Windmills and Tulips – so Dutch!

Goede Morgen – Good Morning in Dutch. It's all about Holland today, or should I say the Netherlands.  

A tour bus takes us past many dykes, to view one of the 13 windmills preserved at the Zaanse Schans Open Air Museum.   We visit the De Kat paint mill, to see how the fine powder is made for the last remaining paint and dye windmill in the world.   A climb of narrow wooden stairs to the top verandah takes us to view the other windmills in the area.

Approximately 45% of the Netherlands lies below sea level and floods have been a common occurrence in the past. The drainage system in the Netherlands is therefore very important, polders, locks and dykes were built; water was pumped out of low lying areas since the 13th century by watermills and windmills. Today there is nearly 1000 old mills in existence, however full control over the water level was never fully achieved, so throughout the centuries, other ways of pumping water was developed, the many legends reflected the issues with water drainage, in particular the dyke ruptures, remember the little boy who stuck his finger in a ruptured dyke.

We continued exploring the village that shows the traditional Dutch history, where we saw clogs being made and enjoyed cheese tasting after a cheese making demonstration. Who doesn’t like a cheese demo and then tasting???? Couldn’t resist the temptation of purchasing lavender goats and smoked cheese – just a little something to take back to the ship to enjoy – grin!

After a lunch of lovely salads, sandwiches and get this………3 cheese soup!! on the ship. Yep it’s all about cheese today, we venture to the famous Keukenhof Gardens, to see the stunning tulips that are shown off for only 8 weeks of the year, the pictures tell you all about our visit – enjoy - we did, a once in a lifetime experience.

We didn’t want the visit to end, so we decided to bring a bunch of tulips back to our ship to enjoy for the rest of the cruise.   We sail tonight to Nijmegen.