Day Three- Rotterdam: 0 out of 3

I got up at 6:30am, which makes me a little nervous that I'm not quite adjusting to the time. I checked out the "Once Around Rotteram" pamphlet, which is a two hour walking tour around Rotteram. I can skip most of it, as I have already found half of the sites myself. It is supposed to be sunny and about 50 degrees, today, but it looks a little overcast. I thought I would get this blog updated, so I can send out my link

Once I finally left, I decided to talk a walk by the Rem Koolhaas headquarters. It was supposed to be not too far from here, but I couldn't find it. There are supposed to be little red hands that take you around the "OAR" pamphlet. I'll keep looking.

I was going to head over to, yes, Hema to grab a tostini kip sandwich (hard boiled egg, bacon, chicken and arugula) and then go eat it by the Ossup Zadkine sculpture. A picture of the sculptuer was a special request from Melissa. It is supposed to be at the old harbor, so that sounded like a nice way to spend the afternoon. According to my "Once around Rotterdam " map, the oldest building in Rotterdam is supposed to be around the corner from Hema. But I can't find it.

I thought I would stop back at St. Laurenskerk to take some pictures, but it looked like something was going on inside. It was 2pm, so it didn't seem like a mass. But I left because I didn't want to take pictures because everyone was watching a man speak.

I stopped off at a thrift store that was closed yesterday. It doesn't matter if you are in a different country, junk is still junk. There were a few cool chairs and tables, but since I couldn’t bring them home I went looking at the little stuff. Nothing too cool, so I moved on.

Off to find Melissa's statue, or so I thought. I don't what the heck it its. Maybe because every street is a somethingpleijn, but I keep getting really turned around If I just wander, I find things. But when I try, no luck. It seemed like it should be so close, but I ended way off track. I found a hotel on the map, and headed there so I could get my bearings. Off I go again, this time I have to find it. Right? Wrong. I walked around and around for another 1 ½ and no dice. I did run into some creepy old men fishermen, who didn't understand English. I couldn't tell if they wanted me to take their picture or me pay to take their picture. I think one of them might have been making fun of me, so I got of there. I had so much time invested, that I didn't want to give up on finding the statue. I mean, it was supposed to be a HUGE black metal statue at the harbor. How freaking hard could it be to find it? I never found it. You can only imagine the little sad sack eating her egg sandwich and drinking my coca cola light. My idea was to title this entry, "this one's for Melissa" and post the picture of the statue. I'll try another day. The good news was a saw something really neat, which I would have never found had I not been lost. I'll try to post the video.

The one saving grace is I put on my ipod. I don't know why I didn't think of that a hour before. It would have made the walk much nicer.

I headed back towards, yes Hema , to see if I could find the oldest building and pick up baked goods for the morning. No dice, I couldn’t find it. The building, not the baked goods.

I went back to the department store to take a picture of the dog speakers but they were remodeling the home floor. The speakers weren't anywhere. Bummer. They did have more visual stuff out! But I didn't think I could get a 2' Easter egg in my luggage. I decided to go back and buy this cute little shower cap I saw the day before. The Dutch are so clever! It was a cute Dutchy tulip people plastic fabric and instead of just being round, it had a little bump so you can fit your ponytail. Or so I though. I picked up the 'hat' and gave it a final look. How does this work? Why is the label in front of your face? Why does it say bike.nl? Hey, wait a minute!! This is a bike seat cover! I almost bought a bike seat cover and wore it as a shower cap. Ha ha

I might as well find the toilettes while I’m here. The perk of the department store. I search the perimeter and finally find it near the restaurant. There was an old lady sitting at a desk outside of the toilettes. She doesn't say anything, so I walk in. On the way out, I see a sign that says 'something something 35 c". I think I'm supposed to pay something, but I can't tell. I just walk out and the old lady didn't stop me.

I'm now at the hotel waiting for Andy to come back. I'm not really hungry for dinner (since I ate lunch finally at 3:30pm). It was a bit of a rough day, but nothing too bad. I was getting so tired by the end, I was nervous I would get hit by a bus, trolley, tram, train or bike. Never have I been to a city with more forms of transportation.

I was able to watch a Gilmore Girls in English, with Dutch subtitles. In the same episode, they mentioned Grey Gardens, Nordstrom and Belgium. Funny how stuff like that happens.

We had dinner at our place. The chef recognized us, since it was out third day in a row. Andy had smoked veal with goat cheese and aruglua. I had a spaghetti bolanese which was really penne. It was delicious so it didn't matter.

Andy is off at the video library watching films until 10:30pm. That is when he sees some film and the Melvins are playing. He is really excited.

Tomorrow we change hotels. I'm excited because the new one has a lobby, so at night I'll have some place to go other than the room. Hurray.

Tally- Hema twice today.

Postscript- I looked online and google earth mapped the sculpture. Funnily enough, it is near Churchillplein, which was on my list for tomorrow. It's really close to our new hotel. It's near the Maritem museum not the Marine museum. JC.