Rotterdam 2020: Week Eight: Vienna, Rotterdam, and Volendam

[Shannon] Hello everyone! This will, unfortunately, be our last blog post, as it is our last week in Rotterdam, and next week we will be back at Webb. I hope you enjoy our last adventures.

Friday, February 21, 2020

Shannon's First Day in Vienna

I woke up at 4am to make it to the airport, but then I saw my flight was delayed by two hours. So I went back to sleep and woke up at 7 (just so you know before 7am the intercity direct trains do not run). So I woke up and went to the airport.

Once I arrived in Vienna I took the train from the airport to the city center. I arrived a little after 11am, and headed towards Figmüller Bäckerstraße at Duane's request. After lunch, I went to the Mozarthaus, one of Mozart's apartments in Vienna that was turned into a museum.

After I walked down the street to Stephansplatz with its beautiful centerpiece, the Domkirche St. Stephan (St. Stephen's Cathedral).

I also walked down the street to see Peterskirche (Peter's Church), before heading to a well-known music store, the Musikhaus Doblinger (Doblinger Music and Publishing).

It was a fairly small music store, but they had so much variety. I loved it. After, leaving the music store with some new sheet music, I walked around for a bit heading towards Hofburg Wien (The Hofburg Palace) and went on one of the tours inside. I did the Kaiserappartements instead of the Imperial Treasury since it was getting pretty late.

The tour ended on the other side of the palace, so I took a nice walk through the MuseumsQuartier for a bit before heading to dinner at Cafe Raimund. After dinner, I decided to call it an night. It was a wonderful day, but my feet were a little tired and I was sure the next day would be longer.

Linda's Friday Night

[Linda] Friday night, I hung out with my friend, Ruben, who is originally from Rotterdam. Determined to teach me Dutch language and culture, Ruben decided to give me a crash course in Dutch at the supermarket, teaching me the names of all of the foods. After a couple hours and several strange looks from the supermarket employees, we returned to my apartment where Ruben taught me how to cook hutspot, a traditional Dutch dish with potatoes, carrots, onions, bacon, and sausage. For dessert, he taught me how to make Dutch pancakes, which were absolutely delicious!

Duane's Friday Night

[Duane] This was my last Friday in Europe. I had to eat away the rest of my consumables. It was an accidental wild night.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Linda's Adventures in Volendam

[Linda] Saturday, Ruben and I decided to visit Volendam, a small fishing village about 30 minutes north of Amsterdam famous for its traditional dress. Once we arrived, we explored the picturesque port and visited several museums, including a cheese museum, clog museum, and museum on the history of the town. Ruben had me try kibbeling, a tasty Dutch snack consisting of fried codfish with garlic mayonnaise. We then ate dinner at Hotel Spaander, a 19th-century hotel famous for its eclectic collection of paintings (the hotel was a popular artists’ retreat, and the artists could pay for their stay with their paintings). We briefly paused in Amsterdam before returning to Rotterdam.

Shannon's Second Day in Vienna

[Shannon] I started the day pretty early and jumped straight on a train. I headed straight to the Schloss Schonbrunn (Schonbrunn Palace). Once there I grabbed some food before heading inside for the tour. The palace was beautiful. I loved the way each room was decorated, and the detail work was amazing. I'm sad that I couldn't take pictures. Though, I did take some pretty pictures of the outside.

By the time I left, it was a little after noon so I hopped back on the train and headed to Schlumberger Kellerwelten. Duane had gone with his classmates on a trip a while back, and I was told it was really cool, which it was.

Since I was fairly far north, I decided to make a stop at the Schubert Geburtshaus (Schubert's Birthplace), another one of Vienna's Composer Museums.

After, I ate a quick dinner down the street before heading to a concert. I did get a little turned around at one of the train stops, so I ended up getting off too soon, and there was an ice skating rink in one of the plazas. I'm not sure what it was for, but there sure was a lot of people, and it looked like a lot of fun, but I already bought tickets for my concert at the Musikverein Wien. The concert was an quartet and accompaniment of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and some other selections. It was beautiful. The building and the music. After the concert, I just enjoyed a nice walk back to the hostel I was staying at, and packed up for my flight back.

Duane's Day In

[Duane] Today was supposed to my last eventful exploration; however, that was not possible. But I had a lovely time staring at my wall in the apartment.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Duane's Day in Rotterdam

[Duane] I did my final shopping in Europe. I did some European thrift shopping and walked around areas in Rotterdam that I haven't explored yet. After that, I had my final weekend dinner with my fellow intern friends and Chris and Julian. It was a pleasant way to end my weekend.

Linda's Day in Rotterdam

[Linda] Sunday, Ruben and I had to cancel our plans to celebrate Carnaval in Breda because the trains were cancelled (due to foul weather); instead, we hung out in Nieuwe Werk until he had to leave to greet his mother, sister, and grandmother, who were visiting him for dinner. I then visited the Wereldmuseum, an anthropology museum in Rotterdam. The museum was very interesting, and had exhibits on the photography from the Dutch colonies in Indonesia and on modern art from the Dutch Caribbean. Afterward, I met up with Chris, Julian, Duane, and Shannon for dinner at Granny’s.

Shannon's Flight to Rotterdam

[Shannon] Today was also an early morning for me to get on my flight back to Rotterdam. When I got back, we all planned a dinner meet up. Julian was in town to hang out with Chris so Duane, Linda, and I all met up with them to enjoy a nice dinner before our last week of work. We went to Granny's again, and I ate a delicious Creme Brulee for dessert.

February 24-29, 2020

Monday and Tuesday were pretty standard days at work, but Wednesday was the last day for Linda and Duane who would be flying back to the US on Thursday. On Wednesday, Linda and I also had our last lunch together with High Tea at Dudok in Het Park. I continued working through Thursday and Friday, before flying out on Saturday.

Final Message

Overall, I had an amazing, once in a lifetime experience to work and travel in Europe with my friends. Thank you for reading our blog, and thank you to Stolt Tankers for making this experience possible.

[Duane] Thank you for your interest in our blog. And I would like to thank Stolt Tankers for this wonderful opportunity. I learned a lot about the industry and was able to apply what I've learned in school to real-life applications. I will now return to school for my final couples of months at Webb.