Holland: Ready, Steady, Windmills!!

Holland will go down in history of Watsons’ travel as one of our favorite countries. We had such a great time on our four day trip, despite it being a bit colder than we anticipated.  All our kids did great and that makes trips so much fun. The fact that they are all older now with no diaper/strollers/sippy cups needed, makes our travelling less stressful. Although, I will be the first to tell you that having younger kids still never stopped us (back when we were in Japan) and it still is fun with preparation!
Anyway…we have been planning this trip to Holland probably ever since we moved to the UK. We had to catch perfect timing of tulips blooming! I have been to Holland before when I was fifteen years old. Our school did a two week exchange with Dutch students, and I got to go live with a host family in Wijk-bij-Duurstede, see a big chunk of the country and see how people live there. It was my FIRST ever trip to Western Europe! I was so impressed by everything I saw, and I mean EVERYTHING! I have pictures of us, young Ukrainian kids, taken next to a trashcan, just because it was so cool and different from what were used to. I fell in love with Holland and its people and for the longest time it was the only country in Western Europe that I’d ever visited.
So fast forward sixteen years, and here we were, driving to Harwich, England, a port on the Eastern coast of the island to catch an overnight ferry to Hook of Holland, in other words, straight into the heart of Holland, near Rotterdam. The ferry was supposed to depart at 11:30 pm or so, but they were SUPPOSED to let passengers board and get settled in their rooms starting at 8 pm. Therefore, we were at the terminal at 8 pm sharp, so we could have plenty of time to explore the boat and get ready for bed. Well, that never happened.

For some unexplained reason, the ferry boarding got delayed. Considering the fact that we had to go through check-in and passport check and all that, we didn't get to our room till 10:30 pm! Lots of waiting in the car, sitting in a queue. But finally, we got to our room, got ready for bed, and most everyone was asleep by 11:30. I woke up right around midnight as the ferry was slowly pulling out of the port…feeling a bit seasick actually. I convinced myself I was too tired to feel sick, and fell asleep for a while again—my pillow was super uncomfortable but we all survived. The kids thought it was ultra awesome to sleep on a ferry.

At 6:45 am we were all woken up by a talking speaker on our ceiling (it was 5:45 am British time).  They wanted to make sure that everyone is up and ready to get to their cars by 7:30 am. I finally woke everyone up at 7:00 am, got everyone ready and got down to the car. And by 8:30 am we were already driving in Holland.

We had quite a relaxing itinerary planned for that first day, as we knew we all would be tired. Our first stop was Kinerdijk—a village east of Rotterdam famous for its windmills. It’s actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands.

We came here, like many other tourists, to see what typical Dutch countryside looked like centuries ago. The main reason why these windmills were built here is to help with water control as this whole area is below the sea level and used to flood often. A very advanced technique was used to move water from the fields into a reservoir. Presently, only nineteen windmills are left.

And here is an interesting story found on Wikipedia about Kinderdijk and the great flood of 1421. “ It is said that when the terrible storm had subsided, someone went on to the dike between these two areas, to see what could be saved. In the distance, he saw a wooden cradle floating on the waters. As it came nearer, some movement was detected. A cat was seen in the cradle trying to keep it in balance by jumping back and forth so that no water could get into it. As the cradle eventually came close enough to the dike for a bystander to pick up the cradle, he saw that a baby was quietly sleeping inside it, nice and dry. The cat had kept the cradle balanced and afloat. This folktale and legend has been published as "The Cat and the Cradle" in English.^[1]””.

Windmills everywhere! Can you count how many you see?

We could have just walked around this area for free, actually. But we had to pay to go inside one of the big windmills. It was quite intersting to see explanations and pictures of how this miller’s family used to live inside the windmill. It showed us where their rooms were, where they played and ate.

This is Mark sleeping on one of the beds (that was sort of built in, like a cupboard, with a shelf on the left for a baby!).

Katya found a sewing machine, of course.

And we explored the windmill, fascinated with how everything was arranged inside.

It was a beautiful sunny but chilly day (and it was barely 10 in the morning). Kids took a quick break before we headed to our next destination.

Oh, and we had to take a family photo (thanks to one darling old French woman).

Outside of Kinderdijk, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a picture next to the gigantic clog! These Dutch clogs just scream “Holland” don’t they?

It was still mid morning, so we headed twenty minutes further east to go see my friend Marlie, who, in fact, was that Dutch girl whose family hosted me when I was here in Holland sixteen years ago. We have kept in touch for all these years, and Marlie even came to visit us in Minnesota! That was back in 2006, I believe.

Please don’t ask where we found this pink phone.

Now Marlie is married and she just barely gave birth to her first baby! Her mom was there as well, and it was so wonderful to see them both!

And we got to try traditional cookies given to guests who come to see the newborn baby. They were covered with a little bit of butter, so Alex wanted to eat them all! You might have guessed, but you get pink sprinkles if it’s a girl.

We hope that is not the last time we get to see Marlie and her family. I am glad our friendship has survived so many years!

We did not stay very long at Marlie’s. It was time for us to start heading up north to the place where we were staying for three nights. On the way, we had to stop by a beautiful town of Delft, but that is a story for another quick post.

Hoping to catch up with my Holland entries before the end of May! Hope taking time for writing all of this down is not in vain (because it does take a lot of my free time) and our kids will appreciate being able to read about their many adventures someday.

Lyana.