Today was a split day. We docked upstream a bit at Kinderdijk and set out on excursions.
The big draw at this stop are the historic windmills – a UNESCO World Heritage site. Cheryl and I have seen this before so while Tim and Diane learned about windmill technology we headed out on a visit to the fortified town of Gorinchem for an extensive walking tour to learn about its history, culture, and one of its more famous historical figures.

We’ll start with some views from Kinderdijk:

Legend has it that following a major storm a baby was found in a basket with a cat working to keep the basket from tipping. Thus the name; ‘child’s dike’.

The work of the mills has been replaced by a modern computer controlled pumping station (Note the use if Archimedes Screws).

Visiting a windmill they learned about the operation of the mill.

Noted the output:

And got a look at the inside.

They also got a view of the daily life of the miller and family.

Meanwhile in Gorinchem…

We walked thru the town arriving at the town tower.
When they were building the tower (constructed as it was on – well, basically peat) they noticed that it was leaning a bit. So they stopped construction for 5 years to let it stabilize. Then they built the next section (plumb straight) – and sure enough it began to lean too.
So they waited another five years before finishing the tower (again plumb straight), and it seems to be holding.

Our guide commented that Piza may have its leaning tower, but Gorinchem has a banana.

And thought a church is adjacent (and now joined) to the tower, the tower is actually a city tower, not a church steeple. It’s purpose is really as a watch tower.

Continuing on our guide told us stories of significant buildings, lanes, and by-ways.

Arriving at the cheese store we were greeted by the owner. His first career was as an engineer but he gave up the rat race to open a store dedicated to the finest things in life: Cheese, Wine, and Chocolate.

His assistant talked us thru the process of making cheese, we sampled cheeses from various degrees of aging to note how the flavor changes, and we had the opportunity to buy a bit of the product. Cheryl and I bought chocolate covered cherries.

In the prior group you’ll see me holding a 25 pound round of cheese as if it were very light. That’s because it is. He called it ‘Hollywood Cheese’. It’s a plastic imitation. He also told us that any time we see stacks of cheese in a cheese store it’s a pretty safe bet that most of the rounds are also fake.

Walking a bit farther we stopped for photos on a bridge crossing a small canal (originally part of the town’s defenses.

All over Germany and The Netherlands you will see these ‘stumbling stones’ set in the sidewalk. They mark the homes of Jews who were taken by the Nazis and died in concentration camps. This set marks a family killed by their father who committed suicide shortly before the soldiers arrived to take them away.

This street actually runs along the top of the dike. Along the street you will see squares set in concrete. During the spring floods posts are set in these squares and a wooden ‘wall’ is built to raise the height of the dike.

We arrived at the Hendrick Hamel house. Hamel was the captain of a ship wrecked off the coast of Korea in 1653. He and his surviving crew members were captured and brought before the authorities who declined to imprison them, but decreed that they would never leave Korea. Eventually, in 1666, Hamel and 11 of his crew escaped to Japan where Hamel worked to secure the release of his remaining crew members and where he wrote his journal of his time in Korea. Hamel’s journal was retranslated into several languages and republished several times in the 18th and 19th centuries. While there are several memorials to Hamel in the Netherlands, there are also many memorials and structures remembering him in South Korea also. The Hamel house is a recreation located at the site of his birth and when it was opened the Korean ambassador attended the dedication.

Moving on we came to the Dalem Gate (Valley Gate) this is the only remaining of the original four gates in the city wall.

Near the gate, also on top of the bastion is a “working” windmill. Instead of lifting water this one is used to grind grain. Entering the mill we saw a slide presentation on the operation of the mill. Then our guide announced that, sadly, Viking insurance wouldn’t allow him to take us up into the mill. Of course most of us chose to ignore this warning.

Having survived the wind mill experience we walked back to the ship (which had moved upriver from Kinderdijk to Gorinchem during our excursion). We stopped along the way to see the statue of the Salmon Fisher. The river used to lead to spawning grounds for Atlantic Salmon. Pollution from industries along the river basically killed off the Salmon population. However recent efforts to clean the river and reintroduce the population are providing hope to reestablish this species.

This weekend Gorinchem is hosting a large festival. While the adults are celebrating (in an adult way) in town,

this large park has been given over to children, with a mix of inflated structures (many containing water) and wooden building materials.

Back on board most of us napped while others of us took to the bow deck to watch the world pass by (while doing a bit of blogging).

4:30 saw is in German class. Our cruise director (Marie from Pari) is French, but she’s married to a German so she was qualified to teach us a bit about German language and culture.

It was a fun and informative class but afterwards we deserved to celebrate completing it – so they hosted the ‘welcome aboard’ reception.

Which sent us, well lubricated, to dinner.

And then we were tired.
So it was off to bed, to sleep, to dream to prepare for more adventures to come.

Till then,
R