Day Three: Rotterdam

4th July 2014

Well, today did not start too well. To begin with, I woke up late:( In addition, I thought I lost my glasses:( It wasn't until I had notice how tired I was, that I noticed a pair of dusty glasses under my bed... Anyway, that cost us at least an hour out of our day...

Dad went again to the conference, and so Mum, Harri and I decided to go towards the Old Town of Rotterdam.

China Town Street. Haha, CHINA Town (notice the tea cup of the building). That is funny :D

We quickly stopped at KFC, cause we don't have it in Finland, and had two kids meals for just savouring the taste of the chicken :)

End of China Town. The Manhattan Hotel in the background.

The railway station in the centre, and a trusty tram coming towards us:) For us the trams were the best transport to use, as they came every couple of minutes. We did try the metro, but it is nicer for us to be above ground:)

Today we decided to take the tram to the old town of Rotterdam. It was the only remaining old area in Rotterdam after the bombings.

We always had our trusty map in our hands, and checked it every couple of minutes to make sure we were on the right track:) Literally, every couple of minutes...

The old town!! Well, actually it was just one road, and you have to kind of stumble upon it, as it is not noticeable from the tram stop...

The old town. I love this bridge! It is sooo cute :))

All along the road there were canopies of greenery. It was very pleasant.

A vintage camera shop!! We went in on the way back down the road, as smaller shopowners usually don't open till after 10:00, and it was amazing! There was a really old video camera that just looked so picturesque ;D

There are many orange decorations everywhere for the Fifa world cup, which just added to the mood. This bike was cute, I wouldn't mind riding it around these streets:)

Harri got his haircut in one of the old town shops, so Mum and I walked abit further and sat here while waiting.

There were many boats that passed thorugh the waters, and we noticed one really long boat. We think that it might be used to transport cargo to the port, which is the largest port in Europe. The tall building in the right is the Euromast, which is a nice observatory tower to enjoy a panorama of the city. We are still deciding whether we should go there or not...

Walking back along one of the main roads heading to the railway station.

This is a really cool church, and we saw a table tennis table set up inside. It really suits the scenery here :D

Heading back to the apartment along China Town.

After afternoon tea at the apartment we went to the shopping street to see whether clothes would be cheaper here. We met Dad there, from his second day at the conference, and had a KFC dinner:) We all agreed, however, that the chips just aren't the same to what they used to be... I bought a nice shirt on the shopping street, however the price was the same as Finland, and then we walked back to the apartment. We are hoping that tomorrow we can go back to look at some department stores:)

Now you are uptodate,

Laura

xoxo

Day Two: Rotterdam

3rd July 2014

Day Two, and we all woke up tired, as if we had no sleep:) Not a great start to the day... Dad started his first day at the conference in the Erasmus university at 10:00, so Mum took him there via tram. She also bought us all three-day travel tickets at the railway station, which we found later to be completely essential :D Harri and I then met Mum at the railway station, and had some lovely morning tea in a lounge area. We are still amazed at how much cheaper food is here than Finland...

It was nice at the Railway station. I had fresh mint tea, where there was actually a fresh sprig of mint in boiling water:) I enjoyed it, but I burnt my tongue so my taste was a tad spoilt after that...

A shopping street in the center. There were many many shopping streets, so i can't wait to go back and browse :D

The city hall. We didn't want to stay there too long, cause this security guard kept following us around...

The back of the only remaining medieval church in Rotterdam. It really was huge standing next to it, although it looked small next to all the modern buildings:)

The famed cube buildings. They really looked queer there, and Mum said they made her feel dizzy. I don't think that I would be able to stay in one of them, but maybe it would be nice just for one day :D

In one of the cube houses. It was nice, but it was a bit claustrophobic. There was three-storeys, and only the first storey was air-conditioned, so we found it quite warm. But it was cozy, and the space was used well.

Oustide the cube houses there were these cafes that over looked this magnificent view! We were going to eat there, but it was quite expensive...
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Erasmus Bridge, or 'The Swan'

The largest building in Rotterdam, as the four buildings are all joined together:)

We went to a peninsular, where we were reccommended to go to for the modern buildings and architecture. It was very hot, and our feet were hurting like anything due to the long walk from the cube houses! Instead of walking back to a tram, we decided to take a water taxi. It was not expensive, and nice and cool :)

We then went back home, and cooked dinner. I was extremely tired, so it was easy to get back to sleep :D

View of the courtyard from the block of apartments we are staying in. I really love that tree in the center, it is very cute x)

Now you are uptodate,

Laura

xoxox

Day One: Helsinki to Rotterdam via Gouda

2nd July 2014

Today was an early start. We (Mum, Dad, Harri and I) woke up at 5:30, tired as anything, but ready to start a three week long family trip through The Netherlands and UK. We had stayed up late the previous night -as you do- planning how to stay within a 8kg boundary for check-in luggage. We had planned this trip quite thoroughly over the previous weeks, and were super excited to finally get going.

