We slept in! All the way until about 8:30 am. Woo hoo. We are at Adri and Stijnie's house in Rotterdam. We got up and had breakfast, all four of us at their round kitchen table. Muslix with extra fruit and juice.
Sally and Stijnie talked downstairs while Adri and I went up to the computer room to look at pictures from his cycle trip.
Before we knew it, it was one in the afternoon. We loaded into their car (a rare occurrence for them) and drove out to the new industrial area and ports. This was absolutely fascinating!
The Dutch needed to update their port facilities, but they were out of land. Solution? Create new land. At the mouth of the river, they added about 10 square miles of land, extending out into the North Sea! They dredged sand off the sea bottom and deposited it just offshore from the previous coastline until it was all above sea level, in some places 60' above sea level. They also brought millions of tons of rock from Norway to aid in the construction. They built new deep water ports for container ships, all automated. We stood and watched ships being loaded and unloaded by computer operated cranes and machines. They also added recreational beaches on the other side of this huge wide peninsula. Adri, with his position in social and economic development, was able to explain how government and business worked together to create this area. The government created the area at taxpayer expense. Now, they lease the property to industry to recoup the original outlay. He described a good working relationship between labor, business and government. The Dutch have always had to work together, having the common enemy of the sea to bind them together. Each "island", formed by the dikes, is called a Polder, a unit that works together. These fit into the hierarchy of local and national government much like our counties.
While riding the Rhine, we had watched the barges moving up and down the river. I kept wondering where all their cargo was going and coming from. Now I knew. The down river barges bring their goods to this facility and are offloaded. These goods are whisked via robot to a waiting ocean going freighter and distributed around the world. Also, the cargo from that freighter is put on the barge boat to be transported up the Rhine. For me, the circle was now complete.
Adri and Stijnie are wonderful people. Both are extremely kind, thoughtful of each other and gracious. We had heard many times, from all riders, that the Dutch were the friendliest people on the planet. Adri and Stijnie reinforce that observation. We had a wonderful day with them, driving around Holland. During our long talks, we discovered Adri and I have the exact same birthdate, May 18, 1954! We discovered this when our talk turned to our home and the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.
We returned to their home about 6:00 pm, enjoyed dinner and then talked late into the evening. It is a work day for Adri tomorrow and Stijnie is job hunting.
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