rotterdam: where the wind meets the water and my patience runs thin
so i'm in rotterdam now, trying to figure out why everyone calls it europe's largest seaport when it's basically just a bunch of water and bridges everywhere. i just checked and it's...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. 8.55°C with 85% humidity - feels like walking through a damp paper bag if you ask me. the weather app says it's gonna get up to 9.38°C today, which i guess is technically warmer than yesterday, but who's really counting?
rotterdam's this massive place - 319.4 km² they say, which is bigger than amsterdam but with fewer people. it's all spread out along this river called the nieuwe maas, which is basically just a fancy name for "the new river" but whatever. most of the city is below sea level, which is great for my anxiety levels. it's protected by dikes though, so unless there's some biblical-level flooding, we should be fine. probably.
someone told me that rotterdam used to be a small fishing village back in 1283. can you imagine? now it's this industrial hub with the world's busiest port by cargo volume. how did that even happen? well, apparently they dug a canal to the schie river in 1340, and then connected to the southern netherlands by rail in 1877. history lesson over, i'm tired already.
the bridges here are something else. there's this erasmusbrug that looks like a swan, and apparently it's iconic. then there's de hef, which is some preserved railway lift bridge that's now a national heritage site. why? who knows. the city's split in half by the river, connected by these bridges and tunnels. makes getting around interesting, especially when you're as directionally challenged as i am.
if you get bored, amsterdam and the hague are just a short drive away, and dordrecht's to the southeast. i haven't been to any of them yet because rotterdam's keeping me busy with its...uh...port infrastructure. the kop van zuid area on the southern bank has this expanded city center, which is basically just a bunch of new buildings next to the harbor.
there are museums and art places - kunsthal rotterdam, boijmans van beuningen museum, fotomuseum. i went to one of them and saw some modern art. it was...abstract. like, "why is this art" abstract. but someone told me that rotterdam has some of the best modern architecture in europe, so i guess that's something.
the population's around 600,000 in the city proper, with 1.3 million in the greater area. it's supposed to be one of the most multicultural cities in europe, which is great if you like different kinds of food. though i haven't found any famous local dishes yet, which is a bit disappointing. maybe i should ask someone instead of just wandering around looking confused.
anyway, rotterdam's got this modern skyline that stands out from traditional dutch cities, mostly because they had to rebuild after world war ii. it's all bold architecture and concrete, which is either really cool or really depressing, depending on the day and how much coffee i've had.
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