Hello all,
I have a short post to talk about my trip to Rotterdam last week. It was great!
Kayla and I left Arras at about 7pm on Friday night and got to Rotterdam at about 11pm. We made our way to our AirBNB, very close to the train station. It was absolutely stunning! Great location and the apartment was so beautiful. We even had a rooftop terrace! Our host was awesome and we talked over beers all about what there is to do in Rotterdam.
The next day we woke up nice and early to get our day started. Rotterdam is a port city, but in the height of World War 2, it was a target city for German Luftwaffe. It was completely destroyed by over 97,000 tonnes of bombings in 1940 in just a few hours. The city then had to be completely rebuilt, and it is filled with quirky architecture and modern buildings, unlike any other.
The architecture in Rotterdam is very bold, silly, and colourful. It was really cool to see the geometric shapes and very bright colours that made up the landscape of the city. It isn’t very large, which made it very walkable. We made our way to the city centre to see the famous bright yellow “cubed houses” along the water. This was right across the street from Markthal, a U-shaped building with a market inside, all that looks like someone took a huge paintbrush to it. It was filled with vendors, restaurants, fresh veggies and fruits, and anything you could ever want in a flea market.
We then decided to go to Hotel New York, an upscale hotel with a very cool fish market and restaurant, where we had lunch. From there, we went to the famous bright yellow pedestrian bridge, that is lined with wooden boards that have all been donated by various donors or citizens to make the bridge. Day one was filled with lots of quirky and weird architecture and lots of walking around! Rotterdam is a great city to wander in. The Dutch people were so wonderful and nice, and most even spoke English quite well.
Day two, we headed out and went to the historical part of Rotterdam. This is called “Delfshaven” and it is the only part of Rotterdam that survived the bombings in the second world war. This part looked like the pictures that you see of Amsterdam, the classic Dutch style long houses along a canal. It was really interesting to see this little sliver of history among a city dominated by skyscrapers and modern architecture. We spent most of the afternoon there and made our way to the train station to come home to Arras.
When taking the train, we had a very short stopover in Brussels. Unfortunately, our train from Rotterdam to Brussels was delayed so we did not make our connecting train to Arras. We went to the information desk and they were able to send us to Lille, which is quite close to Arras, but we were not able to make any trains from Lille to Arras. The information desk in Lille was kind enough to give us a coupon for a taxi, as it was their fault that the first train was delayed. We got to Arras for free, safe and sound, before midnight! I’d call that a success.
I really loved Rotterdam and it was such a nice weekend. It was nice to see something different, that is so full of history yet also modern. I love the old European cities but it is really nice to mix it up every once in a while!
This was my last trip before the end of the session. We are finished on Monday, May 9th, and I head to Amsterdam for about 5 days before coming home on the 16th. I truly can’t believe how fast my time here has gone. It is very sad, but we are all trying to take full advantage of the time left. In the last few days, I have realized that all of the “drama”, the issues with construction, angry visitors, problems with friends all fade away, and it is now time to focus on the limited amount of time we have left to enjoy this. Even if I come back here, I know it will be different because the people will be different, I will never have another experience like this again. Like they say; the people always make the experience. And this has been an unforgettable one.
I will be sure to write about my last days of work and trip to Amsterdam in the coming weeks. I have attached some pictures from my trip to Rotterdam and from our time on Monday, spending some time at the Thiepval memorial and downtown Arras.
Sending everyone much love, see you in under two weeks! xo
Taylor
Taylor's French Adventures 