It was indeed contemporary architecture that drove us to revisit the Netherlands. This was a day reserved entirely for architecture.
In the morning, we took our time wandering in downtown Rotterdam, passing by an urban plaza designed by West 8 a few years earlier. At Rotterdam Centraal, we hopped onto a train heading to Schiphol. Our destination was Almere, a new developed city northeast of Amsterdam. By midday, we reached Almere. From the station, we walked through a series of pedestrian arcades and shopping area until reaching the waterfront area where OMA was responsible for the masterplanning. In a few parcels of land we could find a number of interesting architecture done by renounced architects like Alsop and SANAA. On our way back to the station we dropped by UN Studio's La Defense, a colourful office complex widely published earlier.
From Almere, we took a train to Amsterdam Sloterdijk, where we stopped for a bowl of tomato soup, at the same restaurant where we had lunch in April 2008 when we visited Amsterdam. After the refreshment, we headed off to Den Haag (The Hague), where Netherland's central government is located. Again architecture was our main draw. We visited the Dance Theatre by Rem Koolhaas, the city hall by Richard Meier, and a new metro station by again Koolhaas. Before we returned to Rotherdam, we paid a quick visit to the Dutch parliament.
After dinner, we made a special visit back to Belgium's Antwerp, because I have left my mobile phone at Bed, Bath & Bread. Luckily someone was there to open the door and we left happily with my mobile phone for Rotterdam to spend our final night in the Netherlands.
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