Family/Rotterdam Day

Yesterday I had quite a fun day in Rotterdam. First, Joep and I went to Matthijs' house to get him and Daniel. We then walked through the Rijswijk market, basically a farmer's market type thing where they had cheese and stroopwafels and stuff. Then Matthijs' father took us to Rotterdam in his car. We went on the Euromast with him, a tall structure that allows you to see a great view of Rotterdam. We could see the Pannenkoekenboot below us, the Euromast is across the street from it actually. We started to see van der Poel's forming near the boat, so we went down to meet them.

After a lot of hugs and kisses, we got on the boat. We could recognize who was a van der Poel or not by the "Poelen nose" as Matthijs called it. It was very interesting speaking to the family, some who had great English and some who could not speak it at all. I do wish I would have been able to say more in Dutch.

In the boat we had pancakes, we could have as many as we want and put anything we want on them, ranging from fruit to meatballs to cheese. Matthijs showed me the best combination, a pancake with spek (bacon) and stroop (syrup).

The boat sailed through the Rotterdam Harbor, we saw plenty of containers and we went underneath the Erasmusbrug. We saw the place where original Dutch immigrants to America sailed from.

Overall it was great seeing all of the family. Daniel and I received a picture book from the family to take home and remember our day and family. After taking pictures and final goodbyes, we went in a van driven by my cousin André (Rina's son) with his girlfriend, Ron, Rina, Joep, Matthijs, Daniel and I. We went to the original van der Poel house in Rotterdam where my father and all his siblings were born. Very interesting to see!

André dropped us off in Rotterdam Centraal, and we said goodbye to them. Joep, Matthijs, Daniel and I then just strolled through Rotterdam Centraal, looking at shops and stuff. We ended up walking in a huge circle through Rotterdam, because it had been awhile since Joep had been in Rotterdam so he was not exactly sure where the train station was, but we found it fine and it was a nice experience to walk through my family's city!

When we got home, we had a nice dinner (schnitzel) and played some poker after. A friend of Joep's came over and we watched a movie and then I went to bed at 1:00AM (would have been midnight but the time changed).

Daniel trapped in a phonebooth by Joep and Matthijs

A view of Rotterdam from the Euromast

Us on the Euromast, very windy!

The Pannenkoekenboot from the Euromast (zoomed)

My first pancake!

The family!

The van der Poel Huis

Rotterdam Centraal