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We had breakfast and were ready for our 8.30am tour of Kinderdijk. Kinderdijk is a UNESCO site with 19 windmills. We learned how the mills draw water from the reclaimed land (polder)...goes in to canals and eventually makes its way to the Rhine River. 1.5 million litres of water is pumped per minute when the pump is in operation. The canals were dug by hand in the 1400’s and they are 3 meters deep.  It’s a fascinating process. Apparently they are starting to use it in New Orleans (the modern system). Families of 15-16 people would live in the windmills. They are not spacious inside so it would have been cozy. Today young couples (no children allowed) live in the mills and operate them on the weekends. They must be certified millers (3-4 years education) to operate them. The rest of the day we sail. A beautiful day on the deck. We saw a campground, lots of farms, church steeples, cows, horses and people sunbathing along the river. Some without clothing. Very European!   
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Finally a quiet night in Delft! Our odd washer/dryer combo didn’t finish washing our pjs before bed - good thing robes were provided. After breakfast we poked around a bit and I tried a ginger/lemon tea. It was good. We packed up and caught the train to Amsterdam.    We made it to our ship - Viking Skirnir. It’s docked in an industrial area of Amsterdam so we had to take a cab from the train station. It’s definitely different boarding a river cruise ship vs. big cruise ship! Great service but very little hoopla. We had a tasty lunch and unpacked. Our suites are small but we don’t plan on spending much time in them. The service seems great so far.  After we unpacked, we took the shuttle in to Amsterdam and walked around for a couple hours. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of people out and about. I’ve notice there are big Hudson Bay stores in all the major cities. I’ve never seen The Bay in Europe in my previous travels.  Back on the ship we had a welcome talk and then went for dinner. We leave Amsterdam at around 11.30 pm and head toward Kinderdijk to see the windmills first thing Tuesday morning. The water levels have been low this summer and the ships haven’t been able get all the way through. If the levels don’t change we will have to change ships part way through (around Passau). We should know by the weekend. The forecast for the area is showing hot, dry weather so my spidey senses say we will be changing ships.  Our cozy room There was partying again last night until about 5 am. It’s crazy how noisy it is from 3-5 am! We got our tired butts out of bed and headed out for breakfast before taking the train to Rotterdam.  Most of Rotterdam was bombed in WWII so there are very few historic buildings. It is a city of new and interesting architecture. Some works some is just odd. The city hall was not bombed and the nazis used it as headquarters. There are weapon marks in the side of it from when the Canadian soldiers shot at it to free the city. Yea Canada!  This hole is from Canada We did a free walking tour and saw many of the sites. There is a lot of art and street art around the city. Rotterdam is the second busiest port in the world so we also spent some time around the maritime museum.  Cube houses  Markthal- luxury apartments that surround a market.  The inside of Market Hall -created by Pixar   This Santa Claus sculpture holding a “Christmas tree” is quite controversial in Rotterdam After the tour we went through the cube house museum. I’m glad I saw the inside of a cube house but at the same time it kind of ruined the mystique. Finally we stopped for poffertjes (my fav) and waffles. I watched them make the poffertjes so I can start my own business.   James and I rode the sky view Ferris wheel thing. It was ok   After exploring Rotterdam we took the train back to Delft. We really enjoy having Delft as our home base. It’s quaint and we know our way around now. If only we could get some sleep!   We tried to do laundry this evening in our suite...the machine is smarter than us.  The people of Delft were partying last night and it sounded like they were in our room. Thankfully it rained around 4am and the party people took the party elsewhere. We headed down the street for our breakfast. It was good - a variety of meats cheeses and breads. After breakfast we checked out the market and bought a few things.   We took the tram to The Hague. We had a walking tour booked with Free Walking Tours - The Hague. We got to The Hague early so we walked around a bit. James needed to find an Apple store because, in the rush of leaving, he forgot a plug at home. It was in the beautiful Passage area.  We were told to meet for the tour at the Willem of Orange statue. Turns out the Dutch really like Willem and there is more than one statue of him. We didn’t read the meeting point directions very well and were waiting at the wrong Willem. Oops. We eventually found our tour -whew! The tour was about 2 hours and gave a great overview of some of the sights of Den Haag.  This is not the meeting point Willem We saw many of the sites and we learned that the king sometimes flies for KLM. He has to get 500 hours in per year in order to keep his license. We visited the world’s smallest park.    Our guide recommended apple pie at a cafe so we had to try it out. We take apple pie recommendations seriously. Delicious! James decided to try the herring. He said it was good. You can watch below and you be the judge.   Back in Delft we went though Old Church. Vermeer is buried here and so is Leeuwenhoek.  We decided to stay in for dinner - buns, cheese, dips, salami and almond cookies for dessert..   Delft - Friday Sept. 14, 2018 Thankfully, since we left Edmonton it has been smooth travelling. Our 9+ hour flight from Seattle to Amsterdam was uneventful. I watched some movies, ate some ok airplane food and tried to sleep. I can never sleep on planes. Of course it’s important to stay hydrated...cheers to the start our vacation!    Cheers...Vacation time! We arrived in Amsterdam at about 12:45 pm and caught the train to Delft. Our apartment is cute, quirky (there is a striped cow on the way up to our suite) and at the top of about 2 million steep steps. I expect no less from the Netherlands.  Catching the train to Delft from the airport was a breeze    As you climb the stairs to our suite, you pass this colourful bovine  Place setting in our apartment. We are expecting royalty. Check out the view to our balcony. We have cows. We toured the new church (Nieuw Kerk) and walked up the tower (375 steps by my count) for spectacular views of Delft. What else would you do when you are jet lagged by climb more skinny steep steps?! It’s amazing mom and dad like travelling with us! The new church was built in the 1300’s which isn’t THAT new. All the royals are buried here starting with Willem of Orange. Tomorrow we will tour the old church. It was closed for a wedding today. 
