March 2009--Holland

Rotterdam is famous for its architecture. These are the cube apartments.


A view of Rotterdam from The EuroMast, 185 meters up.



In Amsterdam, this is the house (left) where Anne Frank lived in hiding for 2 years. I read her diary just before we went.



We went to The Keukenhof to see the famous tulips. It was beautiful!


During our trip, we visited Den Haag (also home to the International Criminal Court), where we learned how traditional herring is served...raw. There are also two styles of eating these fish, I chose to eat Rotterdam style.

So Dutch...and just my size! :)

Eating herring Rotterdam style.

At dinner in Rotterdam.

We really had an incredible time in Holland. The people are very friendly and speak English flawlessly which made our trip to this foreign country a bit easier. Also, Rotterdam boasted the largest port in the world until 2005, when two other ports started making their claims to the title (Singapore and Shanghai). Rotterdam can certainly boast a fascinting city for architecture. Most of the city was devistated during WWII, which left the city's future in the capable hands and minds of many brilliant modern architects. Truly a historic and beautiful city.

Amsterdam, perhaps more famous to Western culture for its liberal views on marijuana tolerance and the brothel scene, is actually a beautifully perserved city with tons of history. We weren't able to spend as much time there, but one of the highlights was, of course, to visit the Anne Frank museum.