From Delft to Den Haag (The Hague)

Five hours of interviews was the order of business on Wednesday. These were all held at the Netherlands delta research institute, Deltares. As usual, all these conversations were fascinating. For example, one researcher told me of a stakeholder engagement process he had worked on with farmers in the "dry" part of the Netherlands (didn't know there was a dry part? Me neither). These farmers had been fiercely independent but when they were hit with a multi-year drought, they found they needed to work together. When they did, they were able to create new approaches to water management that essentially enable them to "farm water" in order to take advantage of precipitation and ground water storage to plan their annual water usage. 

At this point, I've interviewed 11 people and new concepts continue to come up every time. Tomorrow I travel to the Deltares office in Utrecht, in the central part of the country, for more interviews and a presentation of my own work. 

And Wednesday night, Kyle and Jane left from Boston, and through Dublin.

While the boys and I packed up in Delft for our move to The Hague. When Kyle and Jane join us, we need a slightly larger place, and that's definitely what we've got! At about noon, Jane and Kyle met us at the new place - a 3 (depending on how you count it, maybe even 4?) story loft. 

And these are stories that are reached by  multiple sets of stairs that are more accurately called ladders....

So we will all get in some extra aerobics while we are here. But before burning anymore calories, we had our first dinner in the new place

And then toured the neighborhood, starting first with our street, Maliestraat,

To the canal on the corner 

And on to the grounds of Parliament.

Next we're looking forward to introducing Kyle and Jane to Katja and her family!

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

Interviews and Enter-Zoos

By 17:30 (5:30) on Thursday afternoon, I would have gone straight to bed, if I could have. I held three interviews, with three different people, in three different locations. And by the time I had biked (in the rain) or trained, and then questioned, noted, and recorded for each of them, I was pretty fried. 

Fascinating stuff though - I continued my conversation with the Rotterdam city planner about a process of working with residents of the Noorder Eiland in the port area. This island is not protected by a primary dike, and at high risk for flooding, but most residents are totally unaware of this fact, so the city works with the residents to plan adaptive strategies to address their situation.

I also spoke with a researcher at Deltares, the country's delta management research institute. He has worked on a long-term international process between the Netherlands and Flanders (north of Belgium) to plan for flood management in the Schleldt estuary they separates the two countries. This map shows the plethora of dike systems that protect the area. 

So after a relatively early bedtime (it doesn't get dark until 11pm, so anytime earlier than that seems childishly early), I got up early to get back to work before heading out for another trip day. 

The hard working Dutch rain took a coffee break for a while today and Katja and the three boys and I headed to the Rotterdam Zoo (Diergaarde Blijdorp). 

Rotterdam is a modern city by European standards, and this is due to the macabre fact that the city was essentially destroyed in WWII, so most all historical landmarks were obliterated from the city's landscape. So a new city was built. 

And as locals describe it, a new city is essentially rebuilt every 20 years or so as the place re-establishes its identity. Its brand though is that of PORT- until 2002 it was the world's largest port, and still today it is Europe's busiest port. 

But we came for the zoo, which also has an internationally infamous reputation as the zoo where about 10 years ago a gorilla jumped his fence and mamed a woman who smiled at him.... On that cheery note-

We had a fabulous visit to the Amazon,

And hob-nobbing with alligators.

After a lunch of Dutch poffertjes (tiny, pancakes smothered in butter and sugar),

We traveled to the bottom of the sea,

And back to the bright lights, big city.

Tonight the boys have a sleep over a Katja and Peter's to join their kids at school tomorrow. And I will make a presentation at the Deltares Research Institute about my own work. 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Zaterdag en Zondag

Our second weekend in the Netherlands already... Time is flying by as it is known to do, but we are taking advantage of every second. 

On Zaterdag (Saturday), Caleb had a chance to join Balder (Katja's son) on a Boy Scout trip. Caleb was introduced as "spreekt geen Nederlands" (does not speak Dutch) but by the time we leave, I hope we could all be introduced at least as "spreken Nederlands een klien bitje" (speak Dutch a little bit). 