 We poked around Delft had a yummy dinner and are getting ready for bed. We managed to stay up today so hopefully we sleep well.   Watching Delft blue painting  Not the best photo but this bread was SO good!   What a whirlwind today turned out to be. First we woke up to a blanket of snow. Oh Edmonton! Since our flight wasn’t leaving until 5.30pm we had lots of plans for the day. Including final packing. At 9.35 am we received a text message from KLM letting us know our direct flight to Amsterdam had been cancelled. Well, that’s inconvenient. Mom got on the phone to our travel agent, Tami, from Cruise Vacations to let her know. Tami was on it. At first we thought we were on a 3.30pm flight to Vancouver and then on to Amsterdam (on KLM) so we started planning around that. At 10:45 we received an urgent call...we had to get to the airport right away because flights changed and we needed to fly to Seattle at 1.15 pm and then on to Amsterdam. On Delta. We had to go through US customs so it was important we get to the airport ASAP. I was still cleaning the house, had not finished packing and James was in the shower. We did it though. We cleared customs and were sitting at the gate by noon. And the flight to Seattle was delayed. After de-Icing (yes it’s September 13) we were off. I’m not sure what I threw in my bag before we bolted out of the house. It’ll be a surprise when I open it in Delft. For the past two weeks I have been trying to decide which shoes to bring and I don’t even know what I ended up throwing in my suitcase. I feel guilty for not saying a proper good bye to Phin and Westley. James and I have been talking about taking a trip to Seattle to look at Airstreams. I don’t think we will have time to sneak that in! Delta served peanuts in flight. I thought peanuts on a plane had gone the way of smoking on a plane. Who knew!  Since our flight wasn’t leaving until 5.30pm we had lots of plans for the day. Including final packing. At 9.35 am we received a text message from KLM letting us know our direct flight to Amsterdam had been cancelled. Well, that’s inconvenient. Mom got on the phone to our travel agent, Tami, from Cruise Vacations to let her know. Tami was on it. At first we thought we were on a 3.30pm flight to Vancouver and then on to Amsterdam (on KLM) so we started planning around that. At 10:45 we received an urgent call...we had to get to the airport right away because flights changed and we needed to fly to Seattle at 1.15 pm and then on to Amsterdam. On Delta. We had to go through US customs so it was important we get to the airport ASAP. I was still cleaning the house, had not finished packing and James was in the shower. We did it though. We cleared customs and were sitting at the gate by noon. And the flight to Seattle was delayed. After de-Icing (yes it’s September 13) we were off. I’m not sure what I threw in my bag before we bolted out of the house. It’ll be a surprise when I open it in Delft. I know I didn’t pack a rain jacket so here’s hoping it doesn’t rain! For the past two weeks I have been trying to decide which shoes to bring and I don’t even know what I ended up throwing in my suitcase. I feel guilty for not saying a proper good bye to Phin and Westley.  James and I have been talking about taking a trip to Seattle to look at Airstreams. We don’thave time to sneak that in! Delta served peanuts in flight. I thought peanuts on a plane had gone the way of smoking on a plane. Who knew!   We are waiting to board our flight to Amsterdam and we are scheduled to arrive at 12.45 pm Amsterdam time (thats 2:45am Edmonton time). Here we go...  If you read my cruising page on this website, you will know I vowed I wouldn't cruise until I'm "old". Turns out I love cruising. Well, I for sure thought I wouldn't take a river cruise until I was "old". My chronic plantar fasciitis, hot flashes and impending need for progressive lenses just might indicate I am inching toward "being old". I know the importance of enjoying life and good health while we have it. So here we go... Our itinerary can be found here. We have been in trip preparation mode - shopping, planning, packing, ensuring the dogs have all their supplies. They have an awesome sitter who stays with them. Mom and dad flew in to Edmonton this evening from Victoria and have been greeted with snow. You're welcome. We picked up James' mom, Lyn, and went to Lemongrass (yummy Vietnamese food) for dinner. Unfortunately Lyn is not joining us for this trip.  On Thursday we fly to Amsterdam - one of my favorite cities. This time though we are hopping on the train and staying in Delft for three nights. We are staying in a suite with Delft Luxury Apartments. We have walking tours booked for Rotterdam and The Hague.  We'll head back to Amsterdam on Sept. 17 to board Viking Skirnir for our cruise. Which might end up including some bus touring. It has been hot in Europe and the river levels are low. If they are too low, we will bus and change ships part way through the cruise. Whatever happens we have heard that Viking provides great service and will look after us. And we are not cooking or cleaning for 2 weeks so all is good! Viking provides a package of information pre-cruise.  When we travel we like to play a photo challenge. We randomly draw a colour before we leave and every day on our trip we post photos on Facebook of items we found in our colour. This trip my colour is purple, Dad has yellow and James has pink. Mom doesn't take photos. Check out our Facebook pages for our photos.  Thanks for coming along for our adventure!
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AuthorEnjoying the journey! For another perspective on our travels visit James site Archives
November 2018
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