This day we saw the 19 windmills of Kinderdijk. It was quite a site. We went to visit one on an old barge. It was a rainy day and a bit cold. This was the only precipitation we had on the trip. We visited a windmill which was built in the first half of the 17th century. We got a tour of the windmill.
The windmills actually were used to keep the water level study. Our guide actually live by the windmills in a small hut. They aren’t used very much anymore. A miller (windmill keeper) had to live 24 hours a day by the windmill. They used to live in the bottom of the windmill. The main reason they had to live there 24 hours was the miller had to move the windmill around to the best direction so the wind would blow the blades around. He explained and showed us how to move the windmill around. It was a neat engineering feat.
There was a gift shop on the way back to the ship. My wife bought a few things. I was looking for chocolate for friends but was waiting until we got to Germany, so didn’t buy anything.
We were back on the ship in time for lunch. For lunch the ship offered a couple of in country meals, or you could get “comfort” food like a hamburger or hot dog. They found out some American’s missed hamburgers for a few days. I never went for the comfort foot. I had a cup of soup and a more European meal. The soup was great on a windy day and all the lunches were great throughout the cruise. Also, lunch offered dessert and I never passed up a dessert.
In the afternoon, we walked up on the upper deck for a while. We also read in bed and took a nap, which worked well after the rainy morning. In the evening we went to the show after dinner. They had a local singer with a piano. A lot of oldies songs. It was enjoyable.
