Ok, so here I was, in Rotterdam for the second time! The first time I just had time to discover the center and this time, I had an appointment, couldn't explore much.
The thing is I wanted to try public transports, if I would have take the car with GPS I guess everything would have been ok - except maybe for the parking of course…
I took the train until the closest station and then I would have to walk about 750m, perfect!
The first setback was that after all, the train I got, didn't stop at the station I needed… I had check in the website but not at the railway station!
I also wasn't counting on the mess that Rotterdam streets are (at least in that area) were you have canals and the port, and moreover the place I was looking for is located in corner and has his name in the window, you can barely notice…
Usually my sense of direction is quiet good and I was counting on that, but in a rainy day all I knew was that I had to walk southeast, and where the hell was the sun? LOL
Every street seemed to be heading to a canal, but my guess was right, I made it to the river, but then, the pictures of my target that I had so well memorized, vanished!
I had to ask for directions, the only thing I saw was a gym… and a very fancy one! But I had to ask! So I entered and asked for directions, everyone was really nice. They didn't know that street, so they printed a map from their computer, asked me if I wanted a coffee while waiting (I said no), offered me mints… and finally... asked me if I wanted to join the gym… LOL
I said the gym was really nice but I’m leaving in Breda… Oh we have also a gym in Breda, you can sign here and train there… I even know which one it is! :D
Really I don’t know how I could be so strong, saying no, after them being so nice! But I was a girl (yes, I still think of myself as a girl!) with a mission! So I declined the offer (without even saying, yes, I’m already a member! I could say that I’m getting Dutch, but the true is, I was already like this, maybe my French influence? LOL) and continued my journey.
It wasn't easy to find, I was turning around, I knew it was close, so I didn't want to call them to ask, but after walking for a bit, I looked at the time, and I was getting late! So I called them to ask for directions, and it was easier because they gave a reference of a restaurant just the door next to them! Uff!
To come back home there was a train coming to Breda just when I arrived to that really small station, but I still had to check out of the subway so I didn't go on that one…The one I got on was a “sneltrein” which means fast train, but it stopped at every station… so it took me more than an hour to get home!
Still don’t get public transports here!
By the way, here are some useful links if you need to plan a trip around here, first one for trains and the other one plans your journey from A to B using all kind of public transports available:
