Yearn to Wander

Erasmusbrug, Iconic Symbol of Rotterdam

We arrived via the Chunnel from London. What a delightful surprise! We came to see the port, but have discovered a city brimming with architecture, bicycles, good food, and nice people.

City Centraal is modern and vibrant, but relatively quiet, relaxed, and uncongested. (The warning bells and sirens are even subdued.) Bike lanes parallel auto lanes everywhere. The lanes have curbs on either side, not painted on lanes, as well as space between the auto lanes and pedestrian lanes. Streetcar (tram) tracks go in every direction. Add canals and the Nieuw Mass River to the mix. Pedestrians, bikes, trams, cars, and ships all seek their destinations peacefully along their respective paths and even safely at their intersections.

New architecture, modern and experimental, rises in the skyline, along with cranes helping to build more. A few Baroque and other period buildings demonstrate the little that survived World War II. Public art stands in parks and plazas, and along the shoreline.

We've walked tens of miles since we arrived four days ago, so yesterday the boat tour of the Port of Rotterdam beckoned. Along the river, hundreds of cranes dot the skyline as thousands of containers come and go daily from the world's third biggest port (behind Shanghai and Singapore). Erasmasbrug, the iconic symbol of Rotterdam, and Wilhelmbrug (bridges) cross the Nieuw Maas River, where port traffic travels upstream to the North Sea to the rest of the world and downstream into the heart of Europe.

Last night we heard the Rotterdam Philharmonic, touted by the The Times of London as the best orchestra for Russian music west of Minsk, play Shostakovich's Fourth. What a thrill!

The sun's shone more than not, contrary to weather forecasts before our arrival. That's added to the pleasure of exploring the city. So far, we've gotten to know City Centraal, where locals live, work, and play.