Rotterdam, The Netherlands

 Rotterdam is a very large port city with a population of around 600,000 per our guide and the port is the 7th largest in the world.  It's also beautiful.  Our tour today was a quick driving tour of Rotterdam on our way to The Hague, the administrative capital of The Netherlands.  We made a quick stop at the International Court of Justice which settles disputes between countries not related to people, e.g. borders, water rights, etc.

The International Court of Justice building.  Andrew Carnegie donated $3M back in 1902 for construction

Beautiful gates outside

Next was a stop in Delft at the Royal Delft Factory where we were shown how the porcelain is made. This is the only remaining factory still in operation.

Our guide, Karolina, with one of the 16 artists.

Various stages of production. The second firing of the piece turns the grey cobalt into the distinctive Delft Blue. 

Some of the pieces on display.  Not all Delft is blue, but it is the most popular.

 The city of Delft is really beautiful.  We did a bit of a walk around to really experience the canals and lovely streets.

Protestant church.  It was first started in 1396 and opened in 1496.  Then later, in 1872 the upper part of the tower was added.  You can see the very different building materials and different styles. 

City Hall

Square in front of City Hall

Lots of beautiful canals

It's not quite so obvious in this photo, but this church tower is leaning about 6 feet off-vertical because it is sinking into the swamp land below.  It was begun in the 14th century and they tried to fix it as they went, but only the four turrets at the top are truly vertical.

An interesting roundabout in Rotterdam near the Aquarium

This pod-like thing is for local residents to lock up their bicycles when not in use.

Got third place again in trivia.  We joined the gang for drinks and dinner at Sette Mari.  Michael and I shared the grilled veal chop and it was just the right amount of food.  We were supposed to have Mike Sterling as the entertainer singing songs from Phantom of the Opera, but apparently, he couldn't board due to testing positive.  So it will be the ventriloquist again, which we didn't attend.