May 20, 2025

Weather: Sunny and 60’s – low 70’s

Kinderdijk in the morning

Good morning! Everyone slept well, everyone happy! The Internet had not improved since our last visit. There are still issues when uploading pictures to the blog. I keep telling myself that patience is a great virtue. Eventually all were uploaded and now for the next installment.

First a word about the Herja. The longship was named after Herja, a Valkyrie, who had great power over men.  She would ride her horse over a battlefield and choose which would die and then be borne to Valhalla to train for the last battle, Ragnarok. As to the ship, we have187 passengers and 52 crew. Most passengers on this cruise are from the USA (only one couple from Australia and a few from Canada).

After breakfast (Salmon Bennie, of course) and good company, we queued up for our Kinderdijk adventure. This was a 2 hour walk to the UNESCO site of the windmills that made the land possible. The weather was perfect! The name Kinderdijk came after a big storm that flood the countryside. After the worst was over, the citizens went out to survey the damage and they saw a cradle with a cat jumping left to right and back to keep the cradle afloat and on an even keel.  Then the cradle washed ashore they discovered a baby (Beatrice) was alive. While they rescued her, the cat disappeared and was never seen again.

Beatrice and the cat

On the way

We got to enter a working mill and see how the large family of the Miller lived. Very cramped quarters were the order of the day, and every inch was put to use. The stairs were more like ladders and the feeling was a bit claustrophobic.  But we made it up and down and with a deep appreciation of the Miller and family.

The practice windmill

When training a new Miller, they used this little one. A young boy would begin learning on this at about age 7. No, it is not a playhouse!

One the way “Ron” a painter of windmills using chalk was selling his wares. He makes one a day and they were well done. Naturally we purchased a small one for 30 Euros.  It will make a nice addition to our collection of travel art.

The artist at work

Selfie in front of the working mill

It is a lot bigger than one would think!

Bedroom

The “bedroom”  Beds were short.  The very religious Dutch did not sleep on their backs in case their mouths fell open and the devil could enter.  Note the baby bed—convenient for nursing.  When children could walk, they would join their siblings in the other bed.  Usually up to five to a bed for warmth!

The everything room (note the children’s bed in the nook to the right)

The mechanism that turns the bonnet to take full advantage of the wind direction

After this short excursion (only 2 hours), we made our way back to the Herja. While enjoying the veranda, Paul and Pam were leaning over at the same tome and snapped a picture of each other.

Dueling pictures

We saw our first castle while eating lunch in the restaurant. At least it was listed as a castle on Google Maps.  

After a large and long lunch it was time for a nap.  And then happy hour.  Anna and Paul played a couple of cribbage games (we each won one).

Cribbage pros

The port talk was informative and entertaining.  Andrew, our cruise director (The are called program directors on the river boats) is an ex-policeman from the UK.  He is absolutely hilarious! And he gets the point across. After the port talk, the Chef gets the mic and describes the special dinner offerings. He isn’t as funny, but he can really cook!  After dinner, a few wheels around the sun deck; the sun had set and so I guess we should call it the moon deck and back to the room for a good night’s sleep while the ship heads toward Koln