We gathered a little later today for a boat tour of the port in Rotterdam. It was interesting to see all the boats gathered so tightly together, and it makes me wonder how frequently they have miscommunications that put one boat at risk of collision with another boat. The machinery was interesting to see at work. It’s more interesting to see where the Netherlands sit in terms of global export, their numbers are up there with the major world powers, despite being the size of the average US state. It seems that their economy is built around their ports, making everything for export.
Later on, we visited Delfshaven, which was the first stepping stool for the Protestant pilgrims that settled the colony of Plymouth. Most of those pilgrims lived in Laiden, so they all went to Delfshaven to take advantage of its ports and board the Mayflower. Aside from that though, it’s a fairly normal city, with minimal tourist attractions and all the normal things I’ve come to expect from a Dutch city.
