A few years ago, after a difficult, unpassionate year in college, and after working my ass off for two months in a restaurant, I decided I needed holidays and went to see one of my bestfriends in Rotterdam. She had been studying there for the past semester, had only good things to tell me about the city and her college, and I really needed a change of air (also, I missed her, obviously). So I took off, a seven hours trip from Paris to Rotterdam, in a lousy, crowded bus with unbearable teenagers in the back and a cute Russian family next to me. Finally I arrived, and I knew in a matter of seconds, that I would love the city.

Bear in mind, this isn't Amsterdam, with its cute paved streets and canals everywhere, a sort of perfect, peaceful Disney (in a good way) city. Rotterdam, my best friend told me, had been bombed during WWII by Germany because of a miscommunication issue (which is both horrific and kind of funny, History is sometimes made in a weird way). So a big part of the city had to be rebuilt. That's the thing though: none of it is ugly. This city has both an old, charming vibe AND a futuristic vibe.  None of the buildings which have been rebuilt in the 50s-60s (I guess) look ugly or out of time, as it is mostly the case in France. Even 60 years later, it still looks futuristic, like straight out of a sci-fi magazine.

It's pretty, it's clean, it's modern, it's green. Here is your slogan. Ever seen those perfect construction billboards showing you the futuristic neighborhood or building complexes that are planned, promising you a perfect, magazine-like life? This is Rotterdam. Obviously, the only thing ruining it being my rented orange bike, which was probably the only one in the city that heavy and that squeaky.

What can I say about the population? Tall (REALLY tall, like light-switches-placed-way-too-high-on-the-walls tall), beautiful (all of them, seriously guys, what's the secret?) blonde giants, cycling everywhere, to go to work, meet friends, buy groceries, in a inextricable ballet, cycling past you effortlessly. You thought you were in shape? I'm telling you, you're not. I literally saw a guy moving away by bike. And another one balancing packs and packs of empty beers on his knees while cycling away. Wtf.

We tried the lekkerber speciaaltje at the Market Hall and had truffle chips and beer on Witte de Withstraat, parked our bikes in an underground bike parking lot and played a giant chess game at the Centraal Bibliotheek, visited the Kijk-Kubus (these incredible yellow tree houses), ate krokets among buddhas statues in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere while trying to see the windmills of Kinderdijk. We watched seagulls attack a guy to get his sandwich and observed Dutch people tanning (meaning: going from very white to very red) on The Hague's beach, saw the Parliament and the International Court of Justice (which lacks a tower because of lack of money apparently), drank cappuccinos after cappuccinos in bobo vegan cafés and cycled all day long -followed by the squeaky sound of my orange bike.

We did so much in those four days, and it could sound so packed and in a hurry, but it was the most peaceful, perfect four days of my year. The absolute freedom to decide what we wanted to do and see. To choose, on the spot, whether to have a break and a cappucino or to keep cycling around the city. To set a morning alarm when we wanted and to call it a day when we decided it. To visit the city or to take the train and go to another one. Rotterdam is this kind of perfect city to visit for a solo trip or a trip with friends. A four-days break can seem way too short to really enjoy a city, or to really rest, but I left with my self-confidence boosted, my mind at ease and rested, full of paved streets and futuristic buildings. And my ears still ringing from my squeaky orange bike.