The Scouts biked to a waterway where they traveled on a Scout-built raft, and as incredible as it might seem, it sounds like most of the time was spent trying to push each other off- who knew?

Then it was on to the birthday party for the 15 year old daughter of Katja's dear friend Giesla in the ancient city of Dordrecht. Lucky for Ben there was a trampoline at the party, since it is on his own birthday list. And then we were taken on a guided tour of the city by the history buffs of the party crew.

And today, Zondag, we planned to have Katja and her family over to our place for dinner, so I did my first Dutch bicycle grocery shopping (the only causality being a broken baguette).

Today was also festival day in Delft square." Mooi Weer Spelen" (Good Weather Games) festival included three days of street performers in the square.

My favorite part being the chance to try all sorts of circus tricks including walking on a ball, which Peter knows and introduced Ben.

And balancing on a board atop a cyclinder and riding unicycles

And futile attempts at juggling.

Then the tired side show crew settled down for "avondeten van wurst en kooken" (dinner of sausage and cookies).

But Mondag will be another busy one with a morning interview in Rotterdam and two others in Delft. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Typical Dutch

So we've been in the Nerherlands for over a week now and maybe you are thinking "but what about the windmills? We haven't seen a single picture of the boys with a windmill yet!" And you would be right, so today I rectify that grave error. 

And in actuality, as soon as we stepped out of the Delft train station a week ago, we looked to the left and there it was - a windmill so large it almost eclipses the sun. But somehow, (maybe it was the distraction of all those ancient churches) we hadn't visited Delftse Molen until today. 

And if you've ever visited the Nerherlands, you are familiar with the ubiquitous bicycle that comes in dozens of varieties for hauling everything from whole groups of toddlers to household furniture.  But it was only yesterday that Caleb and I managed to get around to renting bikes (Ben is having none of it since this seems to be a helmet-free zone). And to be fair, riding here does take some getting used to. About half the bikes you see on the streets (including our rentals) are gearless and have foot brakes. Since in the US foot brakes are limited to kids' bikes, that basically means you have to learn to ride a bike again or to think of it another way, riding a bike isn't really like riding a bike.... But after a few minor mishaps, we racked up some miles today.

Oh, and to make sure you don't read an entire blog post that doesn't mention a visit to a church - here's the daily dose. 

This is inside De Oude Kerk- remember? The one with the leaning tower? Or as we learned on our touristy canal tour, it is more accurately "banana shaped" since the builders tried to correct for the  appearance of crookedness as the building process progressed.

And have I mentioned that Delft is the hometown of painter Johannes Vermeer, the Dutch Master of Light? One of his most famous works, The Little Street, https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/vermeers-the-little-street-discovered has come back home to Delft this summer, so we took a look at the painting (and spot where they think it was painted) displayed at the Museum Het Prinsehof, with its amazing medieval tower.

I know what you're thinking- life is tough when you are on sabbatical. 
 

 
 
 

Touring Tourists

No new interviews on the docket today, giving me a chance to process the notes and audio from the first four. But we woke to see a strange and unfamiliar brightness - a yellow orb suspended in a cosmic blue....

Since we arrived almost one week ago, pretty much it's been raining, or pouring, or looking like it's going to be raining or pouring. Not that we came here to work on our tans, but really. But today we awoke to sun and a temp at 10:30 am of 70 degrees F. So we reshuffled the docket for the day and set out to be full-fledged tourists.

In the canal cities the Netherlands, the iconic tourist activity is the canal boat ride. So away we floated.

Among the other stunningly ancient monuments we gaped at was the Oude Kerk- and when the Dutch use the word "old", sit up and pay attention. The church that stands on the site today (where even earlier churches had stood) dates to the 11th century, and has a tower that was leaning even as it was still being built.

The boat tour led to the walking tour (the one were gawking tourists stand in the middle of bike lanes and are nearly mowed down by gearless, fender bikes). More churches on this tour- now the Nieuwe Kerk which would hardly be worth looking at since it's only 14th century, but it happens to be the burial ground of the Dutch royal family. 

The Nieuwe Kerk is in the market square which is over- run with tourist traps. So in keeping with the theme of the day, we picked up a pair of klompen for Ben.

