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If it was Monday, this must be Rotterdam. After a quick trip around Schiedam to find that most museums weren’t open on Monday (good to know), we took the preferred method of transportation to the center of Rotterdam, the train:

Rotterdam is a city with a different character from most other Dutch cities for a couple of reasons:

- Rotterdam is all about the harbor, which drives the economy
- Rotterdam has a very modern center

As a result, Rotterdam is very much a working man’s city with the attitude to match. That being said, its people are very friendly and certainly welcome visitors.

The typical view of Europe’s larger cities is that of medieval through 19th century architecture, giving the feel of very old cities. The reason for Rotterdam’s modern center lies in its history; at the beginning of World War II, Rotterdam’s center was bombed by the Germans to both take out the infrastructure that kept the Netherlands running and force the Dutch to surrender against an overpowering enemy. As part of these bombing raids, most of the center of the city was flattened and with it the historic structures that stood there. The statue by Ossip Zadkine symbolizes the city missing its heart:

We walked through most of the center of the city to see some of the interesting architecture, such as the Rotterdam Library:

The library is a recent design and sits just about next to another eye-catching piece of architecture:

These apartment cubes (Plan C is their collective name) are indeed different, as there are no upright walls to hang your pictures on. I took a tour of one of the units a number of years ago and can tell you that they do present a comfortable living space, but are not overly large.

Rotterdam also has some more conventional modern architecture, such as the Trade Center:

and of course, it has its share of bridges across the Maas river, such as the recent Erasmus bridge:

Some other notes:

Rotterdam is also the birthplace of Marten Toonder, who created the most enduring Dutch comic strip of all time, The Adventures of Tom Poes. These comics are known for their interesting, animal-based characters with a mild social commentary mixed in. The detail from the status erected in his honor shows the character of Professor Sikbok, a supreme technocrat:

Most restaurants in the Netherlands still allow smoking, although there is a European tide that will sweep the Netherlands along over time. The warning labels on Dutch tobacco products are not nearly as subtle as we have seen in the United States; the message attached to the Marlboro sign reads “Smoking Kills”:

Certain things you will find all over the world; sea gulls (aka Beach Rats) are one of these:

Another of those things are what you find in big cities world-wide: trash (this newspaper was actually frozen in water surrounding a station entrance).