Rotterdam was very different from the other cities we have visited. It was nearly completely flattened by the Germans in WWII. Much of the city is quite modern, and we enjoyed seeing the variety of architecture there. We started our visit to the Maritime Museum, which held a collection of antique ship models. One was older than 600 years! I've been fascinated with models of ships since I was a kid because of the model my dad made that was on display in the living room. The models at the museum were great fun to see.
After visiting the museum, we trekked to the Spido boat harbor tour. We were fortunate to be inside the boat when it was raining, and have the weather clear up when the tour was over. Even though it was raining, we enjoyed the tour of the harbor. After all, it is the largest port in Europe.
Once the boat tour was over, we headed back to the train station, where a large indoor market nearby. This market contained booths for specialties ranging from bulk spices, nuts, and confections to sausages and small restaurants. We had some fish and fries, then we hunted for a treat that we could have in honor of Jake's dad's birthday.
Jake: Today was Rotterdam, the city of International boats and vessels. There were water taxis,tug boats, and every size boat, to the largest of them all.....a cruise ship. The cruise ship was turned into a hotel with restaurants in it. At least that was what we were told.
We did get to see the famous "cube' houses in Rotterdam next to a penciled shaped apartment complex. While we walked the channels to the Spido, we could see house boats and smell the scent of fish as if we were on the shore of the sea.
It was dinnertime, and I do like to talk about food. We went to the Markthal, the market, to find something to eat. To me, the Markthal looked like a giant loaf of bread with the open market in the middle covered with an outside layer of apartments. Maybe it looked like this because I was hungry.
Once I stepped inside, I noticed several different scents and sights of food that smacked me in the face.
There were peanuts, sausage, donuts, cakes, waffles, gelato, spices, coffee, stroopwafel, fish, cheese, and so much more. There were restaurants as well. We ate at the Royal Fish. They serve fresh fish fried in a thick batter served with frites (fries). It was delicious.
We did have the pleasure of meeting a couple who used to be from Ohio traveling for their third time to Holland. They have been married for forty-nine years. It was good to see another Buckeye in Holland.
The macarons were made in Belgium, and the cupcakes were made in Holland. The macaron flavors were apple, raspberry, chocolate-orange, vanilla-coconut, and mocha. The cupcakes were carrot cake and bananas chocolate.
Each bite was light and it melted a blanket of flavor around my tongue. There wasn't a massive amount of sugar nor did it taste sugary. It was real fruit or it was real cream filled in the center of the macarons. This was a good way to end the day.
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