Day 13 - May 22 - Amsterdam

We made it! We're in Amsterdam! I'm exhausted, but ready to take on the day. 

View from our hotel room

Our first adventure was a walking tour. Our luggage would be transferred to our hotel and we'd see it later. It was bittersweet to walk off the boat. It had been such an experience up to this point. Viking does it right. Everything ran so smooth. The customer service was outstanding. 

Which is why the process to get the walking tour moving forward was so bizarre and unorganized. The tour guides were late, the program director on site was hard to understand and didn't address us all at the same time. Whispers back and forth on what was happening. It was just weird to go from a well oiled machine to total chaos. 

Finally our tour guides showed up. We had our "whisper" machines so we could hear her and we were off. The hotel was a good distance from anything interesting, so we had to do a good amount of walking to just get to the good stuff. Again. I'm very much over this walking a distance to get to fun stuff. 

Our tour guide wasn't great either. Up until now we had fantastic tour guides who were knowledgeable, friendly and willing to answer any and all questions. This lady seemed dry and boring. Or, could it be that Amsterdam isn't that interesting? I couldn't believe that. 

This walking tour could not end soon enough. She didn't have anything interesting to tell us, no good WWII stories, no real history of Amsterdam. Just bleh. 

We ended our tour in Dam Square. Now the fun was going to begin. We were meeting one of my high school roommates and her husband. Marella and Micha found us in the square thanks to our crab hats. It was so good to see her again. She hasn't changed a bit. Micha I barely knew and quickly realized he was a riot. 

We had some time before our boat tour that was scheduled for 1:30. We walked toward the Anne Frank house (where we'd be getting on the boat) and found a place to have lunch. Lunch wasn't great, but I didn't care. It was more fun just sitting and talking to Marella and Micha. 

The boat tour was fun. Really just floating around the major canal and checking out the architecture. I loved the buildings and houses that lined the canals. 

Traffic jam on the water

After the boat tour we walked a little ways and found a bar to stop and have a drink. We spent another hour or so getting caught up, laughing and hearing about life in Amsterdam for them. It was so much fun to see her. I couldn't believe it had been 25 years, but it had. 

Marella and Micha

Talked Marella into wearing the crab hat

Marella and Micha were trying to get us on a tram to get back to the hotel. Once we got on the tram conductor said we had to pay only with a card, so we got off. That meant we had to walk ALL The way back to the hotel. Ugh. I was exhausted and hot at this point, but there wasn't much other options. So off we went. 

As we got closer we started discussing what we were going to do for dinner. We weren't finding any restaurants as we got closer to the hotel, but we found a Starbucks. We stopped in and got ourselves a peach tea and a little rest. I wasn't going to buy a Starbucks mug but once I saw them I couldn't resist. 

Once we left Starbucks our hotel was a short (half of mile) walk away. No restaurants around. I wasn't about to walk all the way back into the main city so we thought we'd eat in the hotel restaurant. Turns out there are no open spots until after 9pm. By this time we're both starving so we decided to just order room service. 

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the hotel food and yet the burgers that showed up were off the charts good. 

The next day was full of absolutely nothing. I decided I was going to take a lazy day and not really do very much. I hung out in the hotel and just relaxed. I really wish our hotel wasn't so far away from the downtown area. My opinion of Amsterdam may be different, but as it is now, I am not impressed. 

Sure it's a nice town. Beautiful architecture and the canals make it special. But the city is dirty and really didn't seem that very interesting. I think I need to give Amsterdam another try at some point - I think my exhaustion might be obscuring the view of how fun Amsterdam could be.

Total Steps: 14, 952

Day 12 - May 21 - Kinderdijk Netherlands

"Kinderdijk" is pronounced "kinder - dike", not kind-der-ka-jick like I was pronouncing it. 

When you think of Holland (Netherlands) what do you think of? Wood shoes? Amsterdam? Windmills? I think of all three, but windmills come to mind first. Mostly because in 1987 our German exchange student's family took us out to see some Windmills. Kinderdijk is windmill land to me. Having done research before I left, this was one of my most anticipated stops. I couldn't wait to see the windmills. Too bad Don Quioxte wouldn't be around. 

So what's in a name? Aside from my horrid pronounciation of it, the name Kinderdijk means "children's dike" and like most things in Europe there's a story why it's called this.  

One story goes like this: 

On a stormy autumn night in 1421, a great flood tore down the dikes** surrounding the polder* and took the lives of thousands of people. After the torrent subsided, people went to check the damage, and noticed a cradle floating on the water. In it was a cat, jumping from side to side to keep the cradle in balance and prevent water from entering – and a nice and dry baby, sleeping peacefully.

Another longer, more traumatic version can be found here. 

These mighty mighty windmills aren't just for looks. The windmills actually do something; they help manage the water levels. 

See, the Netherlands is below sea level. In order to keep it from flooding they used windmills to pump the water out. Now days the windmills do some work, but larger, more efficient pumps do the majority of the work. 

The morning was spent rather leisurely. They had some meetings that we had to attend about disembarkation and last covid testing before getting on a plane to the US. Then we had our last lunch on the boat. Shortly after that we docked in Kinderdijk and took off on our excursions to see the windmills. 

