03-31-2023 Visiting the Windmills at Kinderdijk

We were awakened sometime in the middle of the night by strange noises.  There was clanking, the sound of running water, and the normal sounds of the river outside our stateroom suddenly deafened by something entirely different. I climbed out of bed to try to figure out what was happening and was greeted by this view.

We had entered our first lock of many along our route for the next week.  I have been through the Panama Canal and marveled at the engineering feat of the great locks that allow ships to travel from one ocean to another.  However, the river locks are entirely different and are surprising with their ability to move river boats and barges through the changes in elevation as the Rhine travels from the high mountains of Basel in Switzerland to the lowlands of Amsterdam.

I attempted to track our progress on Google Maps, but without a decent signal, it was impossible to know exactly where we were located.  Paper maps provided by Viking on our Viking Daily were of no use whatsoever, and I spent a great deal of time being incredibly frustrated about where we were.  I somehow didn't understand the relationship between the actual city of Amsterdam, the port area, and the waterways we would travel before we were actually on the Rhine.  

Later, while in port when I had a better internet connection, I still had a bit of difficulty figuring out exactly how we had arrived near Kinderdijk from our port near Amsterdam.  Kinderdijk is closer to Rotterdam than to Amsterdam. In the darkness, I watched for signs and mileage markers and eventually figured out that we were on a canal somewhere in the vast flat lands of the Netherlands.  Even after traveling these waterways and understanding how to read maps, I can barely figure out how we got from A to B.  It was frustrating and also fascinating to me, especially since the maps of Europe show how much differently these old cities developed compared to our newer cities in the US. What was even more confusing is that as approached what I thought was the Rhine, we weren't actually anywhere near the Rhine and were on a waterway called De Lec.  Eventually, the Waal would turn into the great, historic, and amazing river we know as the River Rhine.

Watching our riverboat passing through these first locks was thrilling, even in the middle of the night, and as tired as we were, it was hard to go back to sleep. By early morning as our river ship settled in near Rotterdam, it was clear that we were in for a very cloudy, rainy, and windy day.

Deb and I were excited about our first full day of explorations and weren't deterred in the least by the weather.  We were prepared with raincoats, warm coats and scarves, and good umbrellas.  We chose to bring our own after reading about the very large and somewhat unwieldy umbrellas that are provided by Viking.

We chose to have breakfast in the main dining room, with fresh pastries, good coffee, plenty of breakfast egg dishes to choose from, and an open seating space with tables set for ten or twelve people.  We sat alone that first morning, but throughout the cruise, our seating mates at breakfast shifted a bit as we got to know more people that were on the cruise.

The ship stopped for a short time near Rotterdam where some guests disembarked for an early-day excursion in Rotterdam.  We continued for a few more miles of slow sailing before we docked in Kinderdijk.  By this time I had a slight idea of where we were on the landscape, but even with google maps working and the little blue dot telling me where we were, it was difficult to pinpoint where we had come from.  To this day I actually have no concrete idea as to how we traversed The Netherlands.

The UNESCO World Heritag Site Visitor Center at Kinderdijk, Netherlands

Our excursion for the day was a two-hour trip titled: "Kinderdijk by Vintage Barge".  Deb chose this excursion thinking it would be easier for me to get around and enjoy the sights without having to worry about my walker.  It was a perfect choice.

The Netherlands is famous for its windmills, with none so fascinating as those you can explore from the village of Kinderdijk, in the province of South Holland.  The Windmills of Kinderdijk are used to pump water from the wetlands using internal or external scoops into reservoirs on two levels.  At one time, there were more than 150 windmills, and today they total just 28, of which 19 are in the Kinderdijk area.

The low-lying areas called "polders" are reclaimed from the sea by the power of these windmills and enclosed by embankments, or dikes.  This legendary place calls to mind the 1865 novel Hans Brinker, in which a heroic boy plugs his finger into a ruptured dike.

