Dutch Manhattan

Last weekend they were celebrating The World Harbour Day in Rotterdam and since I've never been in that city, we went for a little day trip with our friends. I guess Maurice was the most excited one about the whole trip. High buildings give him some kind of a Child-During-Christmas syndrome. When he saw the first skyscrapers, he started jumping, clapping hands and running around like a little boy, who just located presents under the Christmas tree. I gave him my camera and he immidiately started taking pictures of all the buildings from all possible angles. Fine by me, I could just enjoy the trip, he was happy playing a brilliant photographer and I got pics for the blog ;)

43-floor New Orleans, the highest residential building in Holland

43-floor Montevideo next to Hotelu New York from 1903

Rotterdam looks nothing like the rest of the country. It rather eels like Manhattan, which of course also has its charm, at least for some poeple (like Maurice). The main difference is an effect of... the war. On the 14th of May 1940 the city was distroyed during Luftwaffe's carpet raid. The center of the city got totally damaged and there are almost no monuments left. The new, modern metropolis rised from the ashes like a Phoenix and now it attracts architects, businessmen and hundreds of immigrants. There's a popular saying: "Money is earned in Rotterdam, divided in The Hague and spent in Amsterdam".

Erasmusbrug

Kop van Zuid

Neverthless Rotterdam is best known because of its huge harbour. One of the biggest in the world, over 40 km long! The historic harbour area in the center of the city was our main goal. The weather was beautiful, the city was crowded, on the river there were different kind of shows and the best observation point was the Erasmusbrug. Obviously getting on the other side via this bridge was almost impossible. But it was worth it.

Hotel New York rom the beginning of the XX century

Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes... the old warehouse

Rotterdam is modern, dynamic and the skyscrapers are impressing. There are also small, cute streets hidden somewhere in a middle with a lots of green and cool restaurants and trendy hipster cafes, serving delicious healthy lunch. And then, standing on the Erasmusbrug, watching the Kop van Zuid I decided, that it's worth to see it, but at the end of the day I prefer to come back to our small, quiet Nijmegen.