The Netherlands
commanding windmill, you feel that you have arrived in a very Dutch town. Its cosmopolitan shipping has perhaps given it a reputation abroad of being less Dutch than other towns in Holland, but here again the activity and energy of the race are prominent. Rotterdam's charm lies in its virile strength, its business-like aspect, its magnificent port, and a stroll along the Boompjes (so called from the "little trees," now fully-grown elms), the principal quay, is well repaid by the endless vista of ships flying the colours of all nations. Rotterdam is a merchant city pure and simple. The saying goes that you make your fortune at Rotterdam, consolidate it at Amsterdam, and spend it at The Hague.
Rotterdam has an appearance of solidity about it, but perhaps less of the conservative stolidity to be met with elsewhere in the Netherlands. It is an essentially
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