Tulips and Windmills

We spent the night docked near to Amsterdam in Zaandam, largely because of the backlog of ships trying to get into Amsterdam.  We didn't miss a beat, though, with a short bus ride into the Amsterdam city center for our first half of the day - a canal boat ride on the very old canal structure. The weather was beautiful and the ride was very pleasant.  Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and pointed out the many things to be seen only from the canal system.  There are many 15th. and 16th. century structures left standing and a mixture of beautiful new architecture.  One particularly interesting structure was a set of houses called the "Dancing Houses" who are unsettled in their mooring and appear to be leaning into each other.  It was a morning well spent. In the afternoon, we went to Kukenhof Gardens which is in the height of bloom for the tulip season.  About an hour away from Amsterdam, it is an annual event that runs for 8 weeks through late spring, and...

Perhaps the most beautiful day weather-wise was the one we enjoyed today in Hoorne, The Netherlands.  It was nothing but blue skies and sunshine and actually got up to about 60 degrees. Hoorn is a harbor town founded in 716 AD, and was a prosperous trade center as recently as the 17th. century.  Here they traded in exotic spices like pepper, nutmeg, cloves, and mace - yes, mace - from Indonesia.  It was in 1602 that the famous Dutch East India Company (DEIC) was established to manage this trade.  The world's first mega corporation, they were endowed with powers including the ability to wage war, mint currency, and establish colonies.  Hometown hero Willem Schouten was the first to sail around the tip of South America, naming it "Cape Horn". We spent the morning walking around town and seeing the old structures and obvious wealth that the Dutch East India Company brought.  Several of the buildings were slanted  which we initially mistook for collapsing....

Kinderdijk is the location of a UNESCO World Heritage site with its beautiful windmills dating to the 1730s.  Think about that!  These windmills were operating to pump water from high marshy ground to low ground in the nearby river since before the American Revolution! When I think of "mills", in general, my first thought is of milling of grain as we see in America.  Here, though, the mills were built to pump water that rose daily out of the soggy, peat-based ground into the nearby river when it was at low tide.  To do this, a "millwright" and his family called these places home and accomplished their task by harnessing wind power . Around since the first century, windmills were invented in Persia but perfected by the Dutch who needed them with 1/3 of their country below sea-level (100% in the area of Amsterdam).  They didn't catch on in Europe, thought, until the 17th. century.  Amazingly, the head of the windmill can turn 360 degrees to catch the wind in ...

Today was a twofer - Dordrecht and Rotterdam - consisting of two Dutch cities that couldn't have been more different than each other, and in a good way, I guess.  They're about 10 miles apart.  Today was King's Day celebrating the ruling Dutch monarch with revelry everywhere in both towns, marked by the color orange (as the original monarch came from Orange, France). In World War II, the story was very different for the two cities.  The Germans gave each town 48 hours to clear out or face utter destruction.  Those in Dordrecht were in despair over their beautiful city being destroyed and agreed to leave quickly.  Those in Rotterdam, a key port on the Rotte River, debated a bit too long and the Luftwaffe bombers were flying with death and destruction before they had finally agreed.  Too late for Rotterdam.  It was totally destroyed while Dordrecht's medieval streets and beautiful canals survived. Dordrecht is one of the oldest cities in The Netherlands,...

A brief foray into Germany today saw us at Wesel, a long important trading center situated where the Lippe River flows into the Rhine.  It wasn't the most exciting of scenery because it was, essentially, rebuilt after being flattened by the Allies toward the end of the war in 1945.  Peter Minuit, the founder of New Amsterdam - today's New York City - is perhaps its most famous native son. We took a walking tour of the city and saw how it was rebuilt from ashes, nearly completely destroyed by two major bombing runs.  The housing dated back to the late 40s and 50s and was austere by definition.  Its cathedral was beautifully restored after the bombing as were the renovated structures of the Wesel Citadel. The Citadel evidenced Wesel's onetime military importance dating to the 17th. century.  It was largely dismantled after World War I at the insistence of the Allies, but remains the largest intact fortification system in the Rhineland.  Interestingly, it is b...

