Monday, March 10, 2008

19th Century Bridges

As I threaded my way through the traffic this morning I wondered what on earth could cause such a city-wide snarl. As I sat alone in my empty classroom waiting for somebody, anybody, to show up, I wondered where everybody was.

It was only later that I heard how a large section of a major street was blocked off.....right in front of the main train station, where all the buses and cars loop through. Apparently construction crews had unearthed a 19th century bridge that ran underneath the street. Due to archaeological significance, the entire bridge must be excavated and put in a museum. (How big IS this thing??) Then the area where the bridge was, and the dead space it spanned, must be filled. The efficient Germans plan to have this finished in 4 days.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to have a bike. All the bus lines are expected to have major delays and the traffic is a mess.

And today we have tulips. Red ones. Courtesy Stefan's trip to the outdoor markt on Saturday.

2 comments:

Andrew Jones said...

No offense to the efficient Germans...but if that is done in 4 days, I will be shocked. :) They are still working on the building in front of the museum and they said it would be completed and up-and-running in November '07. But I am a biased American.

Anonymous said...

...and how, might I ask, do you drag a historic bridge out of a hole, fill in the hole, and haul the bridge over to a museum, fit it through the door and get it all set up....in 4 days??? A tad optimistic, I would say....