November 3: Rotterdam

Warning: this post contains a poetic device. (Take heed, Michael Howe).

Last weekend I decided to venture down to Rotterdam, the second largest city in The Netherlands and Europe's largest port (and the busiest in the world until Shanghai overtook it in 2004--damn Chinese).

With this trip I've pretty much covered the "Randstad", which is the region outlined by Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht. The Randstad is essentially a metropolis that contains almost half the entire population of the country. It's among the most densely populated regions in the world.

You know how forest fires are supposed to have benefits? After the fire blows through, new growth takes place and the forest goes through a rebirth.

Well, Rotterdam is kinda like that.

As I mentioned in the War Monuments post, Rotterdam was bombed by the Germans in World War II after the Dutch tried to resist the invasion. 800 people died, 80 000 were left homeless, and the city center was almost completely destroyed.

For that reason, Rotterdam wasn't high up on my list of places to visit. I'm a history major; I want to see old stuff. Well, I needn't have worried. In the past few decades Rotterdam has made the conscious decision to make the city a mecca of unique and modern architecture.

The forest begins anew...

(Of course, for the metaphor to stick, you have to remember that the fire wasn't started by natural causes--say, lightning--but by a manmade cause--say, racially-charged Jew-hating fascists with blowtorches.)

You remember my view when emerging from the station in Amsterdam?



Well, this is what greets you when you step out of Rotterdam Central:




Yep; this place is different than anywhere else I've been so far.

Here are some of the buildings I noticed.















This is a brilliant stroke of urban planning; now, Rotterdam is still a visually interesting place to visit, but in a completely different way than any other Dutch city. Architecture references were everywhere; in the tourist information booths there are loads of flyers detailing all the awards different buildings in the city have won. You can buy 3D puzzles and plastic models of various skycrapers.

In one of the information centers there was an entire model of the downtown with the significant buildings highlighted and explained. (The large blue one is a prospective tower and obviously out of proportion with the rest of the city--it was hard to tell because nothing here was in English.)



As I mentioned, the port is the largest in Europe (which is why it was a big deal when it was closed last week.)

This is sort of a panorama view going from right-to-left.






A major bridge spanning the waterway is the Erasmus Bridge. It's nicknamed the Swan for the bend in its "neck".



With almost all of its historic buildings destroyed, you can imagine that the city suffers from a serious case of steeple-envy.

Well, I'd say Rotterdam has more than compensated with this impressively phallic structure: the Euromast.




The Euromast complies with the regulation that all major Dutch projects must be sponspored by its national institution: Heineken beer.



It's also a bit of a well-kept secret to outsiders that the best nightlife in Holland is actually not in Amsterdam, but here. Rotterdam's downtown shopping district is modern, funky, and lively. If you are a Cool Person, then this is Where It's At. (notice how I speak in third person when I say that).






Somehow the city hall survived the bombings.



The only museum I visited while was the National Architecture Institute. It actually wasn't very good. I didn't really learn anything there.



This is a fountain with some giraffe statues. Fun!



This, I think, is an outdoor concert stage. Neato!



So that's Rotterdam. Too bad the weather was so crap-tastic.

I'm working on plans to go London in about two weeks. That will be exciting.