DAY 3This is the view from our friend Andreas’ apartment. There is a Phili 76er who lives right below him.
Rotterdam am hungover as I can be. I skipped breakfast and just got on the bus and slept the whole ride. I felt much better when we got there. Our hotel is right on the river, and it is excellent, this is a very different trip than IRAQ. We overlook the river and one of the bridges I saw on extreme engineering. Very cool. The tour Defrance is starting here in 3 days, so we saw the Good Year Blimp the North sea jazz fest is next week as well. The fest is fantastic: Joss Stone, Norah Jones, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Elvis Costello, Herbie Handcock, the Roots, and a ton more.. all in a couple days. Yes, it is the Good Year Blimp in Rotterdam, just getting ready.
Andrea is our guy here; he is a very cool dude originally from Nashville. We had to cut the show to 1 hour because Holland was playing in the world cup. It was split crowds again, allot of Dutch folks in the audience but afterwords really seemed to enjoy it. We chatted it up with the guys had a couple Heinekens (we are where they make it!) and watched soccer. Andrea rode back with us to the hotel, he lives just over the bridge.
As we drove through Rotterdam, they explained the reason Rotterdam is so modern is that Hitler fellow bombed the crap out of them. Do not bring it up to someone who is Dutch, they are still pissed.
Snoop dog owns a house in Rotterdam, and he was going to do a free concert but had to cancel it because the bloods and crips showing up in Holland.
It is a small base, but they were friendly.
Coolest dutch wooden shoes ever. 
Andrea’s apartment overlooks the city and the New York Hotel that is the place where celebrities from the states stay (Lionel Richie, Beyonce, and such). This hotel used to be the port where the ship would set sail to NYC. The place is a fantastic boat themed expensive restaurant. We ran into a couple folks having a picnic, and Andrea knew them, so we started talking. They were so lovely. Still, as we walked away Andrea told me she is the “Hilary Clinton” of Holland, and I wondered where her bodyguards were, and he said my they stay hidden she doesn’t like their presents so they were up in the buildings and we probably had a gun on us at all times.
We watched Brazil and Chili at a bar who are mortal enemies, and there is a significant Brazilian population in that neighborhood. I got explained to me why the Holland team color is orange. Their flag is red, white, and blue, but the royal family color is orange, so they are the Orangemen. It was getting dark, and we decided to split, it doesn’t get dark till 10:45ish. The city is cool as hell at night, the lights are very artsy.
Here Andreas Apartment.
I really wanted to go to a coffee shop with pot just to say I did and see it. It didn’t really impress me, it looked like if a head shop was in an OTB that had steady customers that look like they were on the cast of Rotterdam shore. I’m sure there are cool ones, but this was the only one we knew.
We stopped at a bar called Hotel Bazar, it was a funky stained glass and funky chandlers all over. I got home and past out with the TV on. I woke up to pee the TV was full of nude women selling phone numbers and websites, I laughed and went back to bed.
