Rotterdam, The Netherlands

We came to Rotterdam in order to find a ferry to take us to England, so our first order of business upon arrival was to make our departure arrangements. With that accomplished, we had the rest of the afternoon free to explore the city.

Our first stop was the Kijk-Kubus, a fascinating condominium building by the architect Piet Blom. Each module of the complex is a private home in the shape of a cube; the tricky part is that each cube stands on one of its points, and none of the outside walls are vertical. We toured the one public unit in the complex and found it intriguing. The living space is on three levels; from the bottom up there's an entry and kitchen, then a sleeping area, then a loft/attic/lounge. It's a very clever, and obviously distinctive, design.

Our lunch in Rotterdam merits a mention as an educational experience. "Hamburger" in Dutch evidently means a ground ham patty with ketchup and onions on top, no bun. "Special hamburger" means the same, but add a slice of cheese and a fried egg between the patty and the onions. Tasty, but not what we'd had in mind.

Since it was bombed flat not once but twice during World War II, Rotterdam has become a modern architectural proving ground. The Nederlands Architectuurinstituut has exhibits on the history of local architecture as well as its future. We saw an exhibit titled "Two Centuries of Dutch Architecture" and one on underground architecture. (Literally underground, not just out of the mainstream.)

Outside the Architectuurinstituut, we got a special treat. We saw a common tern dive repeatedly into the institute's surrounding pool until it came up with a fish. The bird was so engrossed in feeding that it didn't seem to mind that we were only ten feet away.

Our architectural tour of Rotterdam then took us to the Euromast, a 185 meter tower overlooking the world's busiest harbor. This example from the because-we-can school of architecture afforded us a grand view of the city, as well as giving us a very clear impression of just how flat this country is.

While sipping beers (Heineken, of course) atop the Euromast, we decided it was time for dinner. We'd read that Delfshaven was the place to go for restaurants and bars and such, so that's where we went. Once we got there we thought, "This can't be it!" and so set off on foot, walking for over an hour before concluding that the one canalside street with a half-dozen restaurants really was "It." As it turned out, we did have a nice meal, capped off with a yoghurt, custard and fruit syrup dessert called flip. Yum.

We got up early the next morning so we could catch a train to the ferry port at Hoek van Holland and then the ferry to Harwich, England.