Wet is the best way to describe the Rotterdam experience. My shoes are in fact still wet to prove it. It’s too bad that it worked out that way because from what I could see beneath my hood it looks like a cool city. I have plans to go back on the weekend, thankfully, because I definitely want to explore more, and hopefully when its dry. The lectures in the morning were great, learning all the history about Rotterdam and how it operated as one of the key Dutch ports in the days of the Dutch East India Company was very interesting to learn. Also learning about water management, and how the floods were managed and the origin of the canals was fascinated. Being armed with this information makes me excited to go back.
The boat tour was the highlight of the day, and not just because it was dry. Exploring the man-made area designated for the port was very interesting, and the scale of the shipping boats quite shocking. I was quite fond of the skyline of Rotterdam, especially visible from the boat. All of the uniquely designed buildings made for a diverse and eclectic cityscape. My favourite building was the one by Rem Koolhaus, De Rotterdam.
The next day, with still soggy shoes we returned to the Hague. We received a lecture from SWOV on how safe and sustainable transportation planning began back in the 1960s and the results over the subsequent 40 years. I was surprised to see some of their figures, such as how the number of bicycle injuries is actually going up, but not from interactions with automobiles, rather cyclists together or simply on their own.
While I do feel very safe using the cycle tracks and even the cycle paths here in the Netherlands, I am still very skeptical of the lack of helmets. Especially on the mopeds and electric bikes! It just seems far too dangerous especially when the faster two-wheeled vehicles are sharing space with the slower ones. The times that I have to interact with mopeds and mini-motorbikes in the cycle paths honestly feels more dangerous than riding in car traffic at home.
