All Things Holland

How would you build a bridge across a 17th century moat that wouldn't take away from the moat's original purpose aesthetically? Why, build a bridge 'in' the moat of course. Click this for Pictures and details RO & AD Architects of the Netherlands recently designed a bridge that 'parts' the waters of a moat surrounding a 17th century Dutch fort. Yes, like Moses from the bible, this bridge appears to split the waters in half allowing you to walk 'through' the waters as the water line is level with the top edge of the walkway. A series of Moats and Fortresses was built over the West Brabant Water Line region of the Netherlands during the 17th century to provide protection from Spain and France. The particular fort Fort de Roovere was too deep to wade across but too shallow to boat. Until now! The bridge begins lying flush with the ground then defends into the slope using treated wood to prevent rot. I looked up Fort de Roovere on the map an it's in

Read this . 2 reasons why I clicked on this link and thought about posting it. 1) I follow sports closely and 2) Rotterdam was one of the places I wanted to visit some day. In case you don't have time to read the above article, allow me to summarize. Greg Halman is an outfielder for the Seattle Mariners. This is just further proof that there are more Dutch influences and people around the USA that you would never think. But the story goes; Greg Halman was stabbed to death in Rotterdam early Monday morning. There aren't many details but it seems that Halman's younger brother has been arrested and questioned by police. Greg Halman was playing baseball and running clinics in his native country during the offseason. Here is the official Associated Press Release: Rotterdam Police spokeswoman Patricia Wessels says police were called to a home in the Dutch port city early Monday morning and found Halman bleeding from a stab wound. The officers attempted unsuccessfully to resuscita

Since my last post was very very long (and maybe boring) I decided to shorten it up a bit today. Yes, you read that correctly. Thursday November 17 is Dutch Heritage Day! Countless cities and websites will be having special ceremonies today. How will you celebrate? Personally, I'll just wear Orange. I would list all of the different sites but there are too many. Type in Dutch Heritage Day 2011 and you'll see what I mean. From Delaware to Ohio. Something is going Orange somewhere.

This morning I was linked to a page about a crazy guy dangling himself from the Tappan Zee bridge. You can find more of his story here . Here is my summary; around 10:40 am, Michael Davitt, 54, of West Haverstraw, NY staged a protest on the bridge. Davitt drove his van onto the center of the bridge and lowered himself off the bridge using a rope ladder. Davitt had a sign, which said "Rockland Executive Legislative Cover up Retaliation" along with food, hanging at the midpoint between the bridge and the Hudson River. This protest was in response to his wrongful firing when he worked for the county in 2008. Davitt "was separated from the County service in 2008 because he was no longer able to perform his essential job functions as a Substance Abuse Counselor 1" as stated by the Rockland County Executive's Office. Davitt was employed from 1991 to 2008 by the Department of Mental Health in Ponoma. As a result of the protest, traffic came to a slow to a standstill. T

Who's up for some Dutch hiphop? Here you go. The song title is "Tijdmachine" which means, believe it or not, Timemachine. Similar,no? Dio is talking about how he wishes he could change things that he had done in his relationship. The featured Sef does not always harmonize with Dio but Dio gives this song such a strong forward force that feels like a wave carrying you along with the song. But enough with that, It is very exciting to find some real Dutch music and I hope to start posting some more. PS. By the way if the girl in the music video looks familar, she is from the music video "Animale" by one of my favorites Dragonette. Where she similarly breaksup a relationship...hummm.

Time for a post that actually tries to teach something. It's has been pointed out to me that I need to at least attempt to put Dutch words on here. Especially conjugating verbs, everyone's favorite part of learning other languages. I figured that I will start with the most used verb. To Be. In Dutch. To Be is Zijn. (Zijn sounds like zane almost, type it into Google translate) Starting easy today with Present tense. I ik ben you u bent he hij is (hij sounds like hey) we we zijn you jullie zijn (jullie almost sounds like Jolie) they ze zijn (ze=zey) Some of those words look familiar right? So I believe reading down the Dutch side it goes. I am, You are, He is, We are, You are, and They are. I recognize u, and we and is.... Side note. I've started working on my novel that I've put off many a time. It applies here because I am focusing on the main character's (my) family heritage. website here . Also, I've probably said it before but for a real Dutch bl

As you might have noticed on the last post, one noticeable fact about the netherlands is that the people there are very tall. I have started researching why this is the case. To begin, Dutch people have "tall" written in their genetics. 2000 years ago Dutchmen averaged 5'9", quite tall for that time. This fact was recorded beacause Roman officals used these "Dutch giants" as bodyguards. So, obviously if tall people have children those children will be taller than their parents. But, what else could make Dutch people so tall...? First theory, When the median between the rich and the poor is narrow, care pre and post natal is much better, resulting in better nutrition. As an American this is very interesting because 25 years ago the average American was 3 inches taller than the average Dutchman, although this is not the case anymore. Actually the average height of Americans has not increased at all. The Dutch theory As the Dutch would have it, it is the