The Delta Works

Our road trip continued, as we made our way through Rotterdam and down to Belgium.  We did not get out of the car, but were able to get a small taste of the impressive city simply by driving through.  With the amount of time we had, along with the variety of city visits we were already making, we decided to cross this one off the list.   

We made our way down to Belgium with a few stops in between.  Our first stop was to the Maeslant Barrier, which is part of the massive Delta Works Project.  The construction of the Delta Works was in response to the widespread damage and loss of life due to the North Sea Flood of 1953.  We took advantage of a free museum at the Maeslant Barrier, which gave us an excellent explanation of the history, engineering and importance of these water barriers. 

This is an aerial view of the Maeslant Barrier - actually it's a picture of a picture in the museum.  Smart, right? :) To give some perspective, if you were to take both of these "arms" and stand them on top of each other, they would be the same height as the Eiffel Tower.  It's a pretty impressive structure.  To read more about it, click here.

Mom and Dad, racing to the top of a giant hill, located just outside the museum.  Those crazy kids!

It was incredibly windy on the top of the hill, which makes it all the more exciting to be thrown into the air!

Windy - and you can see why...the black clouds behind us are a tell-tale sign of what was to come.

What better time to do bubbles than on top of a windy hill?

I love this picture.  So much glee and unbridled joy!  Did I mention that it was windy?

We left the Maeslant Barrier and found lunch not too far away, at a wonderful cafe, which was clearly a local favorite.  It also provided some extra playtime for Grandpa and Geoffrey.

Somethings coming...

So sweet together.

Our last stop before Belgium, was on the Neeltje Jans.  This is an artificial island that was constructed to facilitate the construction of the Oosterscheldedam.  It is the largest of the 13 ambitious Delta Works series of dams and storm surge barriers, designed to protect the Netherlands from flooding from the North Sea.  Amazing!

Pretty dramatic sky, as we began our journey over the massive barrier.

Yet again, another impressive structure we visited on our road trip.  There are some pretty significant and amazing cities and places in this country!