Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Our first stop on Adventure 2015 is to Rotterdam! Why Rotterdam, you may quite legitimately ask? It's not the top of most people's travel lists!

We had a week between my arrival in Hamburg and what shall be hereforeto referred to as "the big family wedding' which is Phil's cousin, Stefan's wedding on 6 March followed by a celebration of his 50th birthday the following day.

We wanted to spend a chilled week, pre-wedding, preferably somewhere we haven't been. The criteria was - not too far, easy to navigate, not too cold and not too pricey. Hello, Netherlands - tick, tick, tick, tick!!

I'm a fan of The Netherlands, having studied in Utrecht for a semester and been back to visit Amsterdam a few times. But I've never been to Rotterdam, or most of the South.

Rotterdam is The Netherlands second city (ie the Melbourne of the Netherlands). It's Europe's largest port and only about 30 minutes by train from Gouda, Delft and The Hague. So we thought, if Rotterdam's not awesome, we can easily day trip nearby. It was decided. We booked an apartment on airbnb, did zero research and arrived yesterday afternoon!!

Here is a pic of our "Charming loft apartment" as described in air bnb:







Tis pretty charming, huh??

It's actually a converted attic with a little balcony. We have a coffee machine, stove burners, fridge and microwave... So pretty much fully equipped for a chilled out week. Our host left us a fruit bowl and a bottle of red, instantly guaranteeing a sparkling review, despite the insane stair situation - there are three more flights like this!!







Here it is at sunset:





From the balcony






Tulips on the dining table

Despite it being perfect for us, it wasn't expensive (under $70 a night for the whole place). It's a 10 minute tram ride from the city centre, popular with new immigrants - the neighbourhood is filled with insanely delicious smelling bakeries! There are some cool stores here which I'll take some pics of later this week.

Today we walked into the centre of town across the soaring Erasmus bridge and got a bit of a feel for the city - which generally has a user-friendly, good vibe. Some pics from a day of aimless wandering:







































So what are we going to do for the rest of the week??

This is where we need your help... I'll be posting a poll asking for your input in getting the most out of our trip to Rotterdam... Check it out on the web version of the blog...


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