Ahh...yes the canals...
For those of you who did not see Ted's comment it was this..."I have to say, I am surprised that there was not one picture or mention of either the canals in Gouda or the dike we drove along that boarders the Lek, or the canals in Goudrrian. Sharon must have wanted to maintain happy thoughts through out the Dutch vacation posts and omitted all of them. The question would be was it a conscious or unconscious decision? Maybe we didn't really get any good pictures of the streets in the countryside towns... they sure made for an interesting, not so leisurely drive. "
I find it funny that he even brings this up because I almost threw him into one of these canals.
There are no pictures and I did not mention it because it was the WORST part of our trip. The area we stayed in gets so much rain that all the little towns have canals. These little towns were built when horses were the main source of transportation.
Well, in Goudrrian the road runs right next to the canal...if I were to have opened my door I would step into the canal. Ted decides that this is the day that he is going to practice his mad driving skills and rips through the streets doing double the speed limit. As I mentioned, these roads are built for horses, so what happens when an oncoming car approaches? Sharon freaks! All I can imagine is us flying into the canal and not having one of those punch things that breaks the glass underwater...
The dyke story is one that divorces are made of...First off the most of the dyke is under construction so the road that is built on top of the dyke is jacked up for like 95% of the drive. The Lek River is about 100 feet below my car door. Once again, if I stepped out I would fall to the river below. The road is not a straight road...it curves all over the place...and Ted thinks it is more fun to watch the scenery than the road...I hated that "relaxing, country drive".
Thankfully in Amsterdam we did not have to drive anywhere near the scary canals. Most the canals on the major roads have big barriers. However, in the city the people parallel park their cars along the canals. One slip of the foot and your car is sleeping with the fishes. Amsterdam Fire even has a special unit trained in vehicle recovery. Although, there are some areas that have the little, tiny bars in place to stop a car from rolling into the canal. Interestingly, these bars are not funded by the city, but rather the insurance companies!
Side story...sort of... I asked the guy who gave us the farm tour how many cars go into the canals. I am thinking at least one a month. He says about one every ten years. WHAT? One every ten years! Apparently, when you grow up driving along the open canals you are more afraid of driving on the highways...who knew...oh and that guy who did drive into the canal...we was drunk...
posted by The Hansens not in Germany @ 7:20 AM
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