PalenQ, I endured life in Amsterdam for 10 long years, after which I could escape to Rotterdam. But a lot of my business takes place in Amsterdam, so I visit there regularly. Always glad to get on the train to Rotterdam at the end of the day though.>

I can see that - from a tourist's point of view - well someone who likes unusual things to not see elsewhere Amsterdam has always been exciting for the about 40 years I've gone there annually - but I can see not wanting to live there - which must be expensive too - and I've been to Rotterdam a few dozen times and though visually it is about the opposite of Amsterdam I really like its normalcy too.(Camped for years with our bike trips in Rotterdam camp near Schiedam so spent a lot of time in ordinary parts of town.)

Amsterdam is a beautiful city, certainly. But during the last 5 or so years it's really been a victim of mass tourism. We lived there until 2000 and it was an entirely different city then. It used to be that everyone and anyone could live in the centre of town, a result of the very active squatters movement during the 1980s. But no longer. Real estate prices are through the roof and ordinary people are being priced out of the city. Which is a shame, because much of the small scale infrastructure that made/makes Amsterdam special was geared towards completely ordinary people. That has all changed now, as independent shop keepers are likewise being priced out. How this works can best be seen in the nine streets area.

Rotterdam by contrast has always been characterized by its harbor, which always made it an arrival city for migrants. I think that in terms of social transition, Rotterdam now is 10 years ahead of the rest of the Netherlands. The populist revolution started in Rotterdam, with Pim Fortuyn, from 2002.

There's a special vibe to Rotterdam that I've found nowhere else in Dutch cities.

On our last April trip to the Netherlands and Belgium, Rotterdam was the place that impressed us the most, even though our stay there was plagued by scary thunderstorms. It's got a vibe like no other we've seen in Europe.

A friend told me she thought it's the European Shanghai. It's incredibly dynamic: we're now at the forefront of a revolution of small producers: food, new technology for old traditions, it's all here. And there's a lot of social entrepeneurship in the city that is really exciting.