A short TGV ride from Montpellier to Paris got me there in no time. I’d been to Paris a couple of times before, and the main purpose of was meeting up with family anyway, so didn’t feel to have missed out by not doing too much sightseeing. One exception was a visit to the Catacombs, underground boneyards in long since abandoned limestone mines from beneath the city streets. A fascinating display of tribute to the dead, and what could have been macarbe was compellingly beautiful. Apart from that the rest of the time was spent chatting, drinking, eating, apero-ing at any of the endless number of bards and restaurants, or on the Peniche, the houseboat on the Seine where I was dossing with the folks. 
Maybe for the last time, I left Paris for the seemingly shiny new Rotterdam, which was all but destroyed in the Second World War. There was a whole bunch of new buildings and infrastructure which were to grab my interest, the Cube Houses, an intriguingly designed social housing project doubling as a pedestrian bridge over a road and rail line, and the recently completed Markthal, a new covered market the walls and roof of which were formed by apartments and the Erasmus Bridge is also impressive, a giant swan-like cable-stayed structure spanning the Maas River. There’s a really modern feel to Rotterdam, not burdened by the austerity of some of the older European cities and whilst much of the more modern achitecture is monumental and a bit egocentric, there’s still enough structure created by it to give the city a form and identity of its own.
Museums and galleries are closed on Mondays, the only full day I was there, so on a whirlwind tuesday morning I hit the Kunsthal (brilliant), the Netherlands Photo Gallery (great), Boijmans van Beuningen (limited value) and Het Niewe Instituut (let’s say crap and leave it at that). Probably too much to cram in but I suppose the regret-factor would have been too high otherwise.
Nothing quite as overtly new fangled about the character in Amsterdam, which still retains a tangible heritage in its radial grid of canals and slumping brick buildings. However, I was staying over the Ij lake to the north of the city where the slick newness of the Rotterdam style lines the waterfront, and just behind it is former heavy industry slowly making way for start-ups and creatives. Last time here was a flying dash between transport connectections, so it was good to spend a few solid days. Here I decided to rent a bike for a couple of days and get around town like the locals, which was surprisingly easy despite a few navigational snafus. There’s also a free constant-motion ferry system to transport foot, bike and scooter traffic between Noord and the center which coupled with the bike was a super-easy way to get around. The Rijksmuseum was first on the list. I have to say it is impressive, but for some reason there’s no logic to the way information is presented, with its galleries disjointed in time and content. There has to be a reason for this but I couldn’t fathom it. 
De Pijp is a bit of a Bohemian area near to the Rijksmuseum where I visited for coffee at a place called Little Collins, get it, which has pretty good coffee and a modern lunch menu (asparagus, herbed ricotta, poached eggs, dukkah..) Found myself in De Pijp more than once. Noord also has its fair share of emergin eateries and also a fresh food market just recently opened, handy as I was able to self cater in the flat where I was staying. There’s also an emerging microbrewery scene in Amsterdam, so I eschewed the Heineken monolithic experience to go to Brouwerie t’Ij in a converted bathhouse near the lake. A tasting flight in the sunny courtyard was very enjoyable, but with the bike I had to leave it at that or would have ended up in a canal for sure!
In the morning before getting the train to Germany I made my way to FOAM, the Amsterdam photography museum which had a great show of contact sheets of Magnum photographers, with the story of how one that set of images was worked into the iconic image which emerged from it.