 

 As Kyle commented, not sure how we will get this in the overhead bin during the flight home, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

But tourist hours were counting down and we headed back home so that I could get some work done in my office.

Life and times in the Netherlands- awesome! 
 

 
 
 
 

Work days

Since we left Maine one week ago, the boys and I have traveled and toured and visited, then visited some more. But in fact, it is work that had brought us here.

Every seven years I have the amazing benefit of a sabbatical from my work with Maine Sea Grant at UMaine. This sabbatical is a six month opportunity to focus on a project that I've designed. This time it's  research on the topic of how to engage people in planning for the impacts of flooding - and the Dutch know a thing or two about planning for flooding.

So my work here focuses on interviews with Dutch colleagues who have experience in this field. They are academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners at the Technical University of Delft, University of Twente, Deltates research institute, the Water Boards, the Delta Program, and others. 

The interviews are opportunities for them to tell me their experiences and stories. My hope is that I can bring back home some of the lessons learned by the Dutch to help people in the coastal communities of Maine get ready for the flooding that is anticipated as the sea level rises in connection with climate change. 

In the last two days I've had four interviews. Two of these were held with Bauke Kothuis and Trudes Heemes, Post Docs at TU Delft. Trudes and I met at the TU library- with a grass roof, conical stairway, and many hundreds of parked bicycles.

Peter van Veelen is a member of the Faculty of Architecture and previously a planner for the city of Rotterdam (which has an area of the city that is not protected by a primary dike - one of the only such places in the country).

Trudes and Bauke have studied Dutch perceptions of how to deal with flooding and shared with me the Dutch "myth of dry feet". This is their way of describing the multi-generational belief the Dutch have held that the government will always protect them from flooding, so that individuals need not worry or take responsibility. Obviously this notion is something of a liability when in the last dozen years the government has been trying to raise awareness of flood risk and to encourage the public to take action. For me, it's fascinating stuff....

And while I'm interviewing, the boys continue to travel, tour and visit. Today Katja took the boys to what she referred to as a "tower thingy" - a mansion built in the 1600s on a canal near The Hague. Another first for the boys - and thanks again to Katja!

 

First Weekend

Saturday is market day in Delft so our morning was spent in the old city center. First we poked around the "old stuff" market, as our land lady called it. The canal streets were lined with endless rows of tents, the most featured item being antique Delft pottery. And we're talking antique by European standards here, so little trinkets like hand painted tile dating from 1630...

Then we moved along to the produce and flower market were garden zucchini, cucumber, 4 red peppers, 5 apricots, a melon, a bunch of carrots and a huge bouquet of flowers came to a grand total of about $11.

After our market morning, we jumped on the inter-city train and then the metro to travel to Berkel en Rodenrijs for the "Welcome Home" party Katja had planned to introduce us to all her local friends with kids about Caleb And Ben's ages. The kids quickly found they could communicate brilliantly through the universal languages of card games, Nerf and YouTube and the adults discovered we share universal challenges in child rearing during this age of inter-connected devices. We had a wonderful time and I want to thank Katja and Peter again!

Today the families shared time again, but this time at our place in Delft. After a ruckus game of Trouble and lunch,

We toured the 'hood

And Monday my interviews begin that are part of the research I'm doing that initiated our trip to NL. So to wrap up the day, I explored the Technical University of Delft campus where I will head tomorrow.

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

First times in NL- Delft

When the sun doesn't set until 10:30 pm, any natural inclination to sleep is squashed. It's night two in Delft and I'd finally remembered to get Ben into bed, but he just keeps wandering back out. And he should be tired because he's been busy- we all have.

Traveling from Düsseldorf to Delft yesterday involved 3 trains- the first a high speed international rail, and each one after that was smaller and slower.

The trip was beautiful - gorgeous stretches of FLAT farmland, punctuated by the occasional windmill and more than the occasional cow or sheep. But did I mention that it's Flat; and geez, you wouldn't believe how flat....

