A room at the ROOM

That's the name of the hostel here in Rotterdam. The ROOM hostel. Nice place with good beds and a nice common area. But i have a shocker for you!

Tonight they were offering a pasta meal for €5. Sounded good to me and considerably cheaper than a restaurant, so i signed up. When it came out the pasta was green. Hmm. Very suspicious, but i tried a test and it was good. I loaded up my plate determined not ask what it was. Besides, I found it pretty tasty. 

When I finished i asked what kind of pasta it was. Spinach! I hate Spinach but this had been cooked with other ingredients and didn't have the spinach taste i would have expected. 

I've had a lot of foods on this trip that I didn't recognize, but this was the biggest surprise. 

I hated to leave the cozy little caravan in Ottoland and the wonderful hosts but I had kilometers too go before i sleep and a schedule to keep, so I go. 

These figs clocked me in the head on the way to an evening WC visit. 

The ground is very low and the drainage ditches are close to the road. 

The caravan was 7 miles off the route, but it was a short stage today so no big deal.  

These baskets give the ducks a safe place to lay their eggs raise their chicks. 

Hummm I wonder if Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy is a Dutch Elm. 

After a short wrong turn, and back on track, I entered the town of Kinderdijke, famous for its windmills. 

There are 19 Dutch windmills that pumped water from the lowlands up and over the dike to the river. This is as iconic of Holland as it gets. Some of these are still in operation 500 years after they were first built. 

Hey, that's me!

I will have to finish this tomorrow. Stay tuned. 

I was real tuckered out last night and started falling asleep while writing. 

I kept finding these clam shells on the track. Must be one of the water fowl brings these up from the canal and break them open to get to the goodies inside. 

One more ferry ride. 

Almost there!

My first view of Rotterdam is bridges and architecture in the distance. When you have a city spanning multiple channels of a river delta you're going to need multiple ways to cross. 

Here's my awesome bridge. Beauty and functionality combined. The far left side even includes a drawbridge. 

The city. 

The bridge and buildings that look like they've been reconfigured by an earthquake. 

I think i saw this same lighthouse at the beginning of the ride! 

Checked in at the ROOM hostel and scored a bottom bunk! 

Went for a little walk after dinner. The city is such a mix of old and new, futuristic architecture and styles that date back hundreds of years. European cities are so different from anything I've seen in the states. 

This tourist boat is named Abel Tasman. Susan will know how just the name brings back fond memories of our trip to New Zealand. 

Would you like an office that looks like it is only supported by air?

Here's a way to repurpose wind turbine blades as attractive benches. 

An enormous memorial to the years Holland was occupied by the Nazis. 1940 - 1945. 

And now I'm ready for the end of the ride. At times I feel excited that it is ending and at other times sad that this adventure is almost over. I hope there will be more adventures to come, but i don't think cycling 800+ miles again will be one of them.