So after Amsterdam we are taking the train to Rotterdam, where we'll be staying for 2 nights. We were originally going to stay in Antwerp instead, but it turned out that the main reason for going there--to take a day trip out to Eindhoven--was actually easier and cheaper from Rotterdam. From Rotterdam you can get to Eindhoven on a direct train (no transfers from train to train), whereas from Antwerp it was more expensive and also involved switching trains. I don't know much about Rotterdam itself, except that Erasmus (a Christian intellectual and author who lived at the same time as Henry VIII and was a friend of St. Thomas More) was from there--he is often called Erasmus of Rotterdam.I took a class about him at the U of S so he's interesting to me.
Apparently Rotterdam was hit particularly badly during WWII, hence there are hardly any historic buildings left (at least in certain areas of the city). It was bombed in May of 1940 during the German invasion of the Netherlands. This is a picture of the city centre after the bombing:
Anyway, the whole point about being here is going on a day trip out to Eindhoven, which is fairly close, as you can see from this map:
If you have seen the movie A Bridge Too Far--Eindhoven is very central to the events that are recounted in that movie. You might remember that the movie is about Operation Market Garden, which was a military operation in the fall of 1944 which was intended to cut a path open to the heart of Germany and which would (had it succeeded) have likely brought the war to a much quicker end. It was ultimately unsuccessful however. The basic plan of the operation was that three different groups of paratroopers (airborne forces) would be dropped at three different points along a highway running north-south through German-occupied territory: the drop points were at Arnhem, at the north end, at Nijmegen, and at Eindhoven (the south end). This map gives the basic idea (if you click on it, it will open up bigger in a separate page): 
The idea was that the paratroopers would seize the bridges along the highway, and that while they were doing this cavalry (tanks) would roll up the highway from the south and secure the area. In theory it sounds like a plan but several things went wrong that ended with it being a rather disastrous operation for the Allies. One of the episodes of Band of Brothers (that miniseries I've told you about, Mom) involves Operation Market Garden, since the group of real men whose lives are followed by the miniseries were part of 101st Airborne, and were dropped near Eindhoven during this campaign. Anyway I am sure you know probably as much about this as I do, Joe! Love, Becky
p.s. Sorry about all the different fonts showing up in this post--I don't know why they're showing up wonky. Argh.
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