The Kinderdijk Windmills

Tuesday, Nov. 3 (Day 2) - Technically yesterday was day 1 of the cruise, even though we didn't leave the port until 11:30 p.m. So today is officially day 2. After breakfast, we took a short walk from the ship to the town of Kinderdijk, still in the Netherlands. Kinderdijk is known for its windmills. There are 19 windmills here. The purpose of the windmills is flood control: the windmills pump water out when the canal levels get too high, to prevent the town from flooding. They are not actually working windmills now, since flood control today is done with more advanced technology. The windmills today are used in other capacities: three of them are open to the public for tours. I bet you'd never guess what the others are used for. They are rented out. Now if you're like me, you're probably wondering what do people rent windmills for, maybe to have a party? Well, people rent the windmills to live in them, like you would rent an apartment. That's right, people actually live in windmills. And they are so popular that all 16 windmills are rented out and there is a 75 year waiting list. One of the windmills houses a family of 13. (That fact reminded me of the fairy tale about the woman in the shoe.) Now when a family rents a windmill, they are required to maintain the windmill and keep it in working condition. The person who operates the windmill is called the miller. He is required to make 60,000 revolutions of the blades per year. The blades were also used, in previous times when communication was more primitive, for the operators of the different windmills to communicate with each other. For example, one windmill would monitor weather conditions and would be in charge of letting the other ones know when they needed to start running. But they needed to know if the windmills were working. So the miller would place his blades in an upright, or t, position if his windmill was good to go. If a windmill was in need of repairs, and therefore inoperable, the blades would be placed in the shape of a cross or x. The blades could also be used to announce news. Good news, such as the birth of a child, or a birthday, was announced by placing the blades a little right of center. Bad news, such as an accident or a death, would be announced by placing the blades a little left of center. A local guide took us on a tour of a windmill. He was wearing the typical Dutch wooden shoes. He was very entertaining. Along the way, people would ask questions, and after awhile he said that we were good at anticipating things that he had planned to tell us. He said that they have an expression here for that. The expression is that "You are cutting the grass in front of my feet." Inside the windmill, there were 3 or 4 levels, with very narrow and steep stairs connecting the levels. At the top was a turntable to orient the blades. Inside the windmill, there was furniture to show us what a lived-in windmill looked like. The furnishings were complete with big screen tv. Yep, sure enough, there was a big screen tv hanging on one of the walls of the windmill. After our windmill tour, we returned to the ship to continue sailing. The rest of the day was spent on board. There were a couple of meetings, one about safety and the other to go over some details of this week's optional excursions. As we sailed sometimes they would point out things of interest. At one point, we passed a replica of Noah's ark. Apparently a local fellow had a dream that there was going to be a flood, so he built this ark to the exact dimensions of Noah's ark from the Bible. Interestingly, the ark is the exact length of our Viking longship. When the flood never happened, the builder of the ark decided to sail his vessel to London. However he wasn't allowed to do so, as it was determined that his vessel was not seaworthy. So it is now a museum.