American Tourist

One of my good friends from the States is staying with us at the moment. He decided to spend about 3 weeks in Paris, and since we are only 3 hours away, he came to visit on Friday. Earlier this week, I tried out a nearby gym with a friend. He is a bit intimidating to work out with, but in a good way. We are doing a class on Mondays and Wednesdays called Body Pump. It is from New Zealand and lasts for an hour. I was soooo sore this week!

They had a special on the memberships, so I got a pretty good deal - for this place. It ends up being almost 45 Euros per month for 6 months. They also have an included section of DVD rentals - common here, keeps you coming back - which is nice. One annoying thing is that you always need to have your towel with you to place on the benches...another cultural difference. Now I just need to start working it into my schedule in a good way - Naomi wasn't too happy about all the nights away from home this week.

The Erasmus Bridge - taken last weekend when we visited
the photography museum.

Hand-driven crane - part of the harbor museum.

The boat where we had Dutch apple pie.

Strange church - this made us laugh.

I was so sore on Tuesday from the workout, and we had to bike about 45 minutes to the other side of the bridge for a dinner. It was cold. Naomi had to pull me along at some points. Thursday night was a reception for parents at school, so I stayed for that. It ended up being good that I stayed, but I am getting past the initial excitement phase about the new job so I think I will be focusing on it a little bit less. There are so many other things that need attention!!

View of the cubes from the library's top floor.

Inside the cube forest.

The main drag goes under the cubes.

For Sale!!!

Yesterday was a great day. We spent it in Rotterdam. I lost a part to my speaker stands, and it looks like replacing it might not be as easy as I thought. The Media Markt (like Best Buy) could not order it. After we checked, Naomi met us for lunch at a Turkish place. We tried for Surinamese but they were closed. Half the town seemed closed. We tried to take a boat somewhere but it wasn't running. Instead we stopped by the harbor museum and had homemade Dutch apple pie on a boat that was turned into a Portugese restaurant. It was really tasty. We wouldn't mind going back to that place.

The third floor.

Second floor master bedroom.

First floor living room.

The kitchen.

Afterwards, we got some Salmon Trout at the market for dinner, and then we split ways. Naomi went clothes shopping at her favorite store (the Mango) and we went to check out the cubes. Most people are quite curious about what these structures are, so they set up a model home that you can tour like a museum for 2,50. I think of this place as a village for space smurfs. It is like a village that bridges a main drag in the heart of the city, but when you are inside it things seem quiet and peaceful. The architect wanted it to look like a forest - and it does in a strange way.

The Williams Bridge (from the cubes).

A small harbor (from the cubes).

Downtown Rotterdam (from the cubes).

A main subway stop in the foreground, market area
to the right, cathedral in the middle, and central station
is the square building on the left (from the cubes).

After we went inside the model house my curiosity really turned into appreciation. Living here would be amazing! It is about the same size as our current house but with three levels. It feels very spacious and the location is unbeatable - although we would have to cycle 30 minutes to get to work. The library is next door and so is the rest of downtown. I couldn't stop talking about it last night because there are one or two cubes for sale at just under 200k. I would love to live there! I even had trouble sleeping last night because I was thinking about it so much!!