With Italy, Sweden as well as Belgium behind us, Mrs romance as well as I are ecstatic about the great times ahead in our next stop: the Netherlands.
This week we’re heading to Rotterdam to satisfy up with our charming buddies Sara-May as well as Pat, who moved right here from Sydney a few years ago. We can’t wait to see exactly how they’re getting on in their new home.
This Week’s IG edition takes you around this super-modern port town that – thanks to its waterways – is understood as the Gateway to the World.
We hope you take pleasure in this Edition!
Jim & Christina x
Here’s one last picture from Belgium we wished to show you before we take you down to Holland. This fountain is in a park in the centre of Brussels we found.
We don’t frequently publish selfies, however we believed you may such as this one.
We’ve shown up at Rotterdam’s fantastic Centraal station as well as Sara-May is right here to satisfy us. It’s fantastic to see her as well as she explains that the station is an award-winning building as well as is in truth one of the city’s vacationer attractions.
It seems a bit odd up until we realise that Rotterdam is a city whose contemporary track record has been developed on its architecture. The style of this location is fascinating.
From WWII when the Nazis bombed Old Rotterdam flat, the city utilized the chance to make contemporary day Rotterdam as contemporary as well as fascinating with its style as possible. I believe they’ve won this one.
There are still about 3 of the old buildings from pre-1940 Rotterdam standing like the Witte Huis here. somehow these gorgeous old pieces of design stayed fairly unscathed in the aerial bombardment.
They work as a gorgeous contrast to the ultra-modern quirkiness of the rest of what’s come since.
A best example of what’s come from this new Rotterdam mindset are the Kijk Kubus. These Cube homes are one of Rotterdam’s strangest buildings. They’re apartments as well as one is even a hostel.
They’ve been created to represent the tops of trees in a forest of structural design. I believe they’re fantastic – though I’m not sure if I might online in one!
Rotterdam Markthal is one more astounding piece of architectural design. This big arc homes an fantastic fresh food market with a huge variety of stalls selling whatever from fruit to cut meat. Underground there are cafés as well as supermarkets.
Most fantastic though is the windows you can see all around the outside of the building. These are apartments. You can online above the Markthal as well as if you look up at the ceiling, you can see windows that look up into the terraces of this fantastic apartment or condo block.
Inside Markthal are locations such as this selling exceptionally appealing choices of delicacies from regional as well as worldwide producers.
I’m type of delighted there’s nothing such as this in Sydney: I’d be massively fat as well as excruciatingly poor.
Today Sara-May is walking us across the Erasmus Bridge to inspect out one more part of the city.
It’s fantastic exactly how well the bike lanes work right here – even on this primary arterial road with Rotterdam. It’s so fascinating to see exactly how a contemporary city must look – one that’s developed particularly to our present needs instead of trying to home what we requirement in older designs.
We walk past the new York Hotel, which when held the head offices to the Holland America Line shipping company. This part of Rotterdam is popular for its proximity to the ports, which, although are still running, have been gentrified.
You’re a lot more likely to see cruise liners as well as waterbuses going past now than freighters.
We’ve come to Fenix Food factory for lunch, which is just round the corner to the new York Hotel.
This beautifully styled food co-operative is a repurposed storehouse full of tasty artisanal bites as well as breweries.
The chocolate scene in Rotterdam is absolutely worth inspecting out too. These people make fantastic hot chocolate drinks.
Coffee in Rotterdam – a bit like Belgium – is touch as well as go though. lots of locations utilize long-life milk, so if you don’t like the flavour of that, you’re much better off staying with an espresso or an Americano. We do have the very best idea for fantastic coffee in Rotterdam at the end of this publish though.
Today, Sara-May has taken us on a bike ride! Well, when in Holland…
The bike lanes right here are so good, even we, who seldom ride, are able to get around on a couple of the city’s rental bikes. We’re off to KralingseBos Park just on the northeastern edge of the city.
In KralingseBos Park there’s a lake, some fantastic bit areas to stop for lunch as well as a huge enclosure full of fallow deer. This buck is absolutely beautiful. We’re shocked exactly how fluffy his antlers look though!
Back in Rotterdam, Mrs romance as well as Sara-May have left me as well as Pat to sleep inwhile they head to the regular food markets that occur outside Markthal every Tuesday as well as Saturday. It’s the greatest open food market in Europe.
