The Windmills of Your Mind

No trip to the Netherlands would be complete without a windmill sighting. Our research told us the best windmill sightings was in a place called Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam. So we hopped a train to Rotterdam. Rotterdam is the polar opposite of Amsterdam, very few old buildings, no canals and very few bicycles. Because the Blitz of 1940 nearly obliterated the city the architects had a clear palate to work with. The architects ran amok. There are plenty of modern architectural showcases.

To get to Kinderdijk we took a forty minute ride on a water bus. Kinderdijk turned out to be prime windmill sighting. There are 19 18th century windmills at Kinderdijk. They were originally used to contain water levels between the river and the fields. Now they are used to maintain the level of the Dutch treasury. This World Heritage Site is a stop on Viking Cruiselines on the Rhine River Cruises. There are lots of tourists. We walked the dyke photographing the windmills then turned around and headed back to the waterbus stopping briefly at the gift shop. Arriving back in Rotterdam we decided to take a harbour tour. Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe and in the top ten in the world. For best viewing we grabbed seats on the open top deck. Twenty minutes of exposure to a very chilly sea breeze drove us indoors. The tour was very informative. Too much sun and sea breeze drove us back to the comforts of cozy Delft.