Upon arriving in Delft, my plan was to use google maps on my phone to walk us from the train station to our next Airbnb apartment. But it turns out that Verizon's international service is not quite  what I'd hoped. So since we've arrived I've had no access to data, without which google maps doesn't really work so well. But with steady help from Delft locals (all of whom will say they "speak English a little" when you ask them, but sound to me to be completely fluent), we found the place. More on the idyllic neighborhood when I've had a chance to take pix, but for now I'll just say that I'm not sure we could have found a place more iconically Dutch. 

But we hadn't been in the place much more than an hour when my host sister Katja picked us up for dinner with her family. Since December Katja, and my host parents (Anke and Dick) and I have had loads of email, texts, and FaceTime, but this was the first time we'd seen each other in 32 years. Katja and I were 15 and 18 then and now we are middle aged women with families of our own. And this was the grand opportunity for those families to meet. Katja and her husband Peter fixed a feast of Dutch favorites and we had a union/reunion that I won't forget.

I was stunned to discover that day two didn't begin for me until 10:00 am- I never just sleep that late- or almost never is more accurate now, I guess... And Caleb beat me even at 11:30. So the day was off to a slow start, made slower by more Internet technology issues. But I did manage to make the boys their first Dutch hagelslag breakfast. 

If you don't know about hagelslag, I feel for you. Somehow the Dutch have managed to bring the art of chocolate making to such a mythical level, that they've been able to rationalize how to make deep, dark chocolate sprinkles piled thick over buttered bread (but today we had no butter so filled in with Nutella) into a staple breakfast food. Who's to agrue with the masters?

But beyond hagelslag, we had almost no other food in the house, so our sole mission for the day was to find food. Since Google maps is on the "Fritz" for me right now, and paper maps are hard to come by since they are relics of the Precambrian era, finding food was another adventure. And yes, we did walk around for a couple of hours grocery hunting, but at the same time we took our first travels though Oude (Old) Delft. It's so remarkable I won't even start in describing it right now- that will call for a post of its own.

But our mission was accomplished and we did find food- among them such a variety of meats and cheeses that we were baffled. And of course we couldn't read the names in most of the labels, so we blindly chose anything that looked intriguing (or at least I did- the boys were somewhat more cautious). And dinner was had by all. 

 

 

Arrived!

Eighteen hours from start to finish and we arrived in Düsseldorf! The five hour lay over in Newark makes that trip sound more dramatic than it really was (not that the boys were thrilled with the extended NJ visit). But the flight was on Lufthansa with plenty of plushy extras like streaming hot towels to wash up before dinner. And by some stroke of luck, boarding was called backwards so our inauspicious 51st row seats ended up being in the first boarding group so we were they 3rd, 4th and 5th people on the plane (aka copious amounts of overhead bin storage available). 

  And maybe it was due to fortifying the boys with Dramamine and maybe it wasn't, but the flight was uneventful in that respect. Most people probably wouldn't conjure up their best night's sleep as during a plane trip either, but in fact we all did sleep, at least some. So in the end, the trip was an extremely good one.

Phase two of our travels involved getting to our lodging. I figured the boys would be too wiped out to make the trip from Düsseldorf to Deflt NL straight away, so tonight we have reservations with Peter through the Airbnb. I can't express how completely Airbnb has changed my travel life, but know that it has. Peter's place is a good example- the 3 of us are staying the night in his cute 1 bedroom apartment, with private bath and kitchenette stocked with food, AND he picked us up at the airport and will drop us at the train station in the morning, all for about the price of a cab ride from the airport to a city hotel. That's Airbnb - try it. 

And yes, the boys WERE wiped out. We were hardly in the door at Peter's place before the boys were snoring away in their beds. It's probably easier to wake a hibernating ground hog, but I did manage to get them up to take advantage of our day in Germany with a visit to the old city of Düsseldorf. Thanks to the courtesy of subway personnel, we managed to buy tram tickets into the city. We wandered through the narrow, careless streets and the open air market in the walking district.  And then down to the harbor and into the cobble stoned old city square after sampling sausage from street vendors. 

 
 Now it's 10:45 (or 22:45 by the digital clock in the bedroom ) and the sun has just truly gone down and the sky is darkened - ending our first day.