There are 19 windmills out here and most were built in the 1700's. Some were built later, but the majority were in the 1700's. Their purpose is water management. Today, they symbolize Dutch water management, and in 1997 they were declared to be UNESCO World Heritage.

We got to tour one of the working windmills and see how a miller lives. It's cramped quarters I'll tell you that. I tried to imagine an entire family living in this place. No place to hide and / or get away from one another. 

The tour guide also "demonstrated" how wooden shoes are made. He didn't actually do any work on a shoe, he just held up different versions of the shoe as it progressed through the process. 

The windmills have their own language too. The position of the sails indicate something different. 

When the miller stops the sail just before it reaches the highest vertical position, it means there is something to celebrate like the birth of a child or a marriage (image below left).

When the upper sail has been fixed after having passed through the highest position, it means that the culminating point has been passed and life is going downhill, meaning that there is a reason for mourning (image below right).

Leaving the sails locked in a ‘+’ position means that the miller is taking a rest for a short period of time (image above left) and when the sails are locked in an ‘X’ position means the miller is taking a longer rest (image above right).

And that was that. We were there for about an hour and half, then back on the bus back to the boat. We departed and would wake up in Amsterdam tomorrow. 

Total steps: 4905

Day 11 - May 20 - Cologne Germany

As the days have progressed I've noticed my journaling got less and less. I think the exhaustion caused me to assume I'd remember later and not to document at the moment. Thankfully the photos help. 

This morning we woke up in Cologne, Germany. This stop was one I was looking forward to as well. The cathedral in Cologne is famous and I can't wait to see it. 

View from our veranda

Our tour guide met us by the boat and we were off. It was going to be another hot one. 

Cologne is full of beautiful architecture too. The gothic cathedral is the focus of the town. You can see the spires for miles and miles. 

Let's just get to it. The cathedral is the reason to come to Cologne. Well, the cathedral and the beer. But we'll talk about the beer later. 

Look at this!

Just look at all the little people compared to his massive structure! The spires of the cathedral reach 515 ft into the sky. It's the tallest twin-spired church in the world - so they say. 

Construction of the cathedral started in 1248. They ran out of funding and building halted in 1560. It wouldn't be until 1814 that construction began again. Finally completed in 1880. 

The claim to fame of this cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings. This was commissioned by the archbishop of Cologne in 1167. It is believed that his shrine contains the remains of the Three Wise Men, who's relics were acquired by Frederick Barbarossa at the conquest of Milan in 1164. The shrine was opened in 1864 and it contained bones and garments. Did those bones and garments belong to the Three Wise Men? We'll never know, but isn't is a nice story. 

The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by bombs during WWII. It was badly damaged but remained standing in an otherwise flattened city. 

After the walking tour we had a couple of hours before our evening Beer and Culture excursion. So we decided to walk down to the Lindt Chocolate factory and museum. I bought some chocolate to bring home to the BFF who was watching the cats back home. She has a sweet tooth and what better gift than Lindt chocolate? 

Our evening entertainment was to experience beer and culture the Colgone way. Cologne is known for it's kolsch beer.

"Kölsch is a style of beer originating in Cologne, Germany. It has an original gravity between 11 and 14 degrees Plato. In appearance, it is bright and clear with a straw-yellow hue."

This beer is exactly the type of beer I enjoy. It's served in these small glasses and is ice cold. Perfect for a hot day in May. 

So what's the big deal about this beer? 

"Since 1997, the term "Kölsch" has had a protected geographical indication (PGI) within the European Union, indicating a beer that is made within 50 kilometres (30 mi) of the city of Cologne and brewed according to the Kölsch Konvention as defined by the members of the Cologne Brewery Association (Kölner Brauerei-Verband). Kölsch is one of the most strictly defined beer styles in Germany: according to the Konvention, it is a pale, highly attenuated, hoppy, bright (i.e. filtered and not cloudy) top-fermenting beer, and must be brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot."

Technically, you can't get "kolsch" beer outside of the Cologne area. US brewers make a "kolsch style" beer but they can't call it "kolsch". 

Our first stop was Peter's Brauhaus. It's a large establishment filled with locals. We sat at very long wooden tables and were served immediately. Here's how the service works though. If you finish your beer, don't call a guy over for a refill. They automatically replace you beer. They are so small, they assume you want another. The only way to stop them is to place your coaster on top of the glass. 

We had dinner at Peter's Brauhaus too. It was a nice 4 course meal that helped soak up the 4 beers I had before food was served. 

We visited two more beer brauhaus' and experienced the same beer. Our tour guide spent a lot of time talking to us about Germany and how beer was included in part of their culture. It sounded like a lot of hogwash to me, but it was entertaining all the same. 

We stumbled our way back to our boat. Truth be told these beers only have like 4% alcohol and I think we had 8 glasses. But their tiny glasses. 

Tomorrow we enter The Netherlands. Country #4 for this trip. I'm excited to see the windmills. 

Total Steps: 11, 911