After eating a breakfast, that to me tasted tasteless so early in the morning, we took an airport bus to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. The bus was surprisingly easy for us, as we just walked two minutes to the bus stop, got on and stored our luggage in the over-head compartment, and arrived 15 minutes later at the terminal. We then had to go through the nerve-racking part of waiting to see whether our bags would fit the boarding specifications in weight... They all did, phew:) Finally, after Mum got held up at the security check point as usual, this time for her hand bag, we boarded the plane to Riga. Yay!!

We arrived in Riga, and found out that the next flight we would need to take to Amsterdam was delayed. So, Mum and I thought duty-free shopping would be a perfect way to spend the time:) The airport was lovely, and there were heaps of cute shops. I definitely want to go back there, because from what we could see out the plane window of Riga it looked amazing!

After waiting about 2 hours, which was supposed to be 40 minutes, we boarded the plane again to Amsterdam. In this flight I was just so konked-out, that I had to close my eyes and listen to my ears pop. What fun that was:) Then, when I needed to go to the bathroom, I almost visited the pilot. The bathroom and pilot doors were right next to each other, and I was too tired to work out the difference between the two. Luckily there was a flight attendent there to tell me which one was which:) Phew, what a huge mistake that would have been!

Finally we touched down on the tarmac in Amsterdam, and before we knew it (and were really allowed to because the lights were still on) everyone around us was up out of their seats getting their luggage... I guess some people are just really impatient and willing to risk their life to really not speed up the process of waiting for the plane to stop and the doors to open... Then, as the AirBaltic flight attendent said 'Thankyou' as I passed throught the gates, I realised how close everything in Europe really is:)

If you ever go to Amsterdam Airport, you should put aside a couple of hours to walk through the shops, and transitions betweens gates and terminals:) It is a huge airport, and very modern with relaxation booths for a massage. I definetely want to give that a try on my way to the UK:)

We just had time to stop to get sandwiches, before getting on a train to Rotterdam, via Gouda (Pronounced Howda). We had to take an airport train, and then intercity, through large pastures full of cows and horses. We thought of Mummu then, who loves her cows:)

Airport train where there was free wifi:)

Arriving at Gouda we got out of the train and wandered over to the information center to enquire about baggage holding. To our luck, the lady at the desk said that were none, but that a bike hire shop in the city center might be able to keep the lugagge. So, we decided that it really wasn't that difficult wheeling around our suitcases, and started for the city center of Gouda.

In Gouda they have actual paths on the road meant just for bikes, and it looks like many people use bikes...

The walk was amazing, and the canals were mesmerising. I could have spent a lot longer just looking at every view. Finally we arrived at the bike rental shop, and they said we had to rent bikes to be able to store the lugagge. I mean, of course... -hitting head- So, we hired bikes for all of us. That way, we could ride around on all of those bike tracks and see the canals better. The bikes were really different, because the handlebars were rounded, and the seat was soo much more upright than mine in Helsinki. So, needless to say, it did take some time to get used to it, after almost colliding with a retiree on a whizzing bike machine :)

The shop we hired the bikes from.

The Markets in the Center of Gouda.

Yes, that is Lavender:) The smell was lovely.

We stopped countless times for pictures. That was my problem though, I had difficulty with starting the bike again... There were people riding all over the place so you had to wait for the right time to go, and I kept missing it:)

Our final stop on the bikes, Gouda cheese shop. We could sample all the cheese, and they were all suer nice. We found it really difficult to choose a cheese to take with us:)

After we gave the bikes back, and wheeled our suitcases back to the trainstation, we used the same ticket to get back on the train to Rotterdam. We boarded the carriage that stopped before us, as you do, and we then found out by reading the sign on the window, that it was a silent carriage. That was nice, I almost went to sleep then and there.

As we arrived at Rotterdam, we were amazed how huge the train station is. It is even larger than the Rautatieasema in Helsinki, which is saying something:) Luckily, we just had to follow the crowd out, and a lady met us to show us where we will be staying. We booked through Air BnB, so we were going to stay in a whole apartment for the next four days. Lia, our hostess, was very nice, and showed us the directions we could go from the railway station later to attractions:)

From here Lia took us to her humble abode, and we chatted for a while. She then left, and we went to do some grocery shopping, after a little mishap with the door lock (I think that we were all too tired). The grocers we found to be very cheap, compared to to Finland. Finally we had some fruit toast and pizza, and went to bed. Oh the feeling of a long-anticipated sleep:)

Now you are uptodate,

Laura

xoxo