May 1 in Rotterdam

We left Nijmegen for Rotterdam with our own personal tour guide, Kees. Saying goodbye to Dineke for her wonderful hospitality off we went by train. What is exciting about Rotterdam is their architect. So much of the city was bomber in WW II that the city had to be rebuilt. Here is the train station looking like a ship.

Kees showed us all the highlights having worked in Rotterdam for many years.

First stop Hotel New York  It was in this hotel that over 4 millions immigrants over 100 years stayed here on their way to the “new world” with Holland America Lines. 

My photo and the official one below....

In we go to have a bite to eat, very nice

Norm found his spot along the way.

Over the new Swan bridge as the sun came out but the wind picked up. 

As we headed towards the famous market we saw what we thought was unusual..... a floating hot tub. Yes alcohol included! 

A very moving statue in called The Destroyed City.

“According to Zadkine the idea for The Destroyed City was born when he arrived by train in the devastated city of Rotterdam in 1946. It is, in his own words: ‘A cry of horror against the inhuman brutality of this act of tyranny.’
[From: M.G. Schenk, Ossip Zadkine, Amsterdam 1967].

The sculpture represents a distressed figure with its head and arms lifted skywards. Zadkine has positioned the arms, legs and hands in various directions, giving the sculpture a great dynamism. The figure leans against a tree trunk, providing a balance for the six-metre high colossus.

The hole in the figure’s torso symbolises the destroyed heart of the city during the bombings of 14 May 1940.”

The markers are unbelievable! The indoor one called Markhet Hall has food galore. 

Front

From the inside.

And fries..

Outside the market was massive! It went on for blocks and blocks. You can buy anything!!

And when it was over....

We walked the city finding sites. Architecture is wild. The cube houses are fun to just try to figure out how people actually live there.

The Wite Huis, we tried to sneak to the roof (Duncan’s suggestion) but no luck 

A little touch of red