Relaxing Down The Rhine - Windmills and Dutch Treats

When we awoke after our first night aboard, we found ourselves up at the crack of dawn in the Dutch town of Kinderdijk (KIN-der-dike).  It's home to 16 windmills built in the 1740s and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was deceptively sunny to start and a cool breeze was arriving to propel the sails around and around. We made our way past a very modern electric pump house that was capable of pumping 4 times the amount pumped by the Windmills. In the background of the rising sun stood the 16 Windmills, sentinels of a steadfast faith in engineering to shift the water from canals into fields to feed families and foster an interesting and unique culture.

There were some differences in how the windmills were constructed. Windmills, versions 1.0 and 2.0 if you will, consisting of 8 of each type. Most of the differences were based on the amount of lumber available. Auburn thought it was really cool that the caretaker of the windmill really did wear wooden shoes.  We toured a mill and learned a family with at least 6 children operated the mill. When we looked at the living quarters, we're not sure how any adults actually slept in the tiny little beds. A stark reminder of the difficult life in a time in the not so distant past. Lastly, we toured a steam powered pump house that replaced the windmills. This was where we learned how and why the water was pumped and transferred. After exiting through a couple of gift shops with postcards, lapel pins and a package of windmill cookies, we headed back on board.

Boas!

Before being allowed to have lunch, we had to participate in our ships "Safety Briefing". Naturally this demanded not only life jackets, but also Boa Feathers! We like to believe this set the jovial and festive tone for the entire trip. You're Welcome, Viking Bestla!

After a nice lunch, we explored the ship a bit enjoying the front sun deck off the lounge area before we headed off for a short nap to help reset our clocks to Dutch time.

Then we met in the lounge before dinner to get information for the next day's sites and tours. After dinner we listened to a presentation on Dutch Masters of art, sampled some authentic Dutch Cheeses and a delicious Dutch liquor made from juniper berries called Jenever. The next morning Auburn renamed the evening "The Dutch Revenge".

Relaxing Down the Rhine - The Beginning

If it's Spring on the calendar, but still really Winter according the number of layers of our clothing, then it is absolutely time for a Palermo getaway.  But where to go? Fortune had smiled upon us in the form of a 2-for-1 coupon for a Rhine River Cruise. We had hoped a leisurely tour of The Netherlands (which isn't as dirty as Auburn first hoped), Germany, France and Switzerland would be far enough away to let things calm down at home before we returned. So we jetted off separately into the night. Mickey had booked a luxurious Business Class seat, complete with slippers, delicious food and room to stretch out for a nice nap. Meanwhile, Auburn had booked through the ship and ended up crammed into the overhead compartment of a charming 300 lb Albanian Monk. But on her last flight,  Auburn had a lovely view of beautiful tulip fields during a pristine morning descent into Amsterdam. We had planned to rendezvous at the ship's swanky first class lounge. However a series of unfortunate events changed our dreams. Skeeziks Palermo was "detained by certain agencies."  Her "detention" or as she called it "work commitments" voided our coupon while Mickey played the Dutch version of Hide & Go Seek featuring a taxi and our ship. As a result unable to make the precision timing of our mission to secure unlimited quantities of Wine, retirement Castles and Chocolate, so we ended up in a charming compartment named "Le Broome Closet." 

By the time the Dos Palermos had unpacked, we were able to lunch  aboard our Viking longship. Never ones to pass up a free (well, included) meal we made sure to fill our plates and double up on caffeine as we'd need it to stay awake the rest of the day.

A parking garage - for bicycles!

We'd signed up ahead of time for a canal sightseeing cruise so we set off in search of the correct dock. We improvised a tour of the waterfront and the train station, when we had been unable to find the shortcut through it. We miraculously avoided cars, trucks, buses, and zipping bicycles to finally locate the ticket office and queued up in line for another 45 minutes before boarding our tour boat.

Centraal Terminal & canal tour boats

The tour was in English after the recorded messages in Dutch and German. We did learn some things and it was very peaceful. Both Dutch and German languages are known for their lilting qualities. So tranquil that both of us nodded off at various times. While we enjoyed the tour perhaps a nap would have been a better use of our time. We'd tentatively planned to visit the Anne Frank house but that wasn't going to happen on this trip. Amsterdam is a lovely blend of Old European charm mixed with the calming romance of the Canals of Venice and the unique individuality of Seattle that requires more than a sleepy afternoon to appreciate fully. So it has been added to our list of places to revisit and explore more fully. Regrettably out of energy, we headed back to the ship to meet up with the rest of the gang, err group.

The rest of the group included several we'd cruised with before including Il Padrino & his wife, our cousin Sneeky Palermo and cousins Snappy, Sleenky and Sandy, as well as Curmudgeon and Blondie & Dagwood.

It turned out that this was our ship's maiden voyage and the rest of the group had arrived so early in the morning that they were the ship's very first guests! We were all given certificates to indicate we didn't sink and destroy it, so it must be true. We settled into our cabins had dinner and we all turned in early, ready for a good night's sleep serenaded by a propeller lullaby.

Our brand new ride - the Viking Bestla