Inside a Kinderdijk Windmill

Welcome to Windmill 2

Kinderdijk

Journey with me to South Holland to Kinderdijk, which is situated in a polder in the Alblasserwaard, at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers.  Here you can step back in time to the 1740s where you'll find 19 windmills that were built to control the water levels in the area.   Today, these are no longer in use, but they have been preserved and are part of a UNESCO Heritage site.

What Was Life Like in a Windmill

You've probably seen the television commercial where a boy is telling his grandpa how good kids have it these days.   That made me think back to many centuries ago and wonder just what was it like to live in a windmill?

We visited the Kinderdijk during our Rhine & Moselle River Cruise last July and also on our Tulip Time river cruise a few years ago. We dusted off these pictures from the first trip to share them with you.  Click here for more images.

Approaching the windmill, you see signs of life in the shuttered windows - it looks cheerful and very inviting.

Stepping inside the windmill, the first thing you notice is a very small, but functional living space.  A lamp supplements the lighting coming in through the windows.  The room is filled with living essentials. There's a sewing machine, chairs, stove, pots and pans, and a table to name a few things you see.  In fact everything you need is neatly in its place.

A made-up bed is tucked into an alcove in the wall with just enough room for someone to sleep comfortably. Everyone has their private "bedroom" in the walls.

There are no squared corners in this house inside a windmill.   The rounded structure necessitates organizing belongings such that it fits in the small area.   The walls are part of the storage space with boots hanging there for easy access.

It was necessary for the occupants to get access to the top of the windmill, to make repairs for example.   Wooden staircases provide access to the upper stories of the windmill.

This was a working structure primarily with the family accommodations required so that the windmill could be monitored constantly.   The other people in the area depended on these families.    Before the windmills, there were problems with the water level.   Keeping these windmills working was very critical.

We hope you've enjoyed your short visit to this windmill in Kinderdijk. 

Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page:

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

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Inside a Kinderdijk Windmill

Welcome to Windmill 2

Kinderdijk

Journey with me to South Holland to Kinderdijk, which is situated in a polder in the Alblasserwaard, at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers.  Here you can step back in time to the 1740s where you'll find 19 windmills that were built to control the water levels in the area.   Today, these are no longer in use, but they have been preserved and are part of a UNESCO Heritage site.

What Was Life Like in a Windmill

You've probably seen the television commercial where a boy is telling his grandpa how good kids have it these days.   That made me think back to many centuries ago and wonder just what was it like to live in a windmill?

We visited the Kinderdijk during our Tulip Time River Cruise a few years back and thought we'd dust off these pictures and share them with our readers.   Click here for more images.

Approaching the windmill, you see signs of life in the shuttered windows - it looks cheerful and very inviting.

Stepping inside the windmill, the first thing you notice is a very small, but functional living space.  A lamp supplements the lighting coming in through the windows.  The room is filled with living essentials. There's a sewing machine, chairs, stove, pots and pans, and a table to name a few things you see.  In fact everything you need is neatly in its place.

A made-up bed is tucked into an alcove in the wall with just enough room for someone to sleep comfortably. Everyone has their private "bedroom" in the walls.

There are no squared corners in this house inside a windmill.   The rounded structure necessitates organizing belongings such that it fits in the small area.   The walls are part of the storage space with boots hanging there for easy access.

It was necessary for the occupants to get access to the top of the windmill, to make repairs for example.   Wooden staircases provide access to the upper stories of the windmill.

This was a working structure primarily with the family accommodations required so that the windmill could be monitored constantly.   The other people in the area depended on these families.    Before the windmills, there were problems with the water level.   Keeping these windmills working was very critical.

We hope you've enjoyed your short visit to this windmill in Kinderdijk.  We'll share more about our visits in Holland in other posts.

Arnhem - Walking Tour

High Point of the City of Arnhem

After lunch we walked, with another couple from the ship, to St. Eusebius Church in the heart of Arnhem. The four of us toured the inside of the church. When you enter the church the first thing you see is the main pipe organ, the Strümphler organ, which dates back to 1795 and is the replacement of the Wagner organ from 1770 which was destroyed completely in WWII. There are five columns that house the pipes. Each of the towers are adorned with angels.

The church was extensively damaged during the Second World War following Operation Market Garden in 1944, with the interior being completely burnt out. Later the tower, weakened by the fire, collapsed entirely. Following the war the church was restored between 1946 and 1961.

The church is no longer used for religious services but rather is a tourist attraction, specifically commemorating the bravery of the paratroopers of the Allied forces who attempted to isolate the Germans by capturing the bridge across the river. The fourth picture from the left in the collage above, shows the Paratrooper memorial inside the church.

