Day 4 (continued) - Rotterdam

So, this is a bit late, but I did not get home last night until about 3:45am (9:45pm Indiana time). Helga came home a little after I finished the last blog entry and we got ready to go to the party in Rotterdam where Bernard was DJing. On the way, Helga insisted that I try some Holland french fries because she said I could not miss them and it was the last night of that leg of the trip. Twist my arm, right? The fries were pretty comparable to ones in the states, BUT the weird part is that they serve them with mayonaise and peanut sauce. When you mix the two together, it is pretty glorious! ;) And, that was my dinner, so hopefully now that I am out of Holland, I will start eating better!

So, anyway, we took the train to Rotterdam and took a tram over to where the party was near. I did not expect it to be such a large city, but it looked like any other city in the U.S. with big buildings, etc. There is a really pretty bridge called the Erasmus (I think) Bridge, which we walked over on our trek back to the train station (the trams stopped running around 1am there and we did not arrive at the party until about 12:00am.

So, anyway...the party was in an abandoned house that overlooked one of the waterways. I guess in the Netherlands when a house becomes abandoned someone can just move in and claim it as theirs, then they fill out some sort of paperwork with the government to become the official owners. So, that is what this person did. And when you have an abandoned house that you just moved into it is common to throw a big party in it before you fix it up properly. So, the house was very interesting looking. It did have a separate area set up with a bar, so that was pretty cool.

While we were sitting having a beer and chatting some guy that reminded me of John Lennon came over and asked if we were together. I explained that we were just friends and her boyfriend was the DJ. So, he ended up talking to me for about 20 minutes. He was an art school teacher and he was the biggest hippie I had talked to in quite some time. I am convinced he was on something or possibly multiple things at the time. It was entertaining though.

After our 1 beer we were kindof over the party. The few people that Helga knew had left and the music was not really our style to dance to. It was the electronic music that has the good beats, but not really any words. So, we left the party and walked toward the downtown area. We were considering meeting some of her co-workers at a bar, but the one they were at was really out of the way, so we just decided to walk back to the train station.

So, we walked across the huge bridge and stumbled upon a Walk of Fame on one of the streets. It had the handprints and footprints of some celebrities. It was kindof fun to walk through there and see who had big or small hands, etc. It was like the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, but smaller. So, we got a kick out of our discovery and headed back home. All in all it was an interesting night. I was glad that we ventured to Rotterdam, so I could give it some love from Elaine. ;) And, I did want to see it, and frankly it is probably prettier at night. And, as soon as we returned home I fell right asleep.