Rotterdam

A message from an old friend awaited me in my facebook inbox. I met Bart back in 2008 when he was visiting his father in America. Bart is originally from Holland and currently is going to school in Rotterdam (2nd largest city in The Netherlands). I was under the impression that he was interning in Africa so I was surprised to hear from him. He invited us to come visit Rotterdam so we booked some train tickets.

While we were waiting for the train, Megan spotted a Burger King that had discontinued "My Little Ponies" action figures in the showcase. Apparently she has been trying to hunt down these action figures for the last few weeks (epic dork) and this was the first place that had them. She held up the line and we almost missed our train...but gosh darn she got her little ponies!! The train ride was about 40 minutes long and Bart was already waiting for us when we arrived at the station.

Rotterdam is totally different from Amsterdam, it was heavily bombed during WWII so every building is über modern. It is also one of the largest  port cities in the world so the canals are very wide and the bridges are enormous. Since it was a national holiday in Holland (Pentecost), almost everything was closed and there weren't many people out and about. Bart took us to a super cool café for lunch where I tried my first traditional Dutch dish, croquette. I really liked it although I couldn't tell you what was in it!

We walked around and marveled at the architecture. Rotterdam truly is an architect's playground. We came across a seafood cart and Bart bought us herring snacks. I dangled the fish up high and ate the whole thing in one bite. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was!

 We walked to a monument that was created to represent the massive amount of emigration from Rotterdam. Afterwards we went to grab some wine, cheese and seafood at a fancy restaurant inside the Hotel New York. The food was not very good but the atmosphere was super cool.

Bart took us to see a windmill that was still being used as a mill. When the windmill is open for business, customers can  buy bread and watch the production process. We decided to grab some more drinks at another restaurant, hot chocolate with rum was just the thing to cure the chills! Megan and I estimated that we walked about 8 miles throughout the day.

It was lovely to see Bart again and catch up after four years. We called a taxi and Bart walked us to our platform. It was around midnight when we arrived back in Amsterdam. The three of us decided to check out a gay bar called  "The Queen's Head". We met a lot of fun boys and had a few beers . There was a big international tennis tournament that weekend in Amsterdam and most of the men were participants. The bar closed at 2 am and we headed back to our apartment. What a great day!