Holiday in Netherlands (and Salzburg) - Part III - Rotterdam Harbour and Euromast

All right, still in Rotterdam. As you might know the Rotterdam port is the largest in Europe and the 10th largest in the world (!). Given the weather was pretty good (dare I say great?), we decided to do a little harbour cruise:



Did I say we were on the top floor of the boat? Best view ..











Size is relative is it not:





And because of the Rotterdam 'Blitz' where most of the city centre of Rotterdam was destroyed in WWII, there are many, many modern buildings in Rotterdam:







This ship, SS Rotterdam, is no longer an active sailing one. These days it is a fairly exclusive restaurant, for which you would have to book a long time ahead to get a table:



After the cruise had a little drink at the New York hotel, still enjoying beautiful weather:



And then it was time to meet up with our friends and have dinner at the Euro Mast restaurant.





Of course, besides a nice dinner, you have a great view from 'Up Above':-)



















Ok, leaving you all in Rotterdam. The next post will be the first one with photos from our little holiday within the holiday .. Stay Tuned :-):-)

Holiday in Netherlands (and Salzburg) - Part II - Utrecht and Rotterdam

(I have heard one or two people mentioning the photos (together with the space used by the blog itself) that I used were a bit too large for their screen, so I am choosing a slightly smaller size photos now, hope this is better for you).

The next day we went to Utrecht to drop off Jeff (visiting a cousin) before travelling back Down Under. Obviously we had to show him the canals and absolutely enjoy a pancake lunch 'down there' :-).

(I have heard one or two people mentioning the photos (together with the space used by the blog itself) that I used were a bit too large for their screen, so I am choosing a slightly smaller size photos now, hope this is better for you).











Although we are currently not really dancing, our favorite dance studio for the last years has always been Humpreys... Seeing this in Utrecht we are wondering whether they are branching out into a different business area?? :-) :-)





And did you know they have actually incorporated 'Nijntje' in some pedestrian traffic lights in the city?





One of our favorite lunch spot has always been the yaught club in Drimmelen. When we used to live in the Netherlands, this was about 3/4 of an hour away by pushbike. So we pretty much always go and have lunch there whenever we're back in NL (although usually by car then).







Much to our surprise the café that used to be there was now replaced by a pretty big (2 level) restaurant (St Moritz). Can you guess which meal was Peter's and which one was Ellen's?







The Moritz restaurant is located on the far left side in this picture all the way to the back. A building looking like a (big) Swiss Chalet



The next day we went to visit the city of Rotterdam. Peter (our friend) has lived there and knows the city pretty well. Ellen and I had never really been to Rotterdam (other than 'driving through'). So it was indeed high time to be shown around! Especially given the many new (building) developments of the last years...

Starting of with the Central Station:













And of course shopping 'malls' or streets such as the 'Koopgoot':







Oh and remember the comment regarding Humphreys? Here in Rotterdam .. again:









And then one of the main attractions (definitely so for tourists like ourselves :-)), the Rotterdam Markthal. The building was originally designed to become a fresh food and veggies market place. However that has not taken off as successful as it was meant to be. There are still lots of little shops/stalls in the building just of a much wider variety than originally intended.

Because of the interesting 'form' and colors of the building the nos so much intended side effect is that it has also become a big tourist attraction. See for yourself why :-)



















Ok, more than enough for one post:-). Next time we continue with a little harbour cruise on the Rotterdam harbour (one of the biggest harbours in the world), followed by a diner with friends up in (on?:-)) the Euromast...

One last photo showing an old drawing of Rotterdam as viewed in the year 1400 ...