Day 10: Kinderdijk, Netherlands

June 13, 2013

We are now in the Netherlands! We left Cologne early this morning at 7:25 and made our way north by train. The train ride was about 3 1/2 hours to Utrecht, Netherlands. We could tell we were getting into a different country by the people who got on the train, not only were they speaking Dutch instead of German but they looked different. They were lighter in skin and hair color and they also dressed different than the Germans. All of the German males looked like they walked off a Backstreet Boys video shoot with slicked or spiked hair. The women here are all very fashionable and almost all wear boots.

A thatched roof on an old Dutch house

Anyway, we planned to go into the Dutch countryside of Holland (Holland is a province of the Netherlands like KY is a state in the U.S.) to Kinderdijk (pronounced Kinderdike) where there are historical windmills that the Dutch are known for. We read on the internet that you could take a bus from Utrecht to Kinderdijk so we thought we would stop there before we got to Amsterdam. We found the bus and was told it was 10 Euros a piece to go. We thought it was a little expensive for a bus ride but continued on since we were committed at this point. We figured out why it cost 10 Euros: it took us 1 1/2 hours through the Dutch countryside to get to Kinderdijk. It was beautiful scenery! When the Dutch settled the area, they had to build canals to drain the water to make it inhabitable so there are canals everywhere. They have large, lush green fields with cows and sheep and some horses on them. I thought it was so weird that the fields are completely green and beautiful. There is no mud or paths made by the cattle. And...the cows look as if they had just had a bath. There white spots are stunningly white without even a trace of dirt. It is crazy how picturesque the farms were. Some of the farmhouses and barns still stand from the 1600s and 1700s and still have thatched roofs. Seeing the countryside was really neat!

Once we arrived at Kinderdijk, we were greeted with 19 windmills built between 1738-1740 (Pictures). They were built to move water higher so it could drain out of the area. We paid to go inside one to see how it was made and how a family lived inside it which was neat. Once we walked around the area, we ate at a nearby dutch restaurant where we asked the waitress what were the true dutch items on the menu. I had a natural pancake and Clayton had a croquette which is a fried meat and mashed potato-filled roll basically. It is hard to explain, you will just have to read for yourself: Dutch Croquette. Both were good!

Clayton with some of the windmills

Some of the Windmills

Our Dutch Lunch

After eating our late lunch, we caught the 4:45pm bus back to Utrecht and then took a train another 30 minutes on in to Amsterdam. We headed toward our houseboat B&B (Picture), but missed a pedestrian bridge and went on a loop in the wrong direction. It had been raining with strong winds since before we ate in Kinderdijk, so once we made it to the B&B we had no interest in going back out. There are two bedrooms on the houseboat, one is ours and one is another couples staying the weekend. The owners live a couple of boats down on the canal so we basically have the boat to ourselves. Tomorrow we plan to venture out to see some of the city!

Waiting at the bus stop