This morning's bus ride was long today as we left Belgium and entered the Netherlands. I like the way this photo taken from the bus focused on the little barge heading along the canal next to the road leaving Bruges.
In Holland's 17th century Golden Age, the tiny country (Holland is just a nickname for the Netherlands) was a world power--politically, economically, and culturally--with more great artists per square mile than any other country at that time. Today, it is Europe's most densely populated and also one of its wealthiest and best organized.
"Netherlands" means "lowlands" and the country occupies the low-lying delta near the mouth of three of Europe's large rivers. In medieval times, inhabitants built a system of earthen dikes to protect their land from flooding caused by tides and storm surges. But in 1953, as we were to find out, severe floods breached the old dikes, killing 1,800 and requiring a major overhaul of the system.
Today's 350 miles of dikes and levees are high-tech with electronic systems to monitor water levels. Dutch experts traveled to Louisiana--and vice versa--after Hurricane Katrina to share their expertise with US officials after levee failure there caused massive flooding. And following Hurricane Sandy, American hydrology experts began looking to the Netherlands for models of how to protect vast areas from flooding. We would have a full day filled with learning about water management by the Dutch.
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