Engineering Mind Overload

Eventually I manage to get back to Venice by train after dumping my stuff in the hostel (walked up to the platform and happened to be the only train for the next 3 hours due to strike). So I come out of the train station, take 2 and let my mind loose.

One of the major areas of study in my engineering was 'Geotechnical Engineering', or as we commonly referred to it, 'dirt engineering'. Primary studying the earth, formation, history, stresss, bearing pressures etc so when you build a structure, it ground doesn't give way under it. Sydney is relatively boring as it is sandstone which is pretty strong so long as you don't hit a fault line, underground dyke etc.

Venice, being built on water (effectively), means the soil is saturated and a whole different kettle of fish come into play. It was amazing to walk around the place and have the mind racing with logistics. Even just the train station and yard ... just can't comprehend it. Each carriage is about 20-40 tonnes, locomotives 100-200 tonnes each, plus ballust, sleepers and so forth.

So the combination of piles, islands and so on is just mind blowing to think about. I started thinking more in terms of numbers and equations ... and I'll end the nerd part there. By the time I walked to the main square, a lot of hypothesis' 'd formulated were partially answered by a sign indicating the main square was infact settling and a couple of strategies being undertaken to combat this.

*end nerd transmission*