Changing Gears - A Little Bit of Modern

Thursday afternoon we were out on the bikes (thus the reference in the title Changing Gears) to a neighboring village, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.  Because these Dutch names are hard to remember once we look up from the page/map, I referred to it as Bob Odenkirk on the Amstel.  By the way, it did make me wonder if the actor is Dutch, but Wikipedia says he is not.  Anyway, it is a cute little town on the river.

On the recommendation of our house traders, we had wonderful dinner at an Indonesian restaurant. This is the original location for famous Dutch Chef, Ron Blauw.  Apparently his restaurants have received Michelin star ratings and he is also at TV personality, involved in the Dutch version of Master Chef.

We enjoyed the setting and the food.

And then a lovely evening bike ride back to the house.

On Friday we shifted gears from quaint small town to ultra-modern Rotterdam, arriving at the space age looking central train station.

It seems like each day we learn something new about public transportation.  So, the "P" after the bus line to the airport bus station means that it stops at every employee parking lot and so we were on a bus with mostly pilots and flight attendants.  It also meant that what should be just a 15 minute bus ride was more like 30+ minutes.  But, we made it to the airport and easily found the entrance to the train station, the proper platform, the train to Rotterdam was there and we were on our way.  As we took our seats, we realized that there hadn't been a turnstile with a chip scanner as there were at the Amsterdam train station, nor as you enter the train like when we enter a bus or tram.  Odd.  Soon after the train ride started - no stops between the airport and Rotterdam - a train attendant came walking through checking for tickets.  We handed him our chip cards but explained had not seen where to use them. He had to go get his supervisor because he did not know what to do. He explained that there where machines in the airport where we should have checked in -no turnstiles. She came back with him and said we would need to pay cash (at a higher amount) and she issued us this notice with a scan-code so we would be able to exit the train station in Rotterdam (yes, they will have turnstiles).  

She assured us that we were lucky that it was only a little extra money (I think an extra 4 Euros a ticket).  In these situations it could have been a 100 Euro fine.  I guess she took pity on us, figuring we were just ignorant Americans versus criminals. And a good thing, as we did NOT have that much cash on us.  Needless to say, our first stop in Rotterdam was an ATM.  We need to be more prepared.

While stopping for Jim's cappuccino, I went on my phone to see about booking a free group walking tour and found one in the early afternoon, so we wondered on our own for a few hours. Our tour guide, Bram, was delightful, funny, and full of stories and history about the city that he loves.  

Rotterdam is a "new" old city.  All but a few of the buildings in central Rotterdam were destroyed by German bombs, "The Rotterdam Blitz," over the course of 4 days in May of 1940.  Located where the Rhine opens up into the North Sea it was clearly a strategic move.  Much of the rebuilding of the city was in experimental styles of architecture, so it was so interesting to just walk and enjoy the innovation.

This sculptures called "The Devastated City."  It commemorates the bombing of 1940.

This building, called "The White House," is one of the few buildings that survived the bombing.  For along time it was one of the tallest office buildings in Europe.

This bridge, De Hef, has been in the news lately because Jeff Bezos wanted it dismantled because the yacht he was having built further up the river had masts too high to pass under the raised part of this no longer in use railway bridge. His request was denied and the plan was to move the yacht, sans mast, so that it could pass under the bridge. Local Netherlands were irate about this and planned to egg the yacht when it was originally scheduled to pass on June 1st, so it was done on Aug 2 under the cover of night.

Our tour guide enjoyed sharing that the people of Rotterdam like to give buildings nickname.  This one is called The Pencil and across the plaza is the Pencil Sharpener. Markthal is a residential and office building with the atrium style center being a food market hall. 

The curved walls and ceiling are covered in murals designed by Pixar.

The Kubuswoningen, "cube houses," are certainly unique.  Each cube is a three story apartment, with weird angles and windows going every with way.  Apparently when they were first built, they lost value because residents felt dizzy in them.  Apparently they are now quite expensive to purchase.  We went through one unit that is maintained as a museum.  We agreed that we wouldn't like living there!  But fascinating.

The City Hall is another of the few buildings that survived the bombing.  When the Canadian troops came to liberate Rotterdam, there was a 4 day battle with the German troops and you can still see bullet holes on one corner of the building.  Our tour guide lauded their mayor - the first Muslim mayor in Europe.  

This sphere shaped structure is actually a church that was instrumental in setting up drug treatment for heroin addicts in the city, and was innovative in setting up a methadone program.

Our tour guide shared the history of this sculpture.  After the war, the city provided funding to replace the many sculptures that were taken by the Nazi's and melted down to be made into weapons and ammunition.  This one, by American artist Paul McCarthy, was apparently not appreciated and it kept being moved from one location in the city to another, with residents complaining at each site.  It has been nicknamed "Santa Claus with a Butt Plug" and people joke that if you rub its right foot, you will have a sexually pleasing evening...

With that wonderful story, we finished our day in Rotterdam with dinner and a walk back to the train station.  We successfully settled onto the correct train as paid in full customers and headed back to Amstelveen.