and got settled in. I had booked us a walking food tour, but we could do that at anytime since it was through an app on my phone. Since we had arrived so early we decided to do the free city walking tour at 10:30 AM and then do the food tour in the afternoon.
I looked at the weather and it said the rain wasn't going to start until the afternoon, so at 10:00 AM we headed out. The free city walking tour started at 10:30 AM at the Markthal (Market Hall). We got there early and headed inside to check it out.
This building was opened in 2014 and consists of 228 apartments, office space, and a huge indoor market. The inside is like a living work of art!
We walked around for a bit and then headed outside to join the tour. We met our tour guide, Mewis, and the rest of the group which consisted of tourists from all over the world.
Just as the tour got started it began raining. UGH! I should have known! We have had rain 17 out of the 21 days that we've been on this trip. Luckily I brought my rain coat and an umbrella, but we didn't bring Theo's wheelchair shade. MY BAD! So Josh used the umbrella to cover Theo, which left Josh out to bear the elements.
Mewis started the tour by telling us about the city. The Rotterdam city center was almost completely destroyed during The Rotterdam Biltz on May 14, 1940 (this lead to Amsterdam surrendering quickly to the Nazi's in order to preserve their city). There were only four buildings in the city center that survived. There are so many unique and modern buildings in the city center and it really sets Rotterdam apart. We have been very focused on historic cities during this trip, so ending it in a modern one was a little strange.
[Blaak Tower (aka The Pencil) and the Train Station (aka The UFO)]
We left Market Hall and headed to St Lawrence Church. This large 15th century church is the only medieval building left in the entire city.
It was one of the four buildings to survive the Rotterdam Biltz. Church attendance has declined rapidly over the last few decades, so lately they started having large light show dance parties in the church. After the tour guide told us this he then showed us a picture of the party. It looks pretty fun! Mewis then looked at me and asked if something like that would ever happen in Chicago. I said, "In Chicago? Absolutely!" He looked pretty shocked. A young woman that was standing next to me leaned over and said, "Typical European, they think the US is not progressive." Ohhh. Gotcha. A dance party at a church in Chicago? Yep! A dance party at a church in a super conservative Texas city? Absolutely not.
In the courtyard in front of the church is a statue of Erasmus. He was born in Rotterdam in 1466 and the city loves him. There is a bridge, school, metro line, university, etc named after him.
We then walked over to the City Hall.
[Bullet holes in the City Hall from when Rotterdam was liberated by the Canadian troops]
We then walked across the street to the Memorial to the Fallen.
[Memorial to the Fallen with the City Hall]
We walked all the way down to the canal where we saw the "Fire Line." This is a series of lights on the ground that mark where the city was destroyed during the Biltz.
[The rain would just NOT stop!]
This Santa Clause holding a "Christmas Tree" statue is either very hated or very loved by the locals. I'll keep this g-rated, but there's a running joke that it's not a Christmas Tree that he's holding.
We then walked down the Witte de Withstraat Street, which is a popular street lined with coffee shops (remember we are back in the Netherlands), cafes, and restaurants.
We then found ourselves at the harbor next to our hotel.
["Hot Tug" - You can rent this tiny boat and ride around the harbor. It is heated and apparently a lot of fun!]
[Harbor with the red Willemsbrug in the background]
Right on the harbor is the Witte Huis (White House). This skyscraper was built in 1898 and was the first "high-rise" building in Europe (10 stories). It was also one of the four buildings to survive the Biltz.
We came to the end of our rainy, two hour walking tour at the famous Cube Houses. These odd shaped houses were built in the 1970s. People do live in them, but it's hard to find furniture because all the walls are at strange angles. Don't worry, they are tilted, but the floor is level.
[Toonder Monument - Marten Toonder was a Dutch comic strip creator who was born in Rotterdam]
Right when our tour ended it stopped raining, but it was still very cloudy. We decided to walk along the Boompjeskade. This nice walkway is located along the river between the Erasmus Bridge and the Willems Bridge.
[View across the river from the Boompjeskade - You can barely make out the Erasmus Bridge and the MS Rotterdam on the far right]
[View from the Boompjeskade of the Willems Bridge]
[Pano from the Boompjeskade of the Willems Bridge and Erasmus Bridge]
[Erasmus Bridge and the MS Rotterdam (parked to the right of the bridge)]
[De Boeg (The Bow)]
As we were about to cross a bridge to go back to our hotel it started to lift up. We waited behind the barricades as this adorable tug boat cruised through! All of a sudden it let out a high pitched whistle. I had to cover my ears and Josh covered Theo's. I was worried Theo would be scared, but he was just laughing!
