10/3/14 Kinderdijk to Cologne

We had a wonderful tour of the windmills here.  This is a World Heritage Site and preserves some of the older windmills.  The eight they have here were all built in 1738.  They are built of brick and have thatched roofs.  The sails come within a foot of the ground.  We had a tour of the inside of one of them and it was interesting to see how comfortable the families made the living areas.  They reminded me of how the lighthouse families lived in our area except that the lighthouse families were much more isolated.  It was foggy this morning and because of that I was able to take a few shots of spider webs - they were everywhere glistening in the sun as it burned through the fog.  Our guide gave a talk on the importance of the windmills for water management as over 50% of the Netherlands in below sea level.  We had a safety drill before lunch and we did quite well - about 7 minutes to have everyone counted and at stations.  Lunch was delicious - I had Dutch beef stew, which was really a soup - quite delicious as the veggies were al dente - yum!  I will have to be careful about the meals and I think they are trying to fatten us up before sending us home.  We are now traveling on the Rhine to Cologne, Germany and it is fascinating to sit up on deck and watch the scenery go by.  We have gone past small towns, a city and lots of pasture land with cows and sheep.  There are also a lot of waterfowl on the river - ducks, cormorants, gulls.  This trip is really quite fabulous.  I was able to put a few pix up, but it still is not coming easy.  I will write more later.