Our River Boat Cruise continues to Kinderdijk, Netherlands

Casa Grande, Arizona

Those of you who read yesterday's blog are probably wondering where I ordered the Christmas dinner.  Now you might want to record this date in history as I actually cooked the prime rib, green beans with tomatoes, scalloped potatoes, rolls, broccoli salad, and deviled eggs.  I didn't even burn the rolls.  For dessert I made pumpkin rolls.  Everyone that knows me, knows I hate to cook but it was actually fun to cook for the Schoolcraft's and Morey's.

Okay, I promised I'd finally get down to blogging about last month's river boat cruise.  Our next stop was Kinderdijk, Netherlands after we sailed from Antwerp.  

Here's a few facts that were published in our daily news    After a massive flood in 1421, someone on the dyke saw a cradle floating in the floodwaters.  As it came closer, a cat was seen jumping side to side to keep the water out--inside with the cat was a baby sleeping soundly. This legend became the foundation for the English folktale, "The Cat and the Cradle,"  and gave the city its  name, which translate to "children's dyke."

     The iconic 19 windmills of Kinderdijk were a  
     rudimentary pumping system that helped to keep the  
     land behind the dykes dry, even though it is lower than 
     the water level of the      river.  These 19 windmills in one place make for the highest concentration of windmills in a single area in the world.

Shortly after breakfast our program director led us on a short walk to the windmills which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

These windmills are massive but very easy to hand turn them.

The interiors were furnished very nicely.

Our first glimpse of the wooden shoes.

You can see Jorn at the front door.  There is also a back door on the other side.  The families that live here seem to enjoy it.

Cooking was done in this little out house due to the fear of a fire.

All of the families had a vegetable garden.  You might wonder what the weather was like.  The forecast was a high of 55 and a low of 44. When you consider the latitude is about the same as St. John's, Newfoundland it wasn't bad.

After our tour of the windmill we walked over to a dock and took a small enclosed boat.

Our local guide told us how the people live and socialize.  The windmills are positioned a certain way to communicate with the others.  

After our boat ride we walked the short distance to the MS Rhapsody as she was sailing again at noon.  Lunch was at 12:30 instead of the usually 1 pm.

We docked in Willemstad at 2:15 and immediately got on the bus to depart for the Delta Works.

I wasn't exactly sure what the Delta Works were other than a flood control.

Once again we had a local guide to explain everything.  I might mention that the Delta Works stayed open longer for us.




Our itinerary explained the Delta Works this way:

Originally, Zeeland was a collection of islands--easy prey to the sea.  Inhabitants still remember the destructive tides that flooded the islands in 1953 and claimed the lives of 1,800 people.  Since then the gigantic Delta Works have prevented a recurrence.  Now the islands are connected and protected by a series of dams, dikes, and bridges.  This tour shows you several ingenious technical achievements designed over the past 65 years, giving you an impressive idea of how the Dutch have claimed, reclaimed, and protected their homeland from the threat of the sea.

By the time we returned to the ship it was dark, but what a welcome back we received.  Sergio, the musician was on the upper deck playing the saxophone.  The staff greeted us with hot wine and hot towels.  

We were just in time for the 6 pm cocktail hour with our nightly port talk at 6:45.  We were told about the next days adventure.  7 pm was dinner followed by dancing for some.  Bill and I were ready for bed.  It had been a wonderful busy day.  Next stop will be Nijmegen, I'll continue the blog tomorrow.

Turtle Safely.