Giant Skyscraper Of The Seas

I had been warned by my colleagues a while back with an e-mail stating that I'd better come to the office by bike or not at all, because of the expected massive numbers of tourists, crew and spectators coming from or to the biggest cruise ship in the world, the Oasis Of The Seas*. Our office building is right next to the mooring location of the ship, so traffic problems were to be expected. As I always go to the office by bike, I didn't think much of it and had somewhat forgotten about it. And, how bad could it be?

Well, bad it was. The crowds on the bridge and the shore watching the other side of the river Meuse forebode something special going on. Turning into the street showed traffic jams, hundreds or thousands of wandering people with suitcases and frantically waving and whistling traffic controllers. Cars crashing into each other. Waiting lines for the restrooms (which made me wonder: didn't they have them on board?). And a 9th floor view gone for four hours, blocked by a sailing skyscraper.

* "Biggest", I guess, means "longest and widest", as I remember a cruise ship a few months ago which was surely higher: the Norwegian Breakaway. I did not check the "biggest" statement though, and it surely was pretty big, so let's let them enjoy their claim to fame. To give a hint of its size: the "Rotterdam" building, seen behind the ship in the photo, is the largest** Dutch building, 149 meters high.

** This is again an example of claims being disputed. When being built, 'they' said it would be the biggest building. When that seemed untrue, it now is the biggest 'multifunctional' building in the country.