rotterdam: old town and modern city

and also: a fantastic bicycle ride to the windmills - and discovering Delft,a little charming town nearby.

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The room was good - not big but not tiny either - and it had a television, alarm clock and hairdryer. It''s not a fancy place - then again I was not looking for one - but it was very convenient and friendly.

The restaurant is located in an old wooden building in Delfshaven: you can eat outside in the little beergarden, or inside in a dark candle-lit room overlooking the old lock and canal. We chose to stay inside and found it very nice and romantic. One word of warning about the entrance, which we failed to find for a few minutes: it's the middle door at the back of the building.

So eventually the big day came, my friend borrowed a bike for me, and off we went: Rotterdam to Kinderdijk, about 15 km there, and another 15 back. After all it did not sound like such a great distance, and Holland's flat anyway, so I thought I could easily manage that. Hell, the distance did not prove to be too much, to be fair, and Holland turned out to be as flat as one knows but... small detail I forgot, it's a sore business for your bum.

Well, anyway, though making a big drama out of the ride, I really had a great time. The Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout, which in 1997 was inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, proved as nice as my friend had suggested. It's an area with 19 windmills on a canal, one of which can be visited inside. There's also a multi-lingual audio which explain how windmills were used for draining purposes in the polders. The best thing, though, is to bike around the windmills and see the various types of windmill architecture... yes, there is one!

Delft is only 20 minutes away, but it really looks like a world apart: it's a very old town, with little stone buildings, a plesant market square, lots of little canals lined with trees, and even more tiny bridges. It's a very tiny town, but of incredible beauty.

What else? History pervades the place. Never have I seen such a huge concentration of beautiful houses, churches and museums... Every corner seemed to scream to have someplace to be visited. I think one could really spend a few days there and not get bored.

Another possibility is to buy items directly from the factory. Out of the 32 operating factories, only 2 remain - luckily both can be toured. My friend recommends De Delftse Pauw, Delftweg 133, Postbus 400, 2600 AK Delft. Tel: 015-2124920