Since Janis, another MARIN intern, had been talking about going to Rotterdam on this particular day since the beginning of my time here, I decided to go along. There was a big Formula One racing demonstration going on in the city - it was a zoo - that he wanted to see, but we ended up spending more time at the maritime museum and then at the sea gates. Rotterdam is a very different city from the other places I've been in the Netherlands. It was almost completely destroyed in World War II and the rebuilt city has a strange mixture of architecture.
A view of the city, looking out onto part of the extensive harbor.
More modern buildings - very different from Amsterdam!
The crowd at the Bavaria racing event. This was two hours before anything started and it was already a zoo.
Another view of the crowd, this time a little closer to the show. We walked by to get to the maritime museum and came back for a little while to watch, but it was loud, hard to see anything, and, of course, everything that happens goes by extremely quickly.
The maritime museum! This was a great museum, I know we're a biased crowd, but the displays are extremely well done and very fun to walk through. Below are some ship communication flags, I just liked the painting on the wall.
A few of the many ship models on display.
The outboard profile for an old schooner.
I'm not sure exactly why this old map was on display, but we found Wageningen on it! If you look closely, it's pretty much dead center in this view - along the Rijn, right at the inersection of the pink and green areas.
Some models of older vessels...
... and a newer yacht. Actually, this isn't all that new, but it set some speed records in its day.
In addition to the exhibits indoors, they have an old navy training ship, the Buffel, on display in the harbor, you can walk inside and see technical and historical exhibits.
Here I am on the Buffel.
Some of the workshops in the belly of the ship.
An engine picture! I'm always blown away by the size of machinery in real life.
After our visits in the city, we took the train to Hoek van Holland Strand and walked along the pier towards the sea gates where the ships come in. The warning sign indicates that there may be dangerous waves due to the shipping traffic, but on a Sunday evening in a recession, it wasn't too risky.
My favorite part about the harbor might be all of the wind turbines! It's a highly industrial area and they make good use of the strong sea wind.
We saw five vessels traveling in and out of the port, this is a containership on its way in.
This ship was a little bit confused... it went in on the wrong side first, then turned around and came in our side. It did give me a chance to get a good photo, though!
Here I am, happily standing in front of water and wind turbines!
Sunset over the pier. I think that getting to see the sea gates and maritime museum made the trip to Rotterdam worth it, even if the car racing (the original reason for the trip) really didn't do anything for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment