Rotterdam, The Netherlands...

We arrived early this morning into Rotterdam…   It was a big day for us, we were going to visit our friends Corina & Fred from the Netherlands.  While waiting for Fred to pick us up, I made a quick dash to get a photo of Hotel New York, the former offices of Holland America Line.  Our friend Fred picked us up right on time at the terminal and we did a brief tour on our way out of Rotterdam and then went to Den Haag (The Hague). Fred parked the car and off we went exploring the center of The Hague on foot. We came out of the underground parking garage at the Binnenhof, the home of the Dutch seat of government. This collection of delightful buildings alongside the picturesque Hofvijver pond dates to the 1200s. We wandered the streets of center town taking in the lovely architecture, historic buildings, markets, tree lined streets. We made our way to the Palace gardens adjacent to the Noordeinde Palace a “working palace” for the King. The Hague is the home of the Dutch royal family and the seat of government for the Netherlands. Our last stop in The Hague was the Peace Palace. What an incredible structure!!! This establishment plays a critical role in the maintenance of world peace. It is home to the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and other institutions. Some of the most important disputes in the world are settled here. Just standing in front of it, the building feels like an important place. The Palace of Peace is a spectacular building that was largely financed by steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Leaving The Hague, we headed to the beach resort of Scheveningen, a seaside area on the North Sea made famous by the Kurhaus Hotel. At Scheveningen, we parked and walked along the waterfront to see the Art Nouveau-style hotel the Kurhaus, a beautiful hotel along the beach. This pier has everything one would want, a beach, long pier, restaurants galore, a Ferris wheel, shopping mall, and even bungee jumping and zip lining. We were able to pick up a few souvenirs as well.  After our morning touring, we headed to Voorburg, and spent a fabulous relaxing day with our Dutch cruise friends Corina, Fred and their daughter Aline. Voorburg is small city not far from The Hague and known for being the oldest city in the Netherlands. They surprised us with an absolutely delicious Dutch Cafe lunch with Dutch Pea Soup, Toastees, Kwekkeboom Dutch cheese souffle, Dutch pancakes, Bossche Bollen (cream puffs) and Dutch Apple Pie and my favorite, Vlammetjes. This was the best day…a great time touring and a special reunion with wonderful friends and their exceptional hospitality. We had a lovely sail away, always nice to see the SS Rotterdam as we sail away from Rotterdam.  Tomorrow is a sea day for us to rejuvenate before we start our next series of stops.  Some friends from the Netherlands, took some photos of us sailing in this morning, thanks to Danny Jara for allowing to post a one of his photos of us sailing in this morning