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20140425 Friday Scroll down....

Vantage: Cultural Connection: This morning, attend a lecture on Dutch canals and waterways. Enjoy a walking tour of Schoonhoven, a 13th-century town known as “the Silvertown,” as it boasted a flourishing silver industry during the 18th and 19th centuries. Cultural Connection: Get an overview of the types and functions of Holland’s graceful windmills during a lecture before your visit to Kinderdijk, a wonderful UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nineteen original 18th-century windmills line the canal here, all still operating. You’ll even step inside one of the windmills to see how it works! Spend the afternoon leisurely cruising the Lek and Nieu Maas to Rotterdam. Enjoy live entertainment on board this evening.


Schooonhoven map:




Kinderdijk tourist-folder photo:



Kinderdijk map:



Actual: ... PictureLink-O ..... PictureLink-D

We found ourselves in Schoonhoven on waking. Beautiful day with high clouds. Weather says the high temp will be 75*. Yay.

We hiked with our group onto the margin of the river and then through the River Gate, a structure that houses a gate that would slow the flooding into the town if the river got too high. Then there were a series of cute shops, including silversmiths, and canals. Several times, we ran across a bride-and-groom who were having their pictures taken near the river. Eventually they hopped into the BrideMobile (an old VW bus) and went on.

D was still a little hurting so we let our group go on ahead while we took an alternate path back to the boat over and old bridge and along the top of the dike. We got back and sat for a minute until lunch.

Lunch was good. We sat with Judeen Johnson, an old farmer from WI, MN, and now SD, and his partner Mary Negstad. He’s Norwegian, so we had a good time talking about Scandinavian things. Neat characters, them.

The RN moved during lunch to Kinderdijk, a place where there are still 20 or so operating windmills. We walked out to one, then took an electric launch farther out the string and return. Our boat announcer told us all about the floods and the reason the Water Board (oldest governmental entity in Europe) was founded. In 1738 a string of windmills was constructed to reclaim land by pumping out the water into ditches that flowed across the swamp and away. Each windmill could handle a 4-foot head of water. That worked for a while, but to improve it, pumps were put in that raised the stream water even more and moved it into the Lek River when the river was low enough (tidal water) to allow it.

Each windmill is public now, and the residents of them receive cheap rent. But they have to tend the mill and ensure that at least 60,000 revolutions are made each year to keep water out. The announcer on the boat said that as the children get older they rise in the windmill to a higher bedroom until it is time for them to court a woman on the other side of the stream. This, she says, is why they all look alike, and some regard them as a little “slow”. Many laughs.

Back to the ship, then the Captain’s cocktail hour for those who have been on Vantage for three or more trips. We took ours with Judeen and Mary and talked some more. Then the port talk for tomorrow (Bruge, BE) was given. It entails a lot of walking on cobblestones, so we’re going to pass and spend the day where the ship docks (Terneuzen, NL).

It’s the King’s Birthday in the Netherlands tomorrow, and an excuse for fun and eating and drinking. So we’ll watch the festivities and have fun.

We skipped the language lesson tonight in favor of coming to the cabin and doing chores and reading.