The second largest city of the Netherlands and most modern of all Dutch cities. Its modernity, he, however, obliged to the vagaries of fate: during the Second World War the city was heavily damaged by German bombing, and after the war had to build it from scratch. Built the city is not in the Dutch style: Rotterdam is very different from all other cities in the country. Here, instead of the typical Dutch narrow streets and winding canals are spacious, luxurious shopping malls, modern buildings and the busiest harbor oceans. And how many tall buildings here, a modern sculpture, cutting-edge architecture, and how violently seething cultural life here!
Once you arrive at the main train station in Rotterdam, so soon and realize: this is not Amsterdam: Amsterdam here and does not smell. The first thing that catches your eye when you exit the city - it's skyscrapers, skyscrapers, skyscrapers ...
And in Rotterdam is somehow lighter and freer breathing: there are no narrow streets, which look all the time stick to the house and turns, there are no sidewalks, designed for walking strictly on one, not as much throughout the series standing bike. In Rotterdam, unusual for the center of Amsterdam, broad streets with an incredibly beautiful artificially created channels.
There is a special area for skateboarders and bicyclists. And if you look closely, you notice that even those homes that would seem quite able to stand and Amsterdam, it turns out, are decorated with a modern touch, issuing a slightly different style.
In the end, they even do not know what love more: the Amsterdam canals that had existed for centuries, with their floating houses and a special atmosphere here, or here are artificially created, but very original and comfortable small ponds, canals of Rotterdam to the thrown across them, cutting-edge bridges and c scattered along the banks of the original bright skaymekami.
Not deny the originality of design of their facades and the Rotterdam buildings. For example, in the photo below building the Netherlands Architectural Institute (NAI). To get into the need to go on the bridge, over which hangs some abstract figures of unknown destination.
And next, exactly on the other side of you is broken with a modern fleet scattered in his abstract sculptures and monuments not clear why. And all the same artificial canals with artificial turf. A little shortage of natural randomness and randomalnosti cornering channels, the growth of grass and the location of the tracks. Davleet some inexplicable mathematical precision in everything. It is difficult to say whether this is good or bad. Just a completely different, unusual.
But in Rotterdam there are also places where the traditional Dutch style feels a little more. Thus, for example, seemed to the area around the small port of Veerhaven. Home here a little more like Amsterdam than in other parts of the city, and if not for wide streets, one could believe that was in the Dutch capital.
However, this feeling disappears, is only slightly move away from Veerhaven towards an incredibly beautiful park Vet Park, at one end of which is well-known Rotterdam evromachta. Evromachta this really is now a common observation deck, but still about 50 years ago was the highest building in the city.
But by the end of space and freedom of the modern city of Rotterdam you feel when you go out to his huge waterfront, offering views of a number of high-rises that are scattered on the other side. And here is seen the main symbol of Rotterdam - Erasmus Bridge (yes, Erasmus and his famous work "Praise of Folly" - is also here).
Rotterdam all my heart cries out that he was new, completely different and incredibly free Dutch city, a city of the future. And as any great respect for their unique city, Rotterdam has got himself his own Walk of Fame - Dutch response to the French Cannes, and this response can be considered a success, because the Dutch and here took a step forward and offered to perpetuate its bridge not only the handprints of celebrities, but and imprints of their feet.
But the most interesting and most modern that can be seen in Rotterdam, you will find a metro station Blaak. It is here that the famous Rotterdam buildings: cubic houses, buildings of the library, hotel and restaurant Proef.
Original high-rise building in the photo below - the hotel and restaurant Proef.
But from then on - the famous cube houses built by architect Piet Blom'om in 1984. The lower floors - a support for the 40 cubes, constructed above. The walls of these cubes are arranged at an angle, due to which out of 100 sq.m. area of an individual apartment, about a quarter of the space is not suitable for life, and why, and unusable. From the side looks more than fun. %) I heard somewhere that some owners of these cubic houses spend on them guided tours. And in some of them were going to open a hotel room. I do not know if opened, but, in my opinion, this is wonderful.
Not less marvelous in my mind and there is a building with yellow piping. This library building, and next to this building is the mass of every original buildings in the same style, is a library systems (Library Theatre, and something in this spirit).