Wine on the Rhine...Viking Cruise 2023

The place with the windmills, and these are about water management. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, which means they need to maintain the area and operate the windmills as they did in their original time. Also someone needs to live there.  There are 17 windmills in this area.  The water is not managed by the government. Each citizen pays a 600€ tax that goes only to managing the water. There is 24/7 monitoring of the water levels. At least 50% of the country is below sea level.   The legend as to how Kinderdijk got its name: the dyke broke and the area was flooded. There was a baby (kinder) in a basket floating in the water.  This cat jumped in the basket and kept moving from side to side to keep the basket balanced. True? They tell us about 82% of what the guides say is true. That is also the case with our waiters! 😂. This statue marks the story. The bottom cat is not the actual cat; it belongs to the Miller of the Windmill we visited.  When these were buil...

 “ If it isn’t Dutch…it isn’t much” Rotterdam In the center of Rotterdam, the Marketplace (nickname: the UFO). Lots of food vendors, etc. Condos on the outsides all around. The ceilings inside are covered with these giant murals. Spectacular.  These Cube Houses are pretty famous and obviously unique. Today they are about 70% occupied by students who pay approx 750€ /mo each (most have 4 students living in each) for rent. There are 3 floors, 4 flights of very narrow circular stairs and, as far as I can tell, no closet space! Below was a demo called the Art Cube, named for the murals on the first floor.    There was 1 bedroom, 1 bath and a very tiny kitchen. There are angled walls everywhere and doesn’t look like much mass-produced furniture, blinds, etc would work here. It didn’t look like you’d be able to stand upright in the whole bathroom…but there was a shower and a clothes drying rack in the corner.  The third floor was up the little ladder. I guess there’s ...

Dordrecht We could see this windmill from our dock. There are 120 windmills on this 10-square mile island that is Dordrecht. Population 120,000. We were told again (3rd time) that this is the oldest city in the Netherlands.  Citizens of Dordrecht are called Sheepheads because of this legend: once upon a time there were heavy taxes on imports and 2 brothers wanted to import sheep but didn’t want to pay the taxes so they dressed up the sheep as people (origin of the nickname “sheeple”??) to try to sneak them in. They didn’t get away with it and were fined double. But word spread and now these residents are nicknamed Sheepheads. (Could be true, who knows?) There are many canals here and a lot of “social housing”. Here they believe everyone should have a home, so people who cannot work or afford housing can apply for social housing at 300€ a month. Two photos at the bottom are streets with social housing. Many people live on their boats. If you can find a spot, for 1500€ A YEAR (?!) yo...

This is the art on our ship and a description of her name:   We had the option to bus to Arnhem today, but chose to stay here and roam around this town for the afternoon. Deb and I shopped; we have no idea what the Daves did (but they were sitting pretty  much where we left them when we got back….). Here is one of the pretty shopping streets. I attended the talk about The Netherlands this morning; here’s what I learned: This is a social society. Taxes are high (40-50%) but services are included such as healthcare, public education through University, retirement, 3 months paid maternity leave, etc. Still, there are additional taxes for roads, property, etc, and pets! As with social societies, you have healthcare but don’t get to pick your doctor and may wait months to see a specialist. In order to go to the ER, you first need to be vetted to see if you really need emergency care. The general response when you go to the doctor is, “give it a few weeks. The problem may go away.”...

Another cute town! How many churches can we see in each town, you ask? It turns out, quite a few. I’m making fun but most are pretty spectacular, especially the ones built before the year 1000! Obviously some restoration has taken place but the main walls and parts of the city walls we’re seeing remain intact.  Here are today’s churches: This is St. Stephen’s Church; 15th century. The wood ceiling is quite unique. Also unique because when the Calvinist’s took over they turned this into a Protestant church. The pipe organs in these churches are amazing.   The infographic on this wall tells a story about finding a rich princess to marry Otto the 1st’s son Otto the 2nd…when they were 12! They had several kids and finally had a boy in 980, Otto the 3rd, but Otto 2 died 3 years after he was born. Too young to ascend to the throne, his Mom ruled as Regent Empress until she died in 991. Long story to show that Otto 3 built the chapel below in honor of his mother. This and the ruins o...