Dutch harbours

Volendam

As for postcards; here are a few i made in Volendam, notice the tiny canals in front of the houses; to small for boats, to wide to jump, so again; lots of little bridges.

The tiny house in front of the harbour on the last picture by the way, is a place build for old sailors where they meet to tell strong stories etc. Nice view over the harbour

Edam 01

Edam is quite another place, prosperity based on the round red cheeses, a connection to the Ijsselmeer by canal and locks and again loads of bridges.
No connection to this town without crossing one or more bridges.
A lot of historic ships here.
The kids on the last picture are standing on a very odd bridge, a bit like a roof, very steep and rare, only a few left in holland

Edam 02

More of this strange bridge and the canal to the Ijsselmeer.

Edam 03

One of the entry-exit bridges of Edam, and some pictures of the lock between Ijsselmeer and the canal.
The building on the right is a historic boathouse, they still use these by the way.

re delivery barge

Modern barges(so not only tugs) in the Netherlands are equiped with a cylinder to raise the wheelhouse.
An example here.

The real pushboats-tugs (sorry, don't know the english term) are shown in the second picture.
About two each hour pass Dordrecht with 4, 6 or even 9 units to push.
The last pictures show a combination of 4 units pushed by a Waalhaven unit (3 x 1800 hp).
Impossible to catch on one picture, so imagine 9 units...