Adventures in Holland

We left Belgium for Holland.  First stop, Rotterdam.  We got out of the train station and looked for our hostel.  According to the directions, the hostel was 'right there in front of the station'.  And it was.  We just couldn't figure out how to get into our hostel.  So we roamed around the station and our hostel, looking for a way in.  Our hostel was the 'Cube Hostel', aka 'Cube Forest'.  It straddles the road, and the whole 'complex' is mixed use; residential and commercial.

The interior was pretty cool too.  Having it is a cube hostel, it's inevitable that there are some wasted spaces, but it was cool so it's all good.

Since we got there pretty late, we just grabbed a quick dinner in the neighborhood, walked around and planned out the itinerary for the next day.  What's great about Holland is that everyone speaks English!!  We found an Asian stir-fry place and were able to ask questions about the menu in English without having the guilt we felt in Paris.

The next day, we ventured out into Rotterdam.  The only problem was that it was a Monday; all the museums are closed on Mondays.  Some are closed on Tuesdays, but most were closed on Mondays.  This really put a limit on what we could do for the day.  We decided to rent bicycles and ride out to the Euromast, a very high tower in Rotterdam.  The bicycles were convenient in getting around town, but they were heavy, no gears and not like the bikes we have back at home.  Eventually, they became a pain to haul around.

The view from the Euromast was pretty amazing.  We had great weather so the panorama was pretty breathtaking.

Rotterdam has a lot of amazingly cool buildings.  Every building was so unique and different looking, it made me really jealous.  With nothing really open, we just took our bicycles for a ride around town snapping pictures of buildings and bridges for the rest of the day.  

The next day, we checked out of our hostel, left our backpacks in care of the hostel and made our way to the museums we wanted to see, before heading off to Amsterdam.  One of the museums was the M.C. Escher museum in Den Haag, which was a short train ride outside of Rotterdam.  We also visited the Netherlands Architecture Institute, and the Kunsthal Rotterdam, which had an exhibit on the upcoming Tour de France (the Tour starts in Rotterdam), which made Alex a very happy customer.

Amsterdam; the city of red lights and drugs.  The atmosphere was so different from Rotterdam; more tourists (for obvious reasons).  The only consistency that I could see was that when crossing the street, a pedestrian has to look out for several things; bicycles, scooters, cars and trams.  In Holland, there is the sidewalk for pedestrians.  Next to that is the Bicycle/Scooter lane.  Next to that is the vehicle lane.  In the middle, there is the tram line.  It's pretty mind boggling when crossing the street.

We checked out the Van Gogh museum and walked over to the ARCAM and NEMO.  The 'top' of NEMO is open to the public with a mini water park for little kids.  Architecture for the public, the way it should be!

The rest of the night was followed by roaming around the red light district, and catching the Germany vs. Ghana game at the hostel.

The next day, we rented bicycles and rode out into the countryside of Amsterdam, which is beautiful!!  I think this was the most relaxing, most scenic, most fun part of the trip, as the weather was beautiful and the scenery was just gorgeous.  Of course, I was too taken by its beauty and forgot to take pictures.  I think this place made it on the list of 'places Mina wants to live'.  

That night, Holland was playing Cameroon, a few of the last group matches of the FIFA World Cup 2010.  We decided to head over the nearby plaza to catch all the excitement.  There was a live band playing, everyone dressed in Orange, and the smell of beer and weed filled the air.  Holland won that night, and every time Holland scored, beers were thrown around the crowd.  It was pretty intense.

The next day, we checked out of our hostel and made our way to Utrecht, to see the famous Schroder House.  Of course, no pictures allowed on the inside (damnit!!!) but let me just tell you how amazing this house is.  So much detail, thought, re-configurability...I want my house to be just as functional as the Schroder House!

The paid tour was definitely well worth it, although I wish they would allow photography inside.  We left Utrecht feeling inspired, to catch a 5 hour train ride for Hamburg, Germany.