Day Eight started at 7:00 in the morning, but due to another miscommunication, a group of us had missed the 7:45 AM briefing. We boarded the bus and drove 90 minutes north to the Zuidzeemuseum on the IJsselmeer. In a strange course of events, we actually ended up passing through Amsterdam (the morning after we checked into our Rotterdam hotel) to reach the IJsselmeer. This seemed illogical to me, but ultimately nobody was able to offer me a clear answer on why this happened. After touring the Zuidzeemuseum, we took the transfer bus back to Rotterdam, and had a chance to freshen up. We then went as a group to the Markthal near Blaak to grab dinner. Dinner was delicious, and a smaller group broke off to go to the Euromast at dusk to view sunset over the city.

The observation that I made today at the Zuidzeemuseum relates back to what I discussed in my blog yesterday. The Dutch have long been at war with the ocean and rising sea levels. As I mentioned yesterday, a large portion of Holland actually lies below sea level, which makes it necessary for the country to have a extensive flood-defense system. As we explored at the Zuidzeemuseum, the Dutch solution has historically been, and is still today, to build a network of leevees (dijks), dams, and locks to carefully control the water level. The Zuidzeemuseum is actually located on the IJsselmeer, which was once a tidal inlet of the North Atlantic. However following a series of devastating floods in the early 1900s, the Netherlands decided to build the Afsluitdijk, a massive levee that effectively turned the IJssel Sea into a lake. Two things occurred upon completion of this mega project: the land within the inlet was now protected through careful water level monitoring, and the saltwater was eventually flushed out by the rivers feeding into it. Today, the IJsselmeer has a lower water level than the ocean (which reduces the risk of flooding), and has become a freshwater drinking reservoir.

After climbing to the top of the Euromast, one thing about Rotterdam became immediately clear to me. Unlike Amsterdam’s historic canals and low-story houses, Rotterdam is filled with skyscrapers stretching high into the sky, modern suspension bridges, and sprawling industrial areas and freight harbours. It’s almost as if Amsterdam and Rotterdam represent the opposite of each other. In many ways, they do. Amsterdam has always been the busy canal town with a dense urban core and narrow houses. While Rotterdam may have once appeared similar, World War II devastated the city and large parts of the city were flattened. As part of the rebuilding, Rotterdam became home to a thriving industrial sector and tall skyscrapers. Even walking around, the wide and gritty boulevards of Rotterdam are in stark contrast to the meticulously maintained narrow canal streets of Amsterdam. It’s still too early to decide which city I prefer, but Rotterdam certainly feels more like my New York home.

Overall, the Zuidzeemuseum was a great look at Dutch maritime history and how it has shaped and influenced the way modern flood control works. The Markthal and Euromast were also fun tastes of what Rotterdam has to offer. While many people have already dismissed Rotterdam as being inferior to the picturesque views of Amsterdam, I think it’s still too early to tell.