We departed for our tour at ten, with a short ride to the Unesco World Heritage site visitor center and gift shop where we walked across some small bridges toward our waiting barge.  Along the way we saw a sculpture called the Cat's Cradle, referring to a legend surrounding St. Elizabeth's Flood of 1421, which took many lives.  After the storm, a local boy went to inspect the damage at a dike that separated one ward from another.  He was surprised to see a cat jumping back and forth on a rocking wooden cradle to keep it from tipping over into the water.  Inside was a sleeping baby girl, safe and dry.  There are other versions of the tale, but most of them are about a cat that somehow saved a child from flood waters and starvation.

By the time we got to the boat, it was raining hard and the wind was increasing dramatically.  The barge ride was perfect for us, and I delighted in watching some of our cruise friends riding along the bike path in the rain as we stayed warm and dry.

Visiting the windmills was fascinating, and we both learned more than we ever knew about the history of this part of the world.  The artistry and function of the windmills is incredible.  The bike and walking tours visited the more recently built windmills that looked somewhat like I expected a windmill to look.  Our barge took us to the oldest windmill in the area, which was completely different.

Our Cruise Director Nancy visiting with the miller at the Blokker Windmill

Our tour took us to the Blokker Windmill, built in a completely different manner than the other 18 windmills in Kinderdijk.

The miller at the Blokker windmill explaining how the braking system and sails work

The oldest of the Kinderdijk windmills, the Blokker is believed to date back to 1521, though the exact date of construction is unknown.  In contrast, the other mills at Kinderdijk date from the 18th century, making the Blokker a unique example of a different style of construction.  The Blokker Mill serves as a museum that shows visitors the mechanics of a windmill and the miller taught us about what life as a miller was like when the structure was operational.

The large building that sits at the top of this windmill weighs more than 4 tons and rotates with the wind. The brake that stops the top from turning is operated completely by the hand of the miller.  This was to me the most fascinating aspect of the windmill, it was completely operated without any kind of powered machinery.

We toured the living quarters of the mill on the lower level.  I marveled at the huge timbers that were part of the structure of the building.  

Deb was fascinated by the kitchen and the small beds, indicating that people were much shorter in the 17th century than they are now.  The present-day miller explained to us how people who want to be millers at Kinderdijk must pass tests and apply for the positions which are highly coveted in the Netherlands.  Most millers are there year-round and keep their positions for many years.

It was interesting to see the rows of wooden shoes and hear how the millers needed these lightweight shoes to walk the mucky bogs surrounding the mills without sinking.  I never knew the actual purpose of the Dutch wooden shoes.

The wind was howling but most of the time we walked the grounds, the rain stayed at bay.  The sound of the wind in the sails was deafening, and it was impressive watching the miller manage the sails.  He explained to us how the positions of the sails were a way for millers to communicate with each other in the days before phones and the internet.  Certain positions could mean a birth, a death or an illness in the family, or a request for help in one form or another. By the time we got back to the boat, the rain had started again.

I had heard about these windmills my entire life but had no idea that they were so fascinating.  I also was surprised at how picturesque the landscape was, punctuated by the historic mills.  It was an interesting and charming excursion. Deb and I decided to skip the visitor center, where the little kitschy models of windmills, blue and white porcelain Dutch shoes and such didn't interest us.

We were happy our tour was by boat not by bicycle

We returned to the ship by noon, just in time for lunch and the 12:30PM sail away from Kinderdijk toward the Waal and then the Rhine River. A few times we saw what we thought might be homeless camps, but realized later that they were rain shelters for fishermen along the banks of the river.  

The entertainment for the evening was an excursion briefing followed by a port talk by our cruise director, Nancy.  Dinner was again satisfactory but unremarkable.  I laughed with daughter Deb last night about how we can't remember much about the meals on Gersemi.  She said, "It was about the ports and the sights, Mom, not about the food".  I would agree with her completely.  A Viking River Ship is many things, but a floating gourmet restaurant is not one of them.

Anna, standing on the left, whom we thoroughly enjoyed, Emil at the piano on the right

Entertainment isn't especially exciting on a river ship either.  That evening the entertainment at 9:30  after dinner was a music quiz or an after-dinner drink with the resident musician, Emil.  I did attempt to visit with Emil a bit since he played the piano, but didn't have much interaction with him.  There isn't room on a river ship with only 180 passengers for the kind of production and stage shows that are found on big ocean ships.  I might have enjoyed a bit more varied musical entertainment, however, as the pianist wasn't that exciting.