Nederlands Out-Takes

At the Ikea in Haarlem; fast food deals just like Costco (except it's Ikea and you 
get Swedish meatballs; but they do have a 1.50E hot dog and drink deal just like
Costco); do Ikeas in the US do this?

At Kampeer de Jong near Zilk; a 12v French-frier for your camper; we were
tempted...

We loved shopping at grocery stores wherever we were in the Netherlands,
particularly Albert Heijns; the variety of interesting foods, internationally,
surpassed anything else we have seen; here, anyway, is a selection of pre-
cut French fries

Ditto

A sauce mix for any and every cuisine...and just an end-cap
...much more down the aisle

So how many varieties of satay sauce does your Safeway carry? One?

She made me do it

How to ruin a neighborhood; does it mean "no drinking non-alcoholic beverages"?)

The morning's pre-frites just delivered

Only in Nederlands

My sentiment precisely

So in order to raise the draw-bridge, you just step on this little pedal here

Thus

Cell tower cleverly disguised as a 19th century smokestack

Perfect...

Damn straight!

If you come here, bring a chip/PIN card: Nederlands are 
doing away with currency

Love these bikes, especially the 2-wheeled versions

Hmmm...marketing ploy?

Proper technique for eating pickled herring

Tulips, the old-fashioned way

Smooth or crunchy, the breakfast spread of champions...

Rotterdam Grote Kerk

The church was largely destroyed in the May, 1940, bombing, but has been rebuilt; and considerably renovated, replacing the destroyed stained glass windows with more translucent glass, and the floors with much lighter material.

From the big square

In the church square, Hendrik de Keyser's 1622
bronze statue of Erasmus, Rotterdam's favorite
son, the "Prince of Humanists"

The doors of the church depict the horrors of
war

Window treatment

Ditto

Ditto again

View forward

View abaft

Rotterdam Market Hall

Our perambulations brought us back to the big square and the markthal, the market hall, where we figured we could put together the big meal of the day. The markthal struck me as perhaps the best example of Rotterdam's insistence on not simply re-creating the old world.

Full frontal view

Interior, vaulting

Up closer

Spice babe; although there is incredible variety, what you don't
get here is competition...e.g., only one spice shop...

Vicki eyes the waffles

Tomahawk chop...I mean, steak

At the sausage shop...kangaroo...

At the jamon shop

Couldn't take my eyes off the ceiling and the caterpillar-thing

In the seafood section, samphire! The UK of GB is not far away

Blend your own oil...we chose the 10w30

Mushroom store

Cotton candy store

At length we decided on the Greek lunch
extravaganza for two...best Greek ever, and
only 20E

Rotterdam Maritime Museum

So when in Rome...our Museumkaartes give us free entry to practically all museums in Nederlands...

At the delta of the Rhine, the Meuse, the Scheldt, and other
major rivers, it's been a maritime sort of place for a very
long time

Much of the old historic harbor is now part of the Maritime Museum

Clever, um, seafaring motif throughout the museum;
surprisingly, the WCs were not located on the poop deck

In addition to the boats and ships and harbor machinery
outside, the museum also contained much seafaring artwork

Interesting maps

And models...this their Night Watch...

So it said

Contemporary super container ships

They always look top-heavy to me, so this model was comforting

Rotterdam harbor in the late 1800s

Did you know that the life boat is a relatively recent invention?

Beyond the museum now...a British light-house ship has been converted to a pub