Ijmuiden was our first City to visit this morning to learn about their new loch to replace the 1876 loch. The Largest loch Gateway to Amsterdam. We were told that 7000 ships enter the lochs per year. There was also a brief tour of the loch and a presentation regarding the tide lochs the building of these large loch gates; the efforts to continue to sustain their environment and the continuing improvements to their Desalinization which should be completed next year to continue pushing the ocean water back out of the lock and back to the North Sea to protect the fresh water used for agriculture.
We met up with Hans Riji, City clerk of Bodegraven–Reeuwijk, whose family had owned the land where we were standing at Floriculture in Hermskerk. Floriculture is propagator and breeder of tropical plants.
While we learned about the propagation, breeding, expectations of quality and the complexity to the flora operations in Amsterdam, we got a sneak peek at future orchid species and those you currently see in the market. Marc Eijsackers, manager of marketing and communications of Floriculture, explained the entire process and extremely long length of time to produce a new species.
From here we made are way to Zaanse Schans, a neighborhood near Amsterdam. Did I mention that today the wind was blowing? It was a good thing, because we were able to see some historic Windmills in full action! The group had an opportunity to walk around and eat an authentic Dutch lunch at the De Kraai restaurant. The service from these young people was impeccable! There was a quick visit to the museum and clog workshop where they demonstrated making Wooden Clogs.
After our tasty meal, we headed to Bodegraven–Reeuwij where they rolled out the red carpet, to meet up once again with Hans, the Mayor, City Manager, and Deputy Mayor to go over elements of Dutch government, how the Major is appointed by the King in a very super secret process, and the demographics and current events and issues the municipality is addressing.
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