Paris! ... What is the first thing that just crossed your mind? I bet 5€ it wasn't kayaking. Well, I visited Paris last weekend with no intention of spending time on the water, and yet I somehow found myself floating in a rowboat in the Grand Canal in front of the Palace of Versailles. 

Last weekend, Elizabeth, Sander van den CargoBroek, and I rented a tiny car and road-tripped to visit UMich friend Nicolas in Paris. We spent Saturday and Sunday making epic 10 hour walks across the city, stopping at Nicolas' swim meet, the Electronic Circus, le Pain Quotidien, Montmartre, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, the Eiffel Tower, Le Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and many more, including a late night walk along the Seine.

On Monday, we left the city center to visit Versailles before heading back to the Netherlands (with a quick stop in Belgium for dinner)...

Every year, the Windhappers Kayak/Canoe Club celebrates the end of summer paddling season and the beginning of winter paddling with a short paddle and campfire in a nearby park. The Windhappers Kanovereniging (windchasers kayak/canoe club) is a paddling club based in Den Haag (the Hague) in the Netherlands. Every Wednesday evening, members gather at the swanky clubhouse to either (1) practice kayak polo, (2) go for an evening paddle, or (3) loiter around the bar. Elizabeth and I visited a few weeks ago and participated in item #3. I asked at least 5 people how the club works, and how an experienced member can join and use the equipment. They seemed baffled by the fact that:

1. we are young females - most of the club seems to be seniors and 14 year old boys,
2. we're interested in multiple types of kayaking - most members seems to strongly affiliate with one category (sea kayaking, touring, whitewater, or polo), 
3. I wanted to kayak now that it was "winter" (i.e. <70 degrees and not sunny every day), 
4. and the usual "why do you speak Dutch if you're American" response.  
   

Click below to read more about our first club impressions! 

My first impression of tidal flats in the Oosterschelde (Eastern Scheldt), a major river in South Holland, was the ease with which you could walk across them. In San Francisco Bay, where the tidal flats are muddy (rather than sandy), each step sank deep into the mud. The crossing to the oyster restoration site for monthly monitoring was always an exhausting adventure. Tuesday's visit to the tidal flats of the Oosterschelde brought back fond memories of tromping through the mud in California.

Once a year, Rijkswaterstaat does a test closing of the Maeslantkering, a massive storm surge barrier on the waterway that connects Rotterdam to the ocean (the Nieuwe Waterweg/the Scheur). Check out the structure in Google Maps. Rijkswaterstaat is the government agency that oversees flood protection in the Netherlands by building and maintaining the complex and highly managed system of rivers, lakes, coastlines, pumps, and flood protection structures. This is necessary because more than 25% of the country is below sea level (protected by dikes). This was one of the last projects within the 50-year Delta Works, a massive flood infrastructure project triggered by the devastating 1953 floods that killed almost 2000 people.

Last Wednesday was a day of all-things-Dutch. Again, no kayaking. But there is kayaking on the horizon, so stay tuned!

Bridget and I made a day trip to the Zandmotor - a massive beach nourishment project on the South Holland coastline. Very exciting for a coastal engineering nerd like me.

But if that's not exciting enough for you, we also recreated a famous painting: The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Maybe you've heard of it? :)