All went well until we arrived at Dutch customs and passport control. They asked, how long do you intend on staying in mainland Europe? Our reply "until the end of November or early December".
This seemed to throw the official in the booth a little. He regained his composure and told us that the limit is 3 months....and then we have to leave or be considered overstayers. I started to explain that New Zealand has bilateral agreements with several European countries meaning that IF we chose to, we could stay in each country for 90 days before moving on. He started to argue but was corrected by his co-booth occupier who told him we were correct. He then said - yes, but we had to have sufficient funds to stay for that long......we showed him that we did. He stamped our passports and said he'd give us a total of 18 weeks in the EU. Just about right I think.
From baggage collection we had about 100 metres to walk to catch our train (sprinter number 4169) to Rotterdam Centraal Station and then about another 100 metres to find the correct tram stop (for tram number 4 toward Marconiplein). This tram runs every 5 minutes so it wasn't a big deal if we missed it. Thirteen minutes later we were getting off the tram, right opposite our accommodation. It couldn't have been more perfect.
Once again we have chosen to use Airbnb to book our accommodation. We have a shared apartment in historic Delfshaven - the only part of Rotterdam to survive the German bombers in WW2.
Our room is modern and clean. As is the shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. The young lady who looks after the property, Kim is friendly, very pretty and extremely efficient. We couldn't have wished for a better host. She showed us where everything was in the apartment, gave us maps and leaflets and information about what to see and where to go, answered all our questions, gave us the use of 2 bicycles for the duration of our stay, offered to do our dirty laundry and gave us a welcoming gift basket with assorted fruit, croissants , jam and butter. Kim runs the place with her mother with occasional help from her sister. It's less of a home stay bed and breakfast and more like a boutique hotel.
The only thing that wasn't perfect was the weather. It was raining when we arrived and has been grey and overcast with the odd shower ever since. A bit of sunshine has occasionally broken through, but it's been rare and short on staying power. But being here still beats working for a living!
We went for a walk into the city to find the Markthal. This is a huge modern building in the shape of an inverted U which contains market stalls and shops and supermarkets over many floors.
Opened on 1st October 2014 this is an amazing building. Construction began in November 2009 and they have created something quite special. Artist Arno Coenen created his "Horn of Plenty" a colourful painting which covers the walls and ceiling of this huge arch of a building. It covers an area of 11,000 square metres and is known as the Sistine Chapel of Rotterdam!
It's a great place to shop for food or indeed eat food - as some of the stalls cook and serve their produce on site.
We bought meat, salad, bread and cheese and since it had taken about 40 minutes to walk there, decided to take the tram back to our apartment. BUT the tram never showed up. Above the tram stop is a digital readout showing the expected time of the tram. It was counting down nicely from 10 minutes to 9, to 8, to 7 and then jumped back up to 12 minutes to wait. So we set off walking. There must have been some major problems with the tram system because we were almost "home" when the tram finally passed us. It was hard on the feet and knees walking there and back, but it gave us the excuse to call in to 2 separate patisserie's to firstly buy savoury pastries which we ate along the way and in the second shop, sweet treats to have with our coffee when we got back to our apartment. They were very tasty - I could get used to this!
We found a nice café/restaurant overlooking the canal and only five minutes walk away - café-restaurant Soif. Most of the places we have encountered on our trip so far for eating have been good. This was no exception. The food tastes good, good sized portions and the staff are friendly, helpful and do not hurry you. You can take your time and savour the food and the atmosphere. Prices are mid range. We had dinner there one night and enjoyed it so much that the next evening we went back for dessert.
Today (Thursday) started off quite dull weather-wise so we decided to stay close to "home". We had a stroll around historic Delfshaven looking at the old architecture of Rotterdam dating back to the 1600's. It's your typical Dutch picture. The narrow, tall buildings over several storeys with tiled roofs and windows in the roof. Roofs that step up add to the Dutch look. Of course being along side a canal helps, as does the sight of a windmill in the background and lots and lots of bicycles.
(Photo above - bikes and windmill - it must be the Netherlands!)
(Photo above - the tall, narrow buildings along the canal side)
After lunch, the sun tried to break through the grey veil that we have become used to seeing. Shocked into action by the sunshine we unlocked our borrowed bicycles and head off for a ride.
The other day when we had been at the Markthal I had not realised how close we had been to the famous Cube Houses. We decided that our bike route would take us back in that direction.
The cube residences are among Rotterdam's icons. 38 conventional piled homes near the Blaak and the Oude Haven were rotated 45 degrees, becoming Holland's first cube residences. Piet Blom designed the cube houses in 1984. His design represents a tree and all houses together make up a wood or forest. That's what they say anyway. I've never seen a tree or a wood like this.....bright yellow.
I like them though. They are really quirky. I wouldn't live in them myself, but they look wonderful.
Most of the route along which we biked took us along bike only roadways. These are usually along side normal roads. So you usually end up with very wide streets. Working your way across the street you have a pavement for pedestrians, then a bike lane, then the car lane and in the middle of the street you have the tram line. This is repeated in reverse as you continue to the other side. The bike lanes even have their own set of traffic lights. It's very safe to cycle here as long as you obey the lights. Try to beat them and you'll end up as a hood ornament on a locals car.
We went to suss out the place where the water taxi leaves to go to Kinderdijk (a preserved series of 19 working windmills along the canals in a rural setting). If the weather holds, we'll visit there tomorrow.
The water taxi leaves from near the Erasmusbrug (Erasmus Bridge). The cost is 13 Euros each and you can take your bike for free. It also gives you a 20% discount on your entry ticket to the Kinderdijk Project. Full price is 7.50 Euros so it reduces your fee to 6.00 Euros. Not cheap, but not the most expensive day our that I've ever had.
The Erasmusbrug is an interesting piece of engineering - more like a piece of artwork actually.
This stretch of waterway is very busy. Lots of traffic on the water - Cruise liners, water taxies, barges - you name it!
Another thing that struck me about Rotterdam is the number of sculptures and statues. they are all over the place. From the very artistic, to statues of famous people, to a dwarf with a buttplug.
I kid you not. Right in the centre of Rotterdam is what's meant to be Santa, but looks more like a dwarf holding a huge ...... well......the name of this piece of "art" is "Kabouter Buttplug". It by an American artist called Paul McCarthy.....just in case you want to write a complaint.
(Photo above - so what do you think is it Santa or a Dwarf? - a better question would be is it ART?)
It's by no means the best piece of public art in the city, but it's probably the most photographed.
Just to give a little balance - here are a couple of photos of other pieces of public art below.
And on that note I'll take my leave.
More photos of this part of the world will be posted on my Facebook page.....eventually.
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