{"id":4340,"date":"2010-05-23T22:16:36","date_gmt":"2010-05-23T20:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.breigh.com\/wordpress\/?p=4340"},"modified":"2015-12-07T06:44:08","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T05:44:08","slug":"101-list-spido-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/archives\/4340","title":{"rendered":"Bucket List – Spido Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I can mark another item off my 101 List<\/a>!\u00a0 It was a beautifully sunny day in Rotterdam today and even though my husband is quite sick with a throat infection, that still couldn\u2019t keep him down.\u00a0 Both of us were really keen to get out and do something to enjoy the nice weather so we hopped in the car and headed into town to see where it would lead us.\u00a0 I expected that we\u2019d just have a walk around, stop and have a drink on a terrace and head home but when we realized there weren\u2019t a lot of things open we looked for other ideas.\u00a0 That\u2019s when we thought of Spido<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Spido harbour tour is something I\u2019ve been meaning to do for years but just never got around to it.\u00a0 They offer a number of excursions, some of which are quite long (up to 7-8 hours) but visiting some really interesting parts of the Delta Works<\/a>.\u00a0 They don\u2019t run until July and August so we did the one hour long Rotterdam Harbour Tour<\/a> instead.\u00a0 It was really cool to see the harbours from a different angle.\u00a0 It was also lovely to sit out in the sun and just enjoy the lovely spring weather.\u00a0\u00a0 Thankfully I had thought to throw my Exilim<\/a> in my bag before we left the house, or I would have been very unhappy to not be able to take some photos while we were out there.<\/p>\n

\"Line<\/a><\/p>\n

We arrived at the terminal only 10 minutes before our boat was leaving, so we didn\u2019t have to wait in line very long\u2026 but boy was there a line!\u00a0 It\u2019s nice of them to put up the tarps to stop people from frying in the sun while they wait.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

By the time we got on, all the seats were taken, so we had to sit on the stairs.\u00a0 Once my ass stopped burning from the scorching green paint I realized that we had great seats as we could see over everyone\u2019s heads and nobody could walk in front of us.<\/p>\n

\"So<\/a><\/p>\n

I also realized that the Spido tours are a very touristy thing to do.\u00a0 I heard every language on the map while on that boat and I sort of wanted to walk up to people and go \u201cYo, I live here.\u00a0 I\u2019m ingeburgerd, ok?\u00a0 Silly tourists!\u201d.\u00a0 It would seem I\u2019m not as \u2018ingeburgerd\u2019 as I thought because I just had to check Google on how to spell it and I had stuck an extra E in there.\u00a0 OH well, I know what the word means, that\u2019s what counts.\u00a0 That\u2019s the rules.<\/p>\n

If there was one thing I had to complain about with our seats, it was this\u2026<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a><\/p>\n

Mother of all that is good and holy, what is going on here?!!!\u00a0\u00a0 Now – Disclaimer, you all know how I feel about taking photos of people and making fun of them<\/a> but I am following my own rules here, her face is not showing so she could be any ol\u2019 red bra wearing, mole having, half naked lady in the Netherlands.\u00a0 Her privacy is protected. \u00a0Also, I am a big girl too so I’m not saying anything about her size, just… well, LOOK!<\/p>\n

Holy crap was it distracting.\u00a0 She was sitting directly between me and whatever I happened to be looking at and this was the least offensive and off-putting of her poses.\u00a0 Many of which included raising her arms, which for someone like me<\/a> who hates armpits with the fire of a thousand suns, is not a happy situation.<\/p>\n

I just don\u2019t get it.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Whyyyyyy???<\/p>\n

On the one hand I was really put off by her. but on the other hand I have to give her credit for doing what she wants and what is comfortable for her regardless of what anyone else thinks.\u00a0 Is it self-confidence or a lack of self awareness? I don\u2019t know\u2026 whatever it is though, I don\u2019t think I want it. \u00a0I prefer the whole self-conscious thing I have had going on the last few years. \u00a0 It works for me.<\/p>\n

