Our neighbouring village

 

 I am hopelessly busy at work at the moment and have had no time to attend to my Vereeniging, which isn't a good feeling. Still, I like to keep my blog alive, so I thought I would say something about our neighbouring floating village in the Leuvehaven. 

This is the main part of the maritime museum in Rotterdam, and mostly the barges on display are empty exhibits of the country's inland waterways history. However, this is also where our friends Bruce and Jan have their beautiful Belgian spits (see last pic), along with several spitsen of a similar style. Spitsen are the Belgian and Dutch versions of the standard French peniche which determined the size of the Freynicet locks and canals in France.

The Levenhaven harbour itself is always lively, even if it is a museum, as the water taxis zoom in and out like demented flies, and commercial barges often find a place here to stop over and rest awhile. With its old style cranes and historic tug boats, it is always a pleasure to walk around the perimeter and watch the activity that goes on here. It is a major tourist attraction in the city, but my favourite time to follow my harbour 'circuit' is early in the morning when everything is waking up. Then the harbour has its own dynamic and you can almost feel the flavour of the days gone by when these were the real docks of Rotterdam, full of shipping from all over Europe. All photos courtesy of my sister and brother in law, Chris and Toots Bland