Rotterdam and back again

Before I tell this story, happy Earth Day. It was yesterday. I didn't forget, I just forgot to say it yesterday.

Now I can begin telling you about how Sunday was a bad day for Broek in Waterland, so we thought we could do it today (Monday). Monday is a day off for many Nederlanders and my outfitters are not open until Wednesday (in hindsight I forgot to check this detail). Instead we decided to go on a train ride. Brussels was expensive. For the price of a train to Brussels, we could have flown anywhere in the EU. Either way it was going to be more expensive and a longer journey.

"What else could we do?", we asked ourselves. No kayaking until Wednesday, Brussels a bigger question, or travel somewhere local. Matthius' opinion of Brussels gave us reason to doubt making that a destination. Rotterdam was a good bet. Off we went to Centraal Station, picked up some tickets and hopped on a train. An hour later we pulled into Rotterdam.

The tourist info center gave us a free walking map of Rotterdam, which guided us to Kubus woningen (cubic houses), Willemsbrug, and Erasmus brug. Then strange things started to happen. John had twisted his ankle earlier and was becoming ill. We stopped at the museum park and he immediately laid on the grass for a nap. Then a sudden wind blew our map into the pond where a diver duck proceeded to smash it to pieces with vigorous kicking. Dan and I wanted to leave, but John was comatose. I said, "let's give him a few minutes to rest" when suddenly the kids across the pond from us began fornicating. After a few moments, we decided that they were amateurs and woke John. We hastily moved back toward the train station and found our way on within a few minutes.

The ride back was quiet. Only idle chatter between Dan and I. This saga helped remind me that traveling is about the journey of discovery and not necessarily the destination. I most certainly would have done it all again had I another shot at it.