We are now leaving Andre and Lilly''s fine company and heading to Rotterdam to meet up with Vincent we met in Panama and Annika and Francesco we met in Ngepi, Namibia. Andre and Lilly took us in their car to meet up with Annika and Francesco. We stopped along the way in the town of Breede which is a college town just across the border in the Netherlands. Like most of the other cities we visited, it has an old town and then the outlying city. It was an enjoyable stop and then on to Rotterdam.
One of things Rotterdam has become famous for in Europe is the modern architecture. The harbor was one of the areas that was heavily bombed so as a result there is a very modern look to parts of it. Annika and Francesco's place is in an area that used to be a waterway for ships in the harbor. The area was filled in and now is home to beautiful luxury townhouses. They have a nice view of one of the bridges and the harbor from their porch.
Before we met up with them, we walked around the Harbor Museum area, saw some houseboats and some of that canal charm. Back to their place. From there we went to eat at Restuarant LuLu that is quite popular with the locals. It is near the harbor area - Gedempve Zalmhaven is one street I have written down and is around the corner from there. It is a blend of many different Asian cuisines so we had a wonderful dinner of several different things---Lemon grass-coconut milk-chicken soup for starters, then red pork curry, green chicken curry, sushi, cashew chicken, chicken satay, kale, green beans, beef satay, beef in pepper sauce, pork in oyster sauce, beef with veggies, chicken with peppers, and rice. What a feast and what a nice way to end our visit with Andre and Lilly and begin our short visit with Francesco and Annika.
After our goodbyes to Andre and Lilly, we did a short harbor walk with Francesco and Annika pointing out some of the important sights including the statue of Peter the Great who made a journey here when he was visiting European cities. Rotterdam is still a major port city--the Meuse and Rhine flow here and we watched several ships going past. Francesco pointed out some of the new modern architecture including some of the bridges. They are lit up and night and so it does have a charm to it. Annika said that once a year the city of Rotterdam has a laser show which is actually tracing the pattern and speed of the bombing and destruction of Rotterdam duirng World War II. She said it is impressive but also a little sad to see how quickly things happened.
After dinnner we went back to their place and had rufo herbero, an after dinner liquer that is good for the digestive. End of a nice day. The next day we managed to get in touch with Vincent, whom we had met in Panama. He had just gotten back from a trip to the United States to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Vincent took ua to a place to eat that is above a shopping mall and you have a nice view across Rotterdam. After that we decided to go buy our ticket for our train ride to Amsterdam. Vincent works for the train that runs to Paris. If we had more time, he would have let us ride to Paris and back with him. Glad he was with us buying the tickets. The machines do not take credit cards, debit cards or bills so you have to go get change to feed the machine. Got the ticket and were told by Vincent you must STAMP THE CORRECT DATE on the ticket BEFORE you get on the train or they can fine you. Never would have known without Vincent. We also walked to where the platform was so we would know since our train was at 6:59 a.m.
Walked over to his flat after having to deal with his bicycle being taken by the bicycle police for being parked illegally. Evidently this is a real problem in Amsterdam at the train station. They have an entire parking lot devoted to bicycles but it is hard to find a place to put your bike. He lives in an area that is a very diverse ethnic area and was quite interesting. While he was getting ready to go to work, told us several stories of his work on the train. Went and had a coffee at his favorite coffee shop near his house and then managed to make our way back to Annika and Francescas.
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