Today in Nijmegan (Nee-mah-gen), meaning "New Market", was as much about the non-historical as it was the historical in that it was Cheryl's 70th. birthday.  We arrived here about 11:30 a.m. and Cheryl and I promptly disembarked and headed for the shopping district.  She was looking for warm shoes and socks and I was looking for a warm coat.  The weather has been seasonably spring-like, often cold with brief glimpses of sunshine. The first place we found for each were fancy, schmancy places that catered to the young.  The shoes she liked were 500 Euro (about $700) so they were quickly ruled out.  But, just down the expansive shopping area we both struck pay dirt and got exactly what we needed for a heck of a lot less.  She got two pair of shoes for her Imelda Marcos collection and I got a really nice gray leather jacket for a pittance. About 2 p.m. we started on the walking tour and got about 10 minutes into it but decided to bug out because it was just too...

We cruised through the night to arrive this morning at Maastricht, The Netherlands.  I learned pretty quickly that I didn't pack as well as I could because it was cold and rainy for the first part of the day during which we did a walking tour of Maastricht.  The second half of the day was the American Cemetery and it was merely just cold. Maastricht straddles the Meuse River and is one of The Netherlands oldest cities.  It is located where The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany meet.  Virtually every building we saw dated to at least the 14th. century or even further back in some cases.  There were, at one time, 22 churches in Maastricht but that number started dwindling when Napoleon was an occupier and ordered absolute separation of church and state (unlike the Roman Catholic era where the two were combined).  Many of them closed as a result. One place of particular interest was Bishop's Mill.  Here, a crusader was trying to raise money in the 11th. c...

 Our first day out and about was spent in Antwerp, Belgium - Europe's second largest port (to Rotterdam which we'll visit soon), and home to about 2 M people from 157 countries and multiple cultures.  While the Roman Catholic faith dominates (at 50%) religious leanings, church attendance of all varieties has plummeted as is the case in many countries, including the US. The largest city in Belgium, Antwerp is known as the "Diamond Capital of the World", although we didn't see any (other than shops) on our Sunday morning stroll.  Cheryl went to Mass at Our Lady, a magnificent church from the late 14th. century and, although the service was in Dutch (the predominant language spoken here), she said it was "magnificent" and she could easily follow along. The Cathedral of Our Lady was begun in 1352 and took 169 years to complete - all by hand without benefit of modern machinery. Among its many treasures are four large baroque paintings by Flemish painter Peter...

And, just like that, we're there! We left Columbus on time for our 4+ hour layover in New York, and arrived without incident.  Our ticket class allowed us to use the Delta lounge at JFK and what a treat that was. . .  as much food and alcohol as any man could want, so we availed ourselves of at least the food part.  Cheryl said they had everything BUT ice cream which would've made it perfect.  (She later made up for it - picture below - by having ice cream for dessert on our plane to Brussels.) I'd been to Delta lounges while traveling on business before, but they were nothing  like the one at JFK.  Who knew what went on behind the scenes at these major airports?We splurged on our air tickets from JFK to Brussels and went first class, after all who knows what tomorrow holds so we took that approach.  And, it was another "treat" for the world travelers, sitting up front with a seat that folds all the way down so one can sleep, and accoutrements galore (...

  Cheryl and I are off soon on our latest adventure.  This time we're headed to Europe for a Viking cruise starting in Brussels, Belgium, and ending in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  We've been on several river cruises in the past, and most have been with Viking. We anticipate a first-rate experience as always.  Gourmet meals are served throughout the day, and the shore excursions are just right in terms of immersion and time.  And, it is always great fun to meet new people.  We're a bit sad that our normal traveling partners, Ray and Mary Lee, have decided to sit this one out.  It'll be a bit strange going to dinner on the ship and not having their company to enjoy. In these last couple of days before we go, we're starting to pull together what we need to be successful for a couple of weeks on the road.  Generally I forget something so I'm trying hard to do prepare slowly enough that I have plenty of chances to get it right. I'll be doing this blog...