The weather in Rotterdam has been quite nice. We have spent pleasant afternoons sitting on the outdoor patio at Gerard and Diane’s house, enjoying their garden, sipping tea, conversing, and eating pastries. Whenever everyone notices me falling asleep sitting up, Arjan and I move to our Novotel in a nearby business area called “Brainpark”.
Gerard & Diane’s House in the Alexander Polder
Arjan, Diane, and Gerard in the Garden
The Novotel is an extremely modern hotel, where the default language is English–and it is not too far from the extremely modern house of our friends Gerard and Diana in the Alexander suburb of Rotterdam, where the default language is Dutch but we spend a lot of time conversing in English anyway. (This visit, I have been lazier than ever even trying to speak Dutch. I think at this point in my life it is hopeless.)
Two of the evenings in Rotterdam, we also ate on their back patio, enjoying Diane’s healthy dinners among the beautifully tended gardens of all-white flowers and watching the coots feeding their young in the sloot (a typical Dutch manicured ditch) along the back edge of their yard.
Backyard and Sloot at Gerard & Diane’s House
On Wednesday, July 30, we drove to downtown Rotterdam, in sight of the famous Erasmus Bridge, for dinner at the Wereld Restaurant (attached to the eclectic Wereld Museum). The food, exquisite by any standards, consisted of many elegant tastings and creatively conceived courses, all for a cost no more than some of our pricier restaurants at home.
Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam
Elegant Dessert at the Wereld Restaurant
Thursday, July 31, the four of us took a daytrip in Gerard’s 1966 Cadillac into the countryside to visit a medieval castle, Slot Loevestein.
Gerard’s 1966 Cadillac
Slot Loevestein
Diane and Gerard at Slot Loevestein
At this time of year, many of the restaurants in Holland are closed for vacation, so we ended up at a hotel chain restuarant in Ridderkerk, called “Van der Valk”. Gerard’s Cadillac was the longest car in the parking lot!
Long Cadillac (by Arjan Post)
On Friday, August 1, Arjan and I visited a huisarts (general practitioner) to get a prescription for an antibiotic and nasal spray for me. While we waited for the appointment time, we visited the Kralingse Bos (a forest planted in the 1920s, where the trees are getting quite tall and there are separate paths for walkers, horses, and cyclists and motorbikes). It was very pleasant to sit among the trees and watch people walking by with their dogs and on their bikes.
Sheep Grazing at Kralingse Bos
At the doctor’s office (the doctor, an attractive young Dutch woman), I got to sample the Dutch medical system. Significantly cheaper than a visit to a GP in the U.S., the entire episode cost us, including prescriptions and parking, less than 50 euros (about $67 USD). Think of how much that would have cost someone without insurance in the U.S.!
On Saturday, August 2, we checked out of our hotel and went back to Gerard and Diane’s to say goodbye. Then we headed to Kralingse Bos again to go to De Nachtegaal (The Nightingale) pancake house to meet Alie and John, who will be our hosts in Devon, England. We met them for lunch while they are here checking in on Alie’s brother, Mike, who lives in a group home here in Holland. It will be nice to see Alie and John again in about two weeks.
De Nachtegaal Pancake House in Kralingse Bos
After the lunch, we got on the highway in our rental car to drive to Amsterdam for the next phase of our Dutch journey. The distances here are amazing. Changing major cities is like driving from Boston to Nashua, New Hampshire. Takes about an hour.
Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner & Arjan Post. All rights reserved.