Rotterdam and the Zoo... awesomely named Blijdorp!
Of all the cities that I have seen so far in the Netherlands, this one most reminds me of Manhattan. It is diverse, fast and young. The city of course has a long history, but thanks bombing in WWII, unlike most everywhere else in the country, where the 17th century buildings and medieval history reflect back from every corner. The city sky line is like a shorter version of New York too, with gorgeous points of glass, metal and fluidly modern lines.
Like any self-respecting large city, it has a great website to help tourists figure out what they want to see from the myriad of things the city can offer. The site Rotterdam Info is pretty helpfully designed and breaks things down by interest for you so you don't have to slog through a list of fifty things just to pick out the five museums you choose to visit. They also have a free app that DOESN'T REQUIRE INTERNET ACCESS TO USE! What a great thing! Yes, you do have to have internet to get the app, but once you have it, you don't have to have it to find what you are looking to do. It includes a map, and a lot of great general info about sculptures, buildings and sites in the city.
The city was far too big to see everything while I was there but I did get a good view of a few great sites. Since the city was seriously damaged during WWII, the city has a lot of great modern architecture and it looks like they really took that opportunity to make its city beautiful and remarkable. The cube houses are one of the really interesting bits of modern architecture which are in the city. They look a bit like dice, mid-tumble, and are actually quite large! Though I didn't go in, one Cube is a museum and can be toured for a fee. The buildings are fantastic and look really fun to stay in (which you can since they are now a hotel/hostel) though I am sure that I would get a little vertigo as heights and I don't get along very well.
The city is wonderfully diverse and has a big international community that lives there. One of my favorite buildings that I saw ever time I crossed the bridge toward the city center was this beautiful copper topped mosque. The Melvana Mosque in really beautiful and looks lovely in the middle of the open grass grounds. The inside is amazing and has beautiful decoration on the interior including a beautifully tiled mihrab, amazing gold and black calligraphy and a really impressive chandelier on the ceiling.
I spent a day at the Rotterdam Zoo or Blijdorp which is a big zoo and aquarium. By far the most fun creature there was the baby polar bear who had immense amounts of fun playing with the visiting children through the window in his pool. The only issue that I ran into with the zoo is that the signs are only in Dutch. Though this is understandable, it was a little bit of a detraction not being able to read the descriptions and explanations for the exhibits. The zoo is huge and has a ton of animals from all over the world that are really fun to see. Its definitely worth the trip!
Of all the cities that I have seen so far in the Netherlands, this one most reminds me of Manhattan. It is diverse, fast and young. The city of course has a long history, but thanks bombing in WWII, unlike most everywhere else in the country, where the 17th century buildings and medieval history reflect back from every corner. The city sky line is like a shorter version of New York too, with gorgeous points of glass, metal and fluidly modern lines.
Like any self-respecting large city, it has a great website to help tourists figure out what they want to see from the myriad of things the city can offer. The site Rotterdam Info is pretty helpfully designed and breaks things down by interest for you so you don't have to slog through a list of fifty things just to pick out the five museums you choose to visit. They also have a free app that DOESN'T REQUIRE INTERNET ACCESS TO USE! What a great thing! Yes, you do have to have internet to get the app, but once you have it, you don't have to have it to find what you are looking to do. It includes a map, and a lot of great general info about sculptures, buildings and sites in the city.
I spent a day at the Rotterdam Zoo or Blijdorp which is a big zoo and aquarium. By far the most fun creature there was the baby polar bear who had immense amounts of fun playing with the visiting children through the window in his pool. The only issue that I ran into with the zoo is that the signs are only in Dutch. Though this is understandable, it was a little bit of a detraction not being able to read the descriptions and explanations for the exhibits. The zoo is huge and has a ton of animals from all over the world that are really fun to see. Its definitely worth the trip!
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