Amsterdam/Rotterdam: sometimes all you want to do is nothing...

the wind turbines at Hoek van Holland are whirling silhoettes against a cloudy sky stained orange by industial lighting, and i've been standing in the cold wind on the upper deck of the ferry that'll be taking me back to Harwich in a couple of hours. outside it's freezing, but inside it's temperature controlled and sterile. as far as I can tell, there are two ferries servicing the Harwich - Hoek van Holland route. each one does the round trip every day, passing each other somewhere mid-way with their loads of holidaymakers and freight. in twelve hours i'll be back in Blighty again, back to my job search and an increasing concern as to what the fuck i'm going to do with myself for the next few months... and in fact what country i'll be in by year-end.

this day's been one of relaxed cruising. neither of us could think of anything we desperately wanted to do before we left, so we hit the street and wandered some more, meandering our way through now familiar streets and the peacefulness of the canals with out bags left in the relatative security of the hotel. now on our 3rd day in this country i've found my feet, so to speak, and it no longer feels like every cyclist and tram driver is trying to kill me... or maybe i'm just getting better at avoiding them. once again we manage to find ourselves i the RLD completely by accident. it was between wherever we were and where looked interesting. the main harbor and the NEMO Science Centre is chanced upon in the same way - a huge green facility that i suppose is designed to be reminiscent of a sailing ship. by the time we're done with lunch we've had enough and resolve to spend an hour or so in Rotterdam on the way back to the ferry so bags are recovered and we sit on the train listening to our PSD's as we watch the countryside roll by again in reverse order.

after the "stuck at the turn of the last century" vibe of Amsterdam, Rotterdam's blisteringly modern - cobble and brick footpaths have given way to concrete and bitumen and we find ourselves in an obvious CBD where i never saw one in Amstedam. for 5PM on a monday afternoon the traffic seems light, but people are still bustling around with the "i'm not in a rush, but there are still places i'd rather be" attitude i've come to associate with the Dutch. i may have completely the wrong idea, but what the hell?

we find a cafe and drink coffee if for no other reason than that caffeine is good and we're not in the mood to wander far, and after a few hours we've decided we've seen enough and are between countries again.

i'd love to say more about the experience, but that's really it. it's been nice, but i'm underwealmed by it all. there's a new sticker on my Eee as a sort of "haha - see where i've been" to any onlookers, but that's all i'm leaving with souvenier-wise. if i'd wanted to be on the go the whole time i'd have been disappointed, but since i just wanted to cruise it was great. that said, if i REALLY wanted to cruise there's beaches in Fiji i've not swum at... but then a good coffee can be hard to find on a desert island. i came, i saw, i left again... and i can see this being a theme in the coming months as i gear up more and more towards what i think may be an impending European Backpacking Odyssey. in the meantime, there's a shower waiting for me which promises to clean the top 3 layers of skin off my back and a bunk calling with the promise of too little substandard sleep.