on to rotterdam

sunday morning, and it's time to head out from amsterdam.

of course, it's raining. or pouring. and maybe some lightning and thunder. but mostly rain.

of course, before i really cared about the continued rain (ugh), it became clear that i apparently bought some things in amsterdam - and my bags were, well, rather full. very full. i felt rather silly - and by silly i of course mean awesome - bumbling through amsterdam with my stuffed backpack, my stuffed messenger bag, and my lavender fields hat. oh, erica.

we made it to the train station, managed to miss the first train to rotterdam - leaving us with a chance to figure out if the "sprinter" train is actually faster than the "intercity" or the "snel" train. oh dear. otherwise, the train was pretty uneventful, other than getting stuck in utrecht for a while and then invaded by red and white dutch football fans. oh, and the rain. pouring more than i'd ever seen. (the effect was possibly magnified by the speed of the train, but whatevs. that train was going fast.)

and then, rotterdam! and huge big city-like buildings. all of those big skyscrapers we didn't really see much of in amsterdam - at least downtown amsterdam - are all over rotterdam. we figure out the tram system, find the hotel baan! where we have spacious rooms with shelving! and giant windows facing the river and general awesomeness. and, blessedly, wifi.

i wandered around in the afternoon, through a big flea market, down the street to the comfort of albert hein (phew!), then gary and i went windmill hunting again in delftshaven, the older section of town across the river. it's funny how much i miss the older buildings of amsterdam. my immediate feeling during my first wander was mostly crankiness - why did we have to leave amsterdam, where i was finally comfortable and felt at home and come to this city that is fairly nondescript and… just kind of generic? of course, i kind of feel bad about this - i don't want to not like rotterdam immediately… i'm keeping an open mind. at least for these first couple days.

pretty park near our hotel...


delfthaven is adorable. this is also home to rotterdam's only brouwerie. awesome!

awesome little floating park in the canal. so pretty.

molen! gary and i found a molen!

i really, really love the dancing people on the library building.

i really want this bike. who wouldn't want the tulipkaart?!

of course, the baan family gave us the most wonderful welcome that night - they put out a huuuuge spread of sushi and crackers and dips and satay and shrimps and olives - so very very good! after dinner, we went over to our corner bar - the ouder slauis for some scrumptious vaguely sour belgian beers. sleep came pretty soon after that, though - there's a cold going around the group, and i'm not ready for that. not going to get sick. sleep is good.

also, this is the view from our hotel.
and a bit later... have i mentioned that the skies in rotterdam are amazing?

also, did i mention we there's no wifi at the hotel? (... now, tuesday night, we finally had the internets returned to us. but until then?)

tears. lots of tears.