Hanging Out in Rotterdam

We decided to stay in Rotterdam today instead of taking the train to The Hague. We may get there before we take the car back to Schiphol. What started as a blustery day turned into a beautiful sunny day with temps reaching 60 degrees.

We started by walking down the main street to the shopping area where we picked up a few necessaries. I don’t notice at home but it’s amazing how many toiletries we go through in 3 months.

I have no idea what this building is but thought it was pretty.

After shopping we headed to the Grote of Sint Laurenskerk (Church of Saint Lawerence) who is the patron saint of Rotterdam. In spite of breaking ground in 1449 and being finished 100 years later, it looks like a very new church. And it basically is new as everything but the outside walls were destroyed after a German bombardment in May 1940.

It took only 15 minutes to destroy the rest of the city. The walls of the church were all that was left standing.
Here’s what it looks like today.
This chapel held remnants of the original church interior.
Main altar. I didn’t get any closer as there was a service being conducted.
The Chapel of the Saints. St. Laurence is in the middle.

It was luck that today they had a mid-day organ concert. I had seen it on the website, so we planned our visit accordingly.

The magnificent pipe organ. The concert was amazing.

After the concert, we headed to the giant open-air market adjacent to the church.

This is just one tiny piece of it. It was at least 4 blocks long.

We decided to go American for lunch and ate at Friday’s. Well, truth be told, I wanted one of their famous Long Island Iced Tea drinks. It was as good as I remembered, and we had a very leisurely lunch. Friday’s is located in the indoor market.

Wheels and wheels of cheese.

Peter went with the cheeseburger, but I had the Chicken Caesar salad.

And, of course, we topped it off with a Brownie Obsession.

We were pleasantly surprised at Rotterdam. There’s not that much to do here but we were very impressed with the market (both indoor and outdoor) and enjoyed seeing how the old buildings like the church were mixed in with the modern structures.

On the other side of the canal from the church.

Tomorrow, we leave Rotterdam and head for Belgium. Our first stop is the Waterloo Battlefield Museum. Peter has been wanted to see it since our last visit in 2018. Then we head to Ghent where we spend the next 4 nights. It’s nice to unpack for a while instead of moving every night. Luckily our flat has a laundry as we’re running dangerously low on underwear. OK, probably TMI but it’s been a long day and my filter may not be as sharp as it should be. Have a great night everyone.

4 thoughts on “Hanging Out in Rotterdam”

  1. You posted lots of history lessons today, gorgeous stained glass windows, lovely views, but I can only comment on……the Brownie Obsession! Yum!

    1. We were surprised how empty the streets of Rotterdam were. Then we got to the market and realized that everyone in the city was there. Mystery solved.

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