One of my favorite pastimes is traveling and learning about other cultures. When I first visited the Netherlands in 1999, I went to visit a dear friend. On the preparations for my trip I got all kinds of feedback that I didn’t find very positive at least from my point of view. Statements like “very weird” to “are you going to the coffee shops?” At that point I was unaware of what they meant by that, but it increased my curiosity. My first impression in customs was a peak at my passport, no questions asked and a “Welcome to Amsterdam”.
I stayed in Bloemendaal, a beautiful town in North Holland. I find it fascinating. I visited the coffee shops and walked thru the red light district. I guess it is a "must see" for tourist. But what really caught my attention was how I thought this society is misrepresented outside. I was really impressed by their struggles with water the way they reclaimed the land by building dikes. As I wrote before about sea level and I always been fascinated by water, I think this will explain my awe at this vision, this is not the work of an individual but the vision of the “people”. The bridges are engineered with what I thought was the simplest of techniques. They open and closed most of them by a pendulum system. Depending on the size of the bridge with very little force to move the weight for it to acquire momentum and open or closed as needed. Very fast and agile. I also wondered how come no one in the city of Miami Beach ever look for ideas as I could only think about me sitting in my car on the traffic that can bring the Boat Show and waiting for what it seem an eternity for the bridges to open and close and the amount of energy and effort that was needed for that. See link below for pictures...
The pasturage land is divided by dragging a canal so the livestock will remain in the selected area and when moved they build small bridges using the same technique. It is so simple is almost perfect.
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