Once I was able to look up and see something else, I managed to get some photos.<\/p>\n

\"SS<\/a><\/p>\n

The SS Rotterdam<\/a>, a retired cruise ship that has been completely renovated into a hotel \/ restaurant \/ events umm, place.\u00a0 It is stationary now and I\u2019ve been hearing a lot of good things about it from people who have visited.<\/p>\n

\"SS<\/a><\/p>\n

There are tours of the SS Rotterdam<\/a> through Spido as well, including a Way Down Below<\/em> tour which takes you down through the engine room.\u00a0 I\u2019m quite keen to check this out sometime after seeing some really freaky HDR photos from in there<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Euromast<\/a><\/p>\n

The Euromast<\/a>, one of the most well known landmarks of Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

\"Euromast\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Not as impressive after living in Toronto and having experienced the CN Tower<\/a>, but still quite fun to visit if you want to see Rotterdam from above.\u00a0 It was nice to see it from a different perspective and I really must try that Chinese restaurant sometime, if it is still a Chinese restaurant. I really have no idea. \u00a0When it looks like that, what else can it be?<\/p>\n

We saw a lot of the ship yards along the harbour, which was a lot more interesting than I had expected. We saw men working on the ships, using their mega machines to load the big shipping containers onto the ships and all sorts of stuff I thought would be boring like watching grass grow, but wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"Building<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ship<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Skeleton\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I quite enjoyed getting photos of things I\u2019ve already photographed loads but from a different vantage point.\u00a0 Like the waterfront and the Erasmus Bridge.<\/p>\n

\"Spido<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Waterfront<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Erasmus<\/a><\/p>\n

I also loved seeing Hotel New York<\/a> from the water side.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Hotel<\/a><\/p>\n

There were a lot of people out enjoying the sun and having lunch at the restaurant.\u00a0 I can only imagine what it is like there at the dead of summer.\u00a0 Some day soon I\u2019m going to bike there and have a lay in the grass myself.\u00a0 When in Ro\u2026tterdam!<\/p>\n

One thing did baffle me, and I almost missed it!<\/p>\n

\"Beach<\/a><\/p>\n

See where all the people are on the sloped area next to the VHF 60 sign? \u00a0Well, forget them, they aren’t important.<\/p>\n

Now, look to the right\u2026 lower… see that speck? In the water? \u00a0That\u2019s a GIRL\u2026 IN THE WATER.<\/p>\n

IN THE WATER PEOPLE!!\u00a0 In Rotterdam Harbour, in MAY.\u00a0 ROTTERDAM HARBOUR.\u00a0 *Faint*<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not freaking out about the temperatures, I mean\u2026 I am still Canadian.\u00a0 It\u2019s ROTTERDAM HARBOUR!\u00a0 It\u2019s where all the stuff you don\u2019t want to know about goes like dog poo and men in cement shoes.\u00a0 No swim zone!<\/p>\n

At least that\u2019s what I\u2019ve always thought\u2026<\/p>\n

Anyway, we had a great day.\u00a0 I came home with one more thing scratched off my 101 list, an enjoyable day with my darling hubby, some photos and a sunburn.\u00a0 What more could a girl ask for?<\/p>\n

Other than to not<\/em> have big armpit waving half naked mole lady sitting in front of me\u2026 and maybe an ice cream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I can mark another item off my 101 List!\u00a0 It was a beautifully sunny day in Rotterdam today and even though my husband is quite sick with a throat infection, that still couldn\u2019t keep him down.\u00a0 Both of us were really keen to get out and do something to enjoy the nice weather so …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[378,8,49],"tags":[884,33,73,147],"class_list":["post-4340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-bucket-list","category-life-in-nl","category-photography","tag-bucket-list","tag-netherlands","tag-rotterdam","tag-spring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4340"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15619,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340\/revisions\/15619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}