We arrived in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Holland), early on the morning of Tuesday, August 4. Before I get into our Rotterdam adventures, let me go back to Monday night at sea.
The pianist, Elliot Finkel, played again in the large showroom. He is so incredibly good and entertaining. This time he included a medley of tunes from Disney movies, beginning with the latest Toy Story theme written by Taylor Swift. He also played some old classics and a few classical tunes as well.
In between tunes, he tells stories of his and his family’s past adventures. As he told us before, his dad was Fievel Finkel, who played Lazer Wolf in the original Broadway version of Fiddler on the Roof in the 60s. His dad also was in several movies and TV series. In fact, he won an Emmy for being the crazy lawyer in the Picket Fences, which I remember being a great series.
Elliot also told stories about his own career. He was involved in many of the Broadway musicals from the 60s, 70s, and on, including Hello Dolly with Carol Channing. He was also the musical director for Ginger Rogers and travelled with her on tour. He shared that she told him once that Irving Berlin offered her several songs to record. She turned down White Christmas, thinking, “Who would ever listen to that?” It was one of the biggest regrets in her career.
Now, back to Rotterdam.
The thing about Rotterdam is that it’s very close to Amsterdam, and that’s where everyone wants to go. So, we decided to take a tram to the Rotterdam train station and take the train to Amsterdam. However, we couldn’t figure out how to get a ticket at the tram station. And, thanks to instructions begin mostly in Dutch and everything being “self-serve”, there was no one to ask for help.
No problem. It was only a 2 mile walk to the train station. So, we set out in high spirits. Of course, it was in the high 80s, so we were hot and tired when we arrived at the train station. But we had no problem there and it was easy to secure tickets and find the correct train. The train ride was very pleasant, and in about 45 minutes we arrived in Amsterdam.
And then we had to go to the bathroom. We found the WC (water closet) eventually. I totally held up the line, because you have to pay to use the toilet by scanning your charge card. And, then you get a ticket that you have to use to get OUT of the toilet. To begin with, I couldn’t get the scanner to read my charge card until the man working there came over to show me how (instructions were all in Dutch). Then my ticket to get out didn’t work. After fiddling with it for a few minutes and creating a big line behind me again, the woman behind me said, “Lady. Just push it and go through.” So, I did. And, I was not arrested, so that was good. I found out later that Dave had a similar experience.
As usual, we had no plans for Amsterdam. We wandered around for a while just looking at stuff—architecture, people, etc. Then we decided to find the Van Gogh museum. But as I looked it up online, I realized that at pretty much every museum/venue you are required to make a reservation several days ahead. So much for that idea.
It was a super busy place. We walked around a while longer, had a nice lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant and got back on the train to return to Rotterdam. After walking back from the train station, we were hot, stressed, and exhausted…and really glad to be back on the ship.
On Wednesday morning, we considered staying on the ship for the day. But the temperature was cooler and it was a beautiful sunny, breezy day, so we get out and see more of Rotterdam. We walked in the opposite direction from the city center and train station.
In a few blocks we happened upon a beautiful park and trail that goes along the waterfront. Holland America’s original luxury liner for passengers—the Rotterdam—has been retired and is now a fully functioning hotel a mile or so from where we were docked. The park was about halfway there, so we headed over to take a look and compare it to the current Rotterdam ship, which we’ve been on.
Just as we were exiting the park we saw a full-size passenger bus driving from the street right into the water. It was shocking until we realized that the bus was like the duck boats at Wisconsin Dells. Once it hit the water, and engine kicked in and it floated off on its merry way. We did enjoy touring the Rotterdam and imagining how glorious it must have seemed in the 1950s when it was brand new. It was a lovely and relaxing day with perfect weather and no crowds.
One interesting thing to note about Rotterdam and Amsterdam—there are more bikes than cars. It’s pretty cool, but you really must always watch the traffic around you. There are bus lanes, pedestrian lanes, and car lanes and they are all crisscrossing each other and are super busy. Unfortunately, the e-bike thing is big and many of the bikes are travelling as fast—or faster—than the car traffic. That ramps up the danger factor for regular pedal bikes and pedestrians, but everyone seems to take it in stride and go about their business.
So, Rotterdam and Amsterdam? Certainly, they are interesting, and it was good to get a taste. But really getting to experience them would require some planning and a much longer stay.
Next up is a day at sea followed by a stop at Douglas, Isle of Man.