It’s not just fresh strawberries that you can pick up at the markets. The fresh flowers you can get right here are not only cheap, they’re sensational too.
Best of all, Sara-May has gotten Mrs R a lot of her much-loved flowers: Peonies.
One of the oldest staying buildings in Rotterdam is Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk Protestant church. This gorgeous gothic church is ideal in the centre of the city as well as there’s a great deal of conjecture as to exactly how this building wasn’t destroyed with the rest.
If you’re in the area long enough, you’ll be treated to a tune or two they play on the church bells. We’ve heard rather a few covers considering that we’ve been here!
Further out from the city centre are some older style buildings that make the juxtaposition between the contemporary city as well as the old town clear. It’s difficult not to try to picture what Rotterdam need to have appeared like before the war.
Tonight, Sara-May as well as Pat have taken us out on the town in Rotterdam. We’re in the aptly named awesome District. right here bars, restaurants as well as cafés line the street, as well as the environment is amazing.
It’s excellent to see exactly how lots of people come out right here after work for drinks as well as dinner. summertime in Europe is always so much fun.
Pat has brought us to what’s commonly thought about the very best burger location in town: Ter March & Co. I need to state we’re all quite pleased as well as Sara-May is thrilled to lastly have a respectable burger in the Netherlands. It seems it’s one area that a great deal of locations haven’t truly bothered with.
It’s amazingly hectic right here at Ter March & Co, however it’s truly worth it. The food’s fantastic as well as the people-watching is sensational! top tip: if you requirement the bathroom, don’t bother trying to fight the crowds with to the back of the restaurant; just pop across the road to Wunderbar. It’s a bit odd in there, however it’s much much easier to ‘get a spot’.
Rotterdam is full of fascinating street art. The graffiti scene right here is off the charts as well as even the buildings themselves are like monuments. as for the statues, well, I’ll leave this as much as you to appraise.
It was commissioned by the council as well as artist Paul McCarthy when once again pushed the limits a bit as well far. It’s meant to represent Santa Claus as well as the item he’s holding is – obviously – a Christmas tree… however, this massive statue is understood to locals as the Buttplug Gnome.
This morning, Pat, Sara-May have taken us to the next town of Schiedam (pronounced ‘skee-dam’) to see the opening of a new bridge as well as to check out the canal-side of this quite bit town.
There are celebrations quite much weekly right here in Schiedam as well as the locals truly get into it. Mrs romance has satisfied a group dressed in the standard clothes of the canal workers who utilized to ferry products around the hectic waterways before roads were a thing.
Schiedam is likewise the birthplaces of jenever – the predecessor of gin. We’ve come to the Schiedam Jenever museum to discover a bit a lot more about this interesting spirit as well as industry.
Although this is a museum, it’s likewise one of the last few craft jenever distilleries left in Schiedam – a town that when had over 400 distilleries. Of the town’s 24 windmills, 20 were there to grind the grain for the distilleries.
For a bit additional on top of the entrance charge for the museum, you get a three-drink flight of jenever at the end to taste what they make here. It’s absolutely worth it – just don’t try as well as drive home.
Outside the museum, the town is truly getting into the celebrations. This group of guy have started singing some old Dutch shanties, as well as it’s truly brought the environment right here up one more level.
All around Rotterdam there’s fascinating street art that attempts to reactivate areas that were either run down or not being used. It’s an fascinating idea however it seems to be working. as well as the street art is normally extremely well respected. You don’t see lots of pieces covered in tags.
It’s nearly time for us to leave the Netherlands. Sara-May as well as Pat have taken us out for breakfast at one of the lesser-visited breakfast areas called guy with Glasses. It’s a awesome café that not only serves truly exceptional coffee (I guaranteed I’d tell you, didn’t I?), it likewise roasts its own beans.
The food right here is tasty too!
With one last look at the canals of Rotterdam – this is Delftsevaart Canal with its awesome shaped apartments – we head off back to the station for the last part of our journey. We’re heading back to England.
The train from Rotterdam Centraal station to Amsterdam flight terminal truly isn’t a tough trip. It takes no time as well as the train is quick as well as comfortable. There’s just sufficient time to repair our Mon handbag bag identifies on our suitcases as well as prepare ourselves for Luton flight terminal where our buddies are waiting on us to show us round St Albans as well as their new house.
We hope you’ve took pleasure in our IG edition this week. We’ll chat once again soon.
Cheers – Jim & Christina x