We are always happy to see when American specialities are highlighted on the menu. Brisket, fried chicken, ribs, potato salad, cole slaw, corn on the cob….. it doesn’t get much better.

In The North Sea we saw Oil Rigs

Rotterdam was a new city for us. We had been to Amsterdam, but not Rodderdam. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam in 1873.  We walked to the Hotel New York which was at one time the home office of Holland America Line. In its first 25 years, Holland America ships carried over 400,000 people from Europe to America.

It was an unexpectedly warm day of 85° which felt like a heat wave after the temperatures we had been experiencing. Bill and I were still recovering from our respiratory illness so we decided to not walk as far as we normally would in a new port. We found several geocaches near the pier and walked halfway across the Erasmus Bridge which connects the cruise port with the city of Rotterdam.

A Unique Bicycle

The city was almost completely destroyed because of bombing by the Germans during WW2. The city has been rebuilt with some unusual architecture.

Many Boats are Long and Low to the Water

Top Half of this tower is an Elevator

Today was also the day we had a change of captains. Captain Frank and his wife Alexandra left for their vacation. They will return in October. Our new captain is familiar to us since he took over for Captain Frank during the world cruise we took earlier this year.

The sail away was very nice as we passed down the canal toward the ocean. We saw many more unusual buildings and we were very surprised to see many many swans for miles before reaching the open waterways.

Fifth SS Rotterdam, 1958-1997

Next up: Cork Ireland