Solo Adventures: Day 2, Rotterdam

On the train from Delft to Antwerp, I made a very quick stop in Rotterdam! I’d heard very cool things about this city’s architecture. During World War 2, the German army invaded the Netherlands and were met with greater resistance than they had anticipated. They threatened to bomb Rotterdam and other cities if the Dutch government didn’t surrender. As my Dutch relatives explained to me, the Dutch people didn’t really expect that they would bomb Rotterdam; but they did, and the Dutch army was forced to give in.
As a result, after the war Rotterdam was presented with a unique, if unfortunately acquired, opportunity to rebuild itself. Rather than go back to its historical style, Rotterdam embraced a different route, taking on skyscrapers and a modern look, and is now renowned for its architecture!
Not having lots of time to spend in the city, I figured that the best way to see the most I could was from above. So, I took a trip up the Euromast, a tower that allows for an amazing, birds-eye-view of the city from its 100m high observation deck!

It was a great way to see Rotterdam’s architectural highlights and learn little snippets of information about them, although I could easily have stayed in that city for much longer… but I could have stayed everywhere longer, and though I tried not to rush through things like I was trying to complete a checklist, I also wanted to find a good balance between seeing lots and seeing in depth.
After the Euromast, I wandered through the nearby Het Park for a little while, which was quite lovely. Compared to the modern feel of the city, the park was like a nice escape back to nature and a little bit of wilderness.

Finally, I headed back to the train station for my next stop: Antwerp, Belgium.