NL1

I’m back at the helm and have switched the robots off.  I’ve been in Netherlands (Nederland, in the language), which translates as “low lands.”  Where it’s low, you find water, of course, and where you have water, you’ll find boats and bridges.

You also find moats.  See the jagged blue rectangle in map below showing the center–the historical starting point–of the city of Leiden, a city of 122,000 midwayish between Rotterdam and Amsterdam.  All the photos in this post show one” block” of the Nieuwe Rijn (New Rhine), attached to the Oude (old) Rijn.   In fact, the Nieuwe Rijn (NR) is only a little over a mile channelized portion of the Oude Rijn, a 30-mile stretch of river no longer attached to the Rhine, the 750-mile river that everyone knows.  Think oxbow lakes along the Mississippi, only straight.

Imagine the blue rectangle as a clock;  you locate this one-block area on the map below at around the 4:00 position of the moat, at the intersection of the NR and the Herrengracht, a main vertical canal you can see there.

At this intersection there’s this old fuel barge.

I don’t know if it still functions.

Here’s the real focus of this post, low airdraft tugs like Jason.  The wheelhouse roof and windows are hinged, as you can see in this short video where Jason tows a barge through one of these low bridges.

See the blue/white sign near the left center;  it reads “Herrengracht.”  I love the paint job on that Smart.

The blue tour boats are operated by a company called “bootjes en broodjes,” or small boats and rolls.

Eat. Drink. Tour.   Also, learn about Leiden.  Talk.  Duck!

And among low air draft tugs in this block of waterway, here’s the real focus, the tug on the waterside of the small covered barge is called Triton.

Notice the fuel barge and Jason?   In a lot of places in the waterways in Leiden, those smooth but curved top barges have seating on them as bars and restaurants.

Here’s Triton with a house to get out of the weather.  She’s 100 years old exactly, a mere youngster compared with the buildings surrounding the waterways.

Triton reminds me a lot of Augie and Heidi.

Now if the spelling “rijn” seemed familiar, think of this guy . . . a favorite son whom we all know by his first name, Rembrandt.

Many more Dutch photos to come;  remember this is just one block of waterway. All photos by Will Van Dorp.