When I think of places across the globe where I might encounter a cool bridge or two, the last place I would think to look would be in the Caribbean.  But imagine my surprise to learn that the oldest extant floating bridge in the world is indeed located in the Caribbean.  Imagine my further surprise to learn that there are not one, not two but three floating bridges in the southern Caribbean, including two of the ten longest in the world! That’s right, I’m off again in search of more cool bridges to write about.  And in this edition of TheBridgeGuy, I will be highlighting the Queen Emma Bridge, located on the island nation of Curaçao. Curaçao is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and it has been an almost entirely Dutch possession since it was invaded and taken from the Spanish in 1634.  The Dutch West India Company established a trading port on the island, which quickly grew to be dominant in the Caribbean. In 1954, Curaçao and other Dutch Caribbean colonies were combined to form the Netherlands Antilles.  The other colonies included Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten.  As the years went on, the Dutch government introduced reforms that devolved certain political and economic issues to local control.  On October 10, 2010, the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and Curaçao became its own country within the kingdom, with the Kingdom retaining responsibility for defense, foreign policy and financial concerns. The island’s long association with the Dutch is readily apparent when visiting.  Dutch is one of the official languages and is widely spoken and understood.  Most streets have Dutch names and there are many Dutch neighborhoods on the island.  Even Willemstad looks decidedly Dutch, with its colorful and distinctive row houses reminiscent of Amsterdam.  Even the bridges have a distinctive Dutch style to them. Punda waterfront is home to waterfront cafes and live music on weekends. When the Dutch West India C