Keeleys, Wright, & Forster Viking River Cruise: Danube, Main, and Rhine : Kinderdijk, Netherlands,

We left Cologne around mid-night and steamed into the night towards the Netherlands and our final port of call – Kinderdijk in south Holland. Walking the upper deck before 7:00 AM it was still dark and so VERY windy that the deck chairs were being blown about. Our program director, Violeta, gave a brief talk on Dutch cheeses and the Masters (Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc.). This was followed by a very nice talk about water management in the Netherlands. Their country is the size of Maine but with a population of 17 million. They have struggled with the encroaching sea for 2000 years and now 20% of the land is below sea level. As a result of their ongoing and ingenious water management practices they have become world leaders in building dikes, levees, polders, scoops, pumping stations, reservoirs, and windmills to move the water where they want.

We’re blessed with another sunny, blue sky day – maybe 65 degrees. We walked amongst 16 historic windmills that are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site designated in 1997. It has the largest concentration of original old windmills in Netherlands. They are still functioning – moving the water from the land to the sea. (They can move 16,000 gallons/hour and raise it 5’. Windmills built in succession can combine to raise it 15-20’.) They can operate in winds up to 150 K/H and have wooden breaks to stop the four blades when needed. All of the internal workings are made of wood and can last for 25-years before being so worn they need to be replaced. (There are two types of windmill – post [these rotate] and tower [just the top of the windmill rotates]). The pumping stations they built to supplement the windmills, using huge Archimedes screws, can move 95 gallons/minute.

Families lived inside these windmills which were built in the 1700"s. We went inside one of the windmills that was preserved with artifacts from family life inside the "mill". The "millers" had large families, 10-12 children was the average. They had to be self-supporting- they grew their own vegetables, fished, and kept some animals. A photo of a miller's family showed all the children had shaved heads. This was because lice infestations were common. On the ground floor of the windmill was the under wheel and to the right of it was a multifunctional room- bedroom, living room, and kitchen. The children slept together on the next floor in very short beds. The third floor was the "smoke attic" where they smoked their fish, which is why the walls were black. The 4th floor is where most of the mechanism of the windmill resides. Seeing so many windmills in one place and learning about the ingenuity of the Dutch people made for a very interesting day.

Back to the ship for a final dinner and packing before heading to Amsterdam to depart for the U.S.