Let the Summer Eurotrip Begin!

Euro Trip

Our first day in Rotterdam, Netherlands has left us utterly exhausted. We walked around the city all day long and jet lag is catching up to us. As I type this, my body thinks its 3:30 a.m. even though it is 9:30 p.m. I hope this makes sense through my delirium. 

It had been 7 months since we left China (if you don’t count Hong Kong, which I don’t because of the heavy prevalence of Chinese culture), so we spent today eating sandwiches. On real brown bread. I drank an organic beer. Martin had cheese. I saw ducks and pigeons. I saw people sitting in the sun. The grocery store had vegan yogurt. More than once a chocolate store has stopped me in my tracks with my mouth open in awe of its beautifulness. 

We did walk through Chinatown in Rotterdam, although, we had already walked through it before I realized what it was. It was simply a handful of stores and restaurants. The dim sum restaurant looked nice. 

The lady at the tourist office was quite helpful, and we spent a little time figuring out how we wanted do spend our time in Rotterdam. 

We headed out of our Couchsurfing Host’s home early, around 7 a.m.; the city was still asleep. By noon we had made our way to the market and it was busting with people. The market inside the building is mostly prepared food stands and restaurants. Outside the building is a different story. It is filled with anything you can imagine. Clothes, electronics, produce, meat, fish… The people working the stands would shout at the crowd to boost sales. 

It felt really strange to blend in so well with the locals. Everyone assumed we spoke Dutch and were visibly surprised when we didn’t. It’s going to take a while to get used to seeing so many other blondes and tall men around here. 

Tomorrow, we’ll go to The Hague. That’s about all I know.