I realized too late that my last post got uploaded before it was complete (meant to hit Save as Draft, but must have hit Save and Publish by mistake). I've now posted the photos and extra text that I'd intended to add so you can go back to the previous post to see them if you have the interest.
The second installment of our Netherlands outing was a visit to a group (fleet?) of windmills. You really got a sense of the lowlands and their flat beauty - especially since we were blessed by a sunny day with dramatic cloudscapes.
Mel got this fabulous shot of our tour manager Rene and his trainee toting our cheese purchases back to the boat so we could be hands free for our windmills tour.
As you enter the area where the historic windmills are situated, there's an odd bit of art - a basket, "floating" in one of the canals. In the basket is a baby and a cat - "Wiegje van Beatrijs" (Beatrice's cradle). The sign accompanying it says "On 19 November 1421, the St. Elisabeth's Flood took place. Inextricably linked to this disaster and the village of Kinderdijk is the legend about the child Beatrice, whose cradle washed up on the riverbank near the dyke in what is now called Kinderdijk. The cradel also contained a cat that kept the cradle balanced by jumping back and forth. This artwork, by the artist Roel Teeuwen, depicts the legend's story"
The video I shared in my last post talks about how the windmills aren't in use anymore, but we got a different story from our guide. To be a windmiller, you have to go through quite extensive training on how to operate the windmill and keep it maintained. There is evidently a long waiting list to become windmillers - who live in the windmill or just beside it. They are no longer regularly in use to pump water since that's done by electric pumps now, but if the electricity ever fails, the windmills have to be able to take over the work so both the mill itself and the milers have to be ready. The mills get tested periodically to make sure they're functioning.
We visited one mill that's maintained as a tourist site to give a sense of the life of a miller and family. The round part near the top rotates so that the blades of the windmill can face the best wind direction - it's operated by the thing that looks like a captain's wheel at the bottom right.
Inside the mill is a very compact living quarters with a bed built into the wall (I would have loved that little cozy space as a kid, but wonder how it worked out for the couple who likely shared it year round). The plaque in this room said that it was the only heated room in the house. The kids slept upstairs (I didn't even attempt the ladder to get up there so I have no photos of their quarters).
After the tour, we got to meet one of the current millers - though he's only there part time now. He told us he'd been working that mill for 30 years.
Before we left, we got one more group shot
