Rotterdam and Delft, Netherlands

We have been in Rotterdam since yesterday morning after leaving the m/s
Maasdam and the first leg of our vacation trip. We are staying at the
Grand Tulip Hotel just across the Erasmus Bridge where the cruise ships
dock. The photo was taken from out 9th floor room and it is a great
location. Unfortunately, the wireless service in the room is not very
good because it is the farthest away from the antenna. However, if I
carry the laptop closer to the door I can connect to the access point
and then take it back to the desk. The woman at the desk said that she
would change us to another room with better access but we like the location.

After we checked in to the hotel, we walked down the main street
(Coolsingel) that the hotel is located on toward the Central Station so
we would have an idea where we had to go to get the train to other
cities. We also visited some of the shops and then stopped to have
lunch at an outside cafe. The sun was shining and pleasant (about 60)
so it was nice even when the sun went behind a cloud. Later we took a
boat tour of the port for a couple of hours and probably saw every crane
and shipping container in the port. The port is huge. Later we had
dinner in the bar of the hotel and, as Samuel Pepys would say, "and off
to bed." (If anyone has read Pepys' diaries you would recall the he
ended always every days activities with that phrase.)

This morning (Wednesday) after breakfast we took the tram to the Central
Station and took the train to Delft. It is only about a twenty ride and
getting off at Delft we got off at Delft Suid (Delft South). We just
stayed and waited for about 30 minutes for the next train to get us to
Delft. In Rotterdam when we left it was overcast; as we arrived in
Delft it was raining. And it continued to rain for the rest of the time
that we were there. I did not even take my camera out of my backpack
while we were there it was so bad. There were a couple of churches
there and other things that we wanted to see but it was terrible. We
had a late lunch in Delft and then took the train back to Rotterdam.

Back in Rotterdam we tok the tram that we thought would take us to our
hotel but when the conductor came to take our fare he informed us that
we were on the correct numbered route but were going to wrong way. We
got off at the next stop, went across the street to the tram stop and
waited for the next (correct) tram. The correct tram was jam packed
(and it was raining so everything smelled) which was good and bad. It
was bad in that it was packed and had to stand; it was good in that the
conductor could get down the aisle before we got off so the ride was free.

Right now we are resting in the hotel and the next important decision we
have to make is where to eat. It probably depends on whether it is
raining or not.