Europe 2001: A Travelogue

First Impressions

Eurodiary, 3 September 2001, 19:10 (7:10 p.m.)

I sit here in our surprisingly spacious apartment, which is about two blocks from the tramhalte (trolley stop) for tram #7, the line I will take to Rotterdam Centraal (the central train station) tomorrow morning. From my vantagepoint in the livingroom, on our IKEA-style sofa, I can see the corner store that is our amusing roadmarker: 4Myself Eroticshop.

That said, however, the area is quite nice, and on either side of the Eroticshop are various interior design and architecture offices. Unfortunately, it is not the most urban of areas, and it's about a 20 minute walk to the supermarket and the closest decent restaurant we've yet discovered. (There are likely more, but we only just moved in this afternoon, and we didn't have much time to explore after unpacking and all that.)

We did a fair amount of walking yesterday, however, which confirmed that (1) we are out of shape, (2) most things that are worth seeing are in or near the city center, (3) we are not exactly in the city center, (4) we aren't exactly on the randstad (outskirts of the city) either, and (5) we'll be doing a lot of walking in the next two months, all the better for our health.

My meager attempt to learn Dutch over the summer has already come in handy, as we have learned that not everyone speaks English (such as cab drivers and even train station ticket salesmen). My knowledge of other languages doesn't necessarily help, though; when the cabbie today asked where we were going, and I told him the address, I said "11" in French rather than Dutch, but "onze" in Dutch means "our," and eventually I realized the number was "elf" -- like in German. Oops.

With such a great public transport system (and cheap, I might add), we will likely not be taking cabs often. But given that we had between us about 200+ pounds of luggage that we had to transport from the centrally located hotel where we stayed last night, to our not-so-centrally-located apartment, a large cab seemed the best option (we asked for a station wagon, but a minivan probably would have been more appropriate... not that the bags didn't fit, but the driver couldn't exactly see out his rearview mirror).

The Hotel Bienvenue, which is 200 m from Rotterdam Centraal, luckily had a room for us when we called yesterday morning. We didn't know until Friday night that we wouldn't be able to pick up our apartment key until today (Monday), so we had to scramble for a hotel once we arrived in town. It was perfect for the price -- NLG150 including breakfast this morning, and we paid extra for breakfast yesterday morning as well. All told, about $70, and we had a large (by European standards) room with a spacious bathroom (which included a large shower that was actually separate from the sink and toilet!). For those who have never been to Europe, my first experience, when in high school, involved a stay in one hotel in London where we could shower, brush our teeth, and sit on the can at the same time. By comparison, this was luxurious!

The bed, a double, was also fairly large (imagine two twin mattresses next to each other in a single box). The only downsides to the room were (1) it wasn't available until 11:30, and we arrived at 9:30 or so; (2) the bedsheets (and the hotel in general) smelled of stale cigarettes; and (3) the toilet paper looked and felt like unbleached, corrugated construction paper. Which, after a long flight, wasn't the most pleasant feeling. The lack of facial tissue (aka Kleenex) also meant that I was reduced to sniffling a fair amount until my allergies subsided, as there was no way I was going to blow my nose on softened cardboard.

On the other hand, the residential neighborhood was lovely and relatively quiet, and our room overlooked a canal and park that attracted ducks and geese and even a heron. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos on Sunday, and this morning it was raining and not worth the picture.

Which leads me to the weather and back to our 200+ pounds of luggage. On Sunday and this morning, it was rather gray and misty if not downright wet, but tolerable. Then, this afternoon, after we returned from a delicious Italian lunch and a trip to the supermarket, I was putting away the groceries when Adam yelled from the dining room/study, "Come here quick! You have to see this!" So of course I ran across the hall from the kitchen to the dining/study (as we call it), but I couldn't figure out what he was so excited about. "Look," he said. "Sun!"