[Our hotel right on the river and harbor - the perfect spot!]
[Erasmus Bridge aka "The Swan"]
After walking along the Boompjeskade we went back to the hotel to dry out and rest.
Photos from our hotel room:
After Theo woke up from his nap I opened the shades and saw this:
YAY! The sun was out and it was time for our food tour!
This tour took us to six different restaurants (yellow markers) and 10 different interesting locations (blue markers) throughout the city. We could go at our own pace and we didn't have to go to everything if we didn't want to.
We started the tour by heading to the furthest northwest location. This took us unto Chinatown!
STOP #1: Super Crepe (Food)
[Josh like this crepe, but I wasn't a huge fan]
STOP #2: Wijkpark Oude Westen (Location)
STOP #3: Bram Ladage (Food)
I love that Europeans think it's normal to eat their frites with mayo. It makes me so happy! I do it back home and people think I'm strange. At Bram Ladage we got two small frites - one with mayo and the other with peanut sauce. They were both SOOO good!
STOP #4:Central Station (location)
STOP #5: Sue Bites (food)
We arrived at Sue Bites right as they were closing at 5:00 PM. But they still let us have one of their famous "SUE bites."
[Delicious!]
[Another unique building]
STOP #6: Chinny (food)
[Chicken curry sandwiches!]
Chinny is located between Market Hall and St Lawrence Church. We were pretty familiar with this area, so we weren't too worried about getting lost or being out when the sun was setting.
STOP #7: Botersloot (location)
[These panzerotti were very delicious! They are like little calzones 😋]
STOP #9: Tante Nel (food)
Our final food stop was Tante Nel where we shared a drink and had a couple Truffle Croquettes.
After we finished the food part of the tour we headed back to The Market to take pictures and find some sweets.
[Library]
STOP #10: De Verwoeste Stad (location)
The entire time I was walking around Rotterdam I just kept thinking how much one of my best friends, Katey, would LOVE this city. This whole city is like a modern art museum and the architecture is so unique. I think she needs to go there!
Rotterdam was so much fun and I'm glad we stayed an extra day and explored the city!
We then headed back to the hotel and went to bed. We had a black Mercedes SUV coming to pick us up at 6:00 AM!
Sunday, October 16th:
I was woken up in the middle of the night by a series of text messages letting me know that our flight was delayed one hour. It was too late to let the driver know, so he still arrived at the hotel at 6:00 AM. Right on time! It was a 45 minute drive to the Amsterdam airport and we got there without any issues. Our driver parked in one of the garages, helped us with our luggage, took us into the airport, and helped us find our check in counter. Such great service!
It took us over an hour just to check in our luggage, about 15 minutes to get through security, and another 15 minutes to get through customs.
[It's always hard to find a handicap bathroom]
[Theo's a little too big for the baby changing table - This is why we NEED adult changing tables]
Once we got to our gate we found a nice big couch where Theo could lay down. The flight was delayed, so we got to our gate about 3 hours early.
I took out all of Theo's meds and got everything ready for the flight. It's just easier to get them in the syringes now rather than trying to do it while the plane is bouncing!
We were able to board first, which was super nice, and the airport workers were all very nice and helpful.
Theo struggled on this flight, just like he did on the flight to Europe. It's hard to be in a seat that long. He doesn't cry when he's upset, he yells! We had to give him melatonin a few times which helped. AND since we left over an hour late the pilot made up some time in the air so we only landed 15 minutes late!
When we landed I got this alert on my phone! Luckily, it was another false alarm!
Since we have Global Entry we went right to the front of the line and made it through customs in record time! The normal line was LONG!
While we were waiting for our luggage to come out, I checked my phone and saw that they were all at the airport! YAY! We made it!
After we got our luggage (it took forever) we met Lucas outside, threw our things in the car, and headed home! We got home at 3:30 PM and we knew we had to stay up in order to overcome the jet lag. I was worried about Theo, but when he saw all of his toys he got so excited and that rush kept him awake until 7:00 PM (2:00 AM in Rotterdam). I stayed busy and awake by unpacking and doing laundry. And Josh just doesn't need sleep, so he was fine!
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