The Eusebius Tower is an amazing feature of Arnhem. This is the high point of the city of Arnhem. It rose out of the ruins of the Second World War. It reached its highest point ever, 93 meters. In 1994, a glass elevator was added inside the tower up to the belvedere, a lookout point with glazed sides at 73 meters. Two of us paid the 2.50 Euro fee to ride up the elevator past all of the array of bells and into the loft of the church. We had a 360 degree view of the surrounding city from the observation tower. We decided to climb the additional steps, up a winding staircase, to the spire. You can see the steps and the view from the tower above and in our photo album. The view from there was phenomenal and worth the admission cost.

Other items of interest in the church include the Mausoleum of Duke Karel of Gelre, the Salvator Bell (a gift from Duke Karel), and the the crypt below the building where you can (if you dare) find ancient human bones which have been left in the state of their burial or death. Needless to say, we skipped the last part of the self-guided tour.

We really enjoyed our visit to this amazing church. Definitely put it on your to-do list when you are in Arnhem. Here are some additional photos from our walking tour:

Arnhem - St. Eusebius Church
Arnhem - Walking Tour

Arnhem was defintiely one of the highlights on our Tulip Time Cruise. History buffs will definitely enjoy the visit. Come back again to read about other stops on our Amalegro cruise.

Port Information - Arnhem

Welcome to the Province called "Gelderland"

Continuing our Tulip Time River Cruise on AMA Waterways Amalegro we next arrived in Arnhem, the capital of the province called Gelderland. Amsterdam, Volendam, and Edam were all located in the Dutch Province called North Holland.

After Edam, we traveled south again, through the Markermeer, formerly part of the famed Zuiderzee, and we entered the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. This canal is just over 50 years old, and connects Amsterdam to the lower Rhine River, where Arnhem is situated.

The tour, Monday, April 13th, focused on what Arnhem is most remembered for: The Battle of Arnhem and Operation Market Garden. The events of this battle inspired the well known movie known as "A Bridge Too Far".

The battle which took place in Arnhem in September 1944 was a disaster for the Allied troops and was a saddening part of modern Dutch history. On September 17, 1944, 10,000 men from the 1st British Airborne Division were parachuted into Oosterbeek, just west of Arnhem. They were to then march on Arnhem and secure a bridgehead on the Lower Rhine River. Under the direction of John Frost, Commander of the 2nd British Battalion, this bridgehead was to be held until the American and Polish troops could make their way up from the south.

Scheduled to arrive were 20,000 Americans from the 18th, 101st, and 82nd Airborne Divisions, along with 3000 Polish soldiers, but they were delayed by unusually heavy fog. By the time they could arrive it was too late and the Americans destroyed the bridge to prevent Germans from using it. This very bridge became known as "A Bridge too Far", about which the movie was made in 1977. The bridge is now named the "John Frost Bridge".

Our visit to Arnhem began with a bus trip which included a photo stop at the John Frost Bridge followed by a stop at the Groesbeek Canadian Cemetery. After visiting the cemetery we drove to the Liberation Museum in Nijmegen-Groesbeek. The Liberation Museum recreates the period before the war, the occupation during the war, and the liberation during 1944-1945. After the tour we returned to the ship for lunch and enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon on our own. I'll talk about the afternoon in another post.

Here are some pictures from the organized part of our tour in Arnhem:

Arnhem - John Frost Bridge

Arnhem - Canadian War Cemetery

Arnhem (Groesbeek) - Liberation Museum

Our visits to the bridge, cemetery, and museum were very moving. Reliving history, especially that of World War II, has become one of our favorite cruise activities. Perhaps it is because my father served in WWII and survived the D-Day landing and the Battle of the Bulge. This helps us to understand what sacrifices were made by the troops in those days.

Port Information - Volendam, Edam

Easter Sunday - Volendam & Edam

The Amalegro set sail from Amsterdam to Vollendam at noon on Easter Sunday. We cruised north on the IJ River passing through a small lock, one of many that surrond Amsterdam and help to regulate the water. The lock brought us to Marker Lake (Markermeer) part of a larger lake called the Ijsselmeer. The Ijsselmeer used to be known as the famed Zuiderzee before it was closed off from the North Sea by the Great Enclosure Dyke in 1933.

We arrived at the fishing village of Volendam after sailing about three hours. There were two other river boats docked at the harbor, so the Amalegro tied up to them. We had to cross over the top decks of all three ships to go ashore.

We walked along Volendam's main street and then through the streets until we arrived at our motorcoaches which were waiting to take us to our first stop, Edam.

Ten minutes later, we arrived at the charming village of Edam, famous for cheese. Our guide took us on a walking tour through the village which is one of the highlights of Northern Holland. After touring the Dam Square, we had free time to explore the village before returning to the Cheese Weigh Station and then back to the motorcoaches.

It was a beautiful day in both Volendam and Edam. We thouroughly enjoyed our stay in Edam and then returned to Volendam where we had time to explore the streets behind the dyke and shop along main street before returning to the ship.

Words can't do justice to these charming villages, so once again, I've posted some of our pictures for you to enjoy.