I have to add here a short example of the more typical weather here. Yesterday we were out walking, and we passed by a quait little canal (of which Holland has many). It wasn't raining, but when I looked fifty feet away at the water in the canal, drops kept appearing. Without any weeping willows overhanging the canal, I couldn't figure out where the drops were coming from, so I held out my hand as if to catch any potential rain and asked Adam, "Is it raining?" "Not here," he said, "but it is there, and I'd bet it's coming this way." Sure enough, not 15 seconds later we were quickly opening our umbrellas to avoid getting soaked. Less than 5 minutes later, we put away our umbrellas, at least for the time being. It reminded us of Kawa'i, except not nearly as warm, and with far fewer rainbows.

Anyway, not surprisingly (if you know me), the sun's appearance this afternoon led me immediately to get my digital camera, so I could take a photo and prove that the sun does sometimes make an appearance here. Also, the blue skies and puffy clouds made the view from our bedroom balcony look almost pleasant, or at least less "1950s industrial brick housing"-ish.

While I had my camera out, I also took a few other pix, of the view from the dining/study through the hallway, past the toilet, and through the kitchen; and of Adam modeling in front of our bedroom closets (the living room and the dining/study are on the west side of the apartment, while our bedroom is on the east side, the same side of the apartment as the kitchen and toilet). By the way, the sink-and-shower room that's just off the bedroom is huge -- but as Adam said, it's amazing how small the area is in front of the sink, when you consider that about 10 people could fit in the shower.

To return to the weather and packing story, however, the sun's surprising appearance also led Adam to think that perhaps he might get the chance to wear at least one of the four pairs of shorts he packed...

Yes, four pairs. (I packed two, but thought I'd packed only one. I guess if the weather is nice some weekend, the second pair might come in handy, but that's not too likely.) Unfortunately, Adam had to pack based on what he had in Princeton this summer, as well as a few extras that I brought for him on my last trip out East (long-sleeve shirts and the like). And we didn't have any spare time on Saturday for me to do a "packing consultation" as we had planned, so he just brought it all. So, we may have to look into shipping costs to send a few things back ahead of time (shorts and other clothing as well).

But at least we didn't have to pay extra for our fifth suitcase when we flew out on Saturday! (I told my mom I'd explain, so I suppose I should.) The 200+ pounds of luggage included two extra-large soft-side suitcases I found on sale in an LLBean catalog this summer, two "carry-on" size black rolling soft-side suitcases, a fold-over garment bag, my camera bag/backpack, my work computer, and Adam's large backpack (which contained his computer and miscellaneous electronics). My initial fear was that we would be dinged because our large suitcases would be too heavy, but in fact they were only 58 and 61 pounds, respectively -- well under the 70 pound limit per person. (They were tagged as "heavy," however, as was my black "carry-on," which weight in at almost 50 pounds.) On checking in, however, we discovered that we were allowed only two checked items each, and one carry-on each (not including a purse). Just to remind you, we had eight pieces. Oops.

The cost for checking an extra piece was $105, but the man at the United desk took pity on us and said, "Well, if you put your purse in your backpack, you could count your backpack as a purse, and then take the garment bag as a carry-on." Of course, we still had Adam's backpack and my computer, but I figured I could consolidate and fit both computers in the large backpack. Indeed, that's what I did, but it ended up being astoundingly heavy, and I ended up having to move some stuff that was originally in the backpack into the hanging bag. And of course none of these carry-on items had wheels. They were simply bricks wrapped in canvas, or so it felt as we made our way through the airport.

Then, at the gate, I noticed a sign that read "all carry-on items must fit under the seat in front of you." Yeah, right. So I asked at the counter and the staff person said we could check the garment bag and leave it at the entrance to the plane, where people leave strollers and other items that don't fit in the overhead compartment. She didn't seem to care that we'd already checked four pieces, and we didn't have to pay $105, so Adam said the backache was worth it.

But, I'd rather not have to repeat this on our return trip, so I think we'll be shipping stuff ahead, even if it does cost $105 (or, heaven forbid, even more).

So, those are my first impressions, at least. Adam may have more, and if so they'll be posted here at a later time or date. Hope you enjoy our Eurodiary, and don't worry, more photos will be coming -- eventually.