the right ladder for a drunken seaman.... Port of Paimpol, France
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Annals of transportation (6) .... tidal harbour
Due to the big tidal difference, ships lie in the mud at low tide
Ships with a keel would be damaged at low tide
A lock at the harbour entrance keeps the water back at low tide. 
It is only opened 2 1/2 half hours before high tide to let ships and water in and is closed again 2 1/2 hours after high tide
The port of Paimpol, Bretagne, France
The benefits of green energy (2)....
Like in many other places in Bretagne, the big tidal difference was used for water mills. A dam kept the water back at high tide, which then turned the wheel of the mill when the tide was low. This old principle is used for the gigantic tidal power plant in the mouth of the Rance near Saint Malo... gigantic but well hidden in a dam under a road
Monday, May 11, 2009
Dutch peculiarities
danger sign.... if the windmill is working, your car might be in trouble
ferry post
bird's nest on the back of an abandoned boat
wreck
to compensate for the greenhouse effect, the government planted a climate forest.... however, there were hardly any trees....
an alternative way of creating a hiker's restSunday, May 3, 2009
Annals of architecture .... the cubus houses, Rotterdam
The architect Piet Blom designed these three floor cubic buildings in 1984.
The living space is rather limited. The rooms concentrate around a narrow, almost vertical central staircase.
My daughters, however, liked it a lot and asked to buy the one on sale. 200.000 Euro seems a fair price for dutch standards. But how about the furniture, which has to be specially adapted to the walls?
There are two a little verandas shared with the neighbouring houses. However, there is a big problem... the doors easily fall shut
Drastic warnings are supposed to be necessary to prevent cut-off fingers
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/cubichouses/index.htm
Annals of transportation (5) .... streets of canals
"Binnendieze" Den Bosch
Like other dutch cities, Den Bosch had an extensive canal system, which enabled ships to come into the city and load and unload right behind the houses
However, since the city was not allowed to spread out and develop further, the townspeople were forced to built their houses on top of the canals. The result is a unique net of canals and tunnels
Thanks to the fare-sightedness of some people in the sixties, the canals were not dumped. Today the are a tourist attraction and can be toured by boats.... under bat nests and spider webs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