Volendam and Edam photo albums:

Amsterdam to Volendam
Amalegro - Edam
Amalegro - Volendam

I hope you are enjoying our Tulip Time River Cruise so far. It's hard to believe that this is really the first day of the cruise. There is so much more to see yet. Make sure to come back to visit my blog as I continue the story.

Port Information - Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the capital city of the country known as the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands. Holland, as many believe the country to be called, is the name of 2 provinces within the Netherlands: North and South Holland.

The seat of the government is located in the Hague, Den Haag in Dutch. The Queen lives in the Hague and every April the biggest celebration of the year takes place on Queens Day. This year, it falls on April 30th. This national holiday honors the birthday of the current Queen Beatrix's mother, Queen Juliana.

Seventeen million people claim the Netherlands as their home while 20 million people in the world speak Dutch, the national language. Dutch is a Germanic language, so you may recognize some of the words and phrases.

Amsterdam is known as the "Venice of the North" due to the web of canals that encircle the city. It is easiest to get around by "tram", bicycle, or on foot. One of our guides told us that it is very costly to own an auto. You have to pay for your parking spot, if you can even get one.

We spent all day Saturday and part of Easter Sunday in Amsterdam. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are links to the first of many photo albums documenting our Tulip Time River Cruise on AMA Waterways Amalegro.

Amsterdam Photo Albums:

AMA-Amalegro
Amalegro - Amsterdam
Amsterdam - Canal & City Tour

The next post will include our Easter Sunday ports of call: Volendam and Edam.

Easter Sunday on Amalegro

After a good night sleep, we awoke Easter Sunday and had breakfast in Amalegro's main Restaurant. The Restaurant featured a full buffet breakfast each morning. Most mornings the buffet breakfast was served from 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM. Early risers could find pastries in the Lounge from 6:00 AM.

The breakfast menu included a large selection of pastries and breads, fruits, scrambled eggs, sausges, bacon, hashbrowns, cheeses, cold cut meats, various breakfast fish dishes, and a featured menu item. Other selections included omlettes made to order and waffles. Of course there were a variety of juices, milk, coffee, and teas to chose from. This isn't the complete menu, but it gives you an idea about the range of choices each morning.

Following breakfast, we met in the reception area for our first excursion. We departed at 8:30 AM by motorcoach for an Amsterdam City Tour followed by a Canal Boat Cruise. Local guides accompanied each group, explaining the sites along the way.

Amsterdam is known as "The Venice of the North". Canals encircle the city center like a spider web. The best way to enjoy the beautiful homes that line the water is by canal boat. The canal tour passes through all of the major canals the encircle the city. In the picture below, I've included one of the popular sites, Anne Frank's House. You'll see a long line waiting to get into the house. You can bypass that line by booking online in advance. Doing so you'll avoid the wait time of 45 minutes or longer to get in.

On a previous visit to Amsterdam, we took the Hop on Hop Off Canal Boat tour. A canal boat tour is a must see when you are in Amsterdam. This was one of the included tours on our river cruise.

At the conclusion of our canal boat tour, the motorcoaches were waiting to return us to the ship which wasn't far away. Everyone was back on board Amalegro by 11:45 AM and we then sailed for Volendam. Since it was a beautiful day, most passengers were on the sundeck watching as we sailed away from Amsterdam.

Lunch was served at 12:30 in the Amalegro Restaurant. Following lunch, at 2:00 PM, there was a mandatory Safety Drill by the Captain. After the drill, our Cruise Director, Bartel Tourny, gave a briefing about the afternoon activities. I'll continue the adventure in my next post.

Happy Easter from the Netherlands

I'm writing this post from AMA Waterways Amalegro enroute to Volendam. We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday and took a taxi to the ship which was docked at Ruijterkade oost. For those that have been to Amsterdam before, that is just a few blocks from Central Station.
It is also a few blocks from the Passenger Terminal where the larger ships dock.

The crew took our bags and we checked in at the reception desk. They kept our passports, at least for the first couple of days, since the cruise goes from the Netherlands to Belgium and back.

The cabins wouldn't be ready until 3 PM, so we relaxed for awhile in the lounge and then had some lunch before taking a little stroll along the waterfront and the area near Central Station. There are lots of shops and places to eat nearby. Not far from there is the famous Red Light District.

Since we didn't want to wear ourselves out the first day, we didn't do too much walking. We have been to Amsterdam twice before, so that was another reason why we could relax a bit.

Shortly after returning to the ship, our cabin was ready so we went there and unpacked. We had free time until 5 PM when the crew gave us a briefing about safety and our itinerary. The evening festivities started off with a local dance group providing entertainment and was followed by dinner.

After dinner, everyone went to bed, especially since most people had flown in the same day and were feeling a little jet lag. Today started early with breakfast followed by our first excursion. I'll tell you more about our Easter Sunday in my next post.