Kinderdijk

This was our boat, docked at Kinderdijk.  They had announcements in English, German, and Dutch about historical and cultural items of interest as we sailed up the Maas.  It was about an hour each way, with an hour at Kinderdijk.

After Jael had arrived, I got a Groupon offer to go to Kinderdijk (where I had gone previously) and we decided to do that.  This wasn't a Pancake Boat trip (that would have been way more expensive) but we did get a free coffee or tea with our ticket and one of the best things about Dutch coffee is that you always, always get a little cookie with your coffee.  Even if you order a piece of apple cake with your coffee (which Jael and I did on our way back, to get a "true" Dutch experience) you still get a little cookie.

This cookie with coffee or tea tradition is actually a really integral part of Dutch culture.  One of my colleagues at school said that she had taken a practice Dutch nationalization quiz (the kind of test you take if you want to become a Dutch citizen; she is Dutch but she just wanted to see what the tests were like) and one of the questions was about how many cookies you should serve with tea.  (The answer was two cookies.  I have always only gotten one cookie but maybe it is different with coffee.)

There's just something about windmills . . .

We had a pleasant day, walking around and chatting.  We didn't go in the working windmill because it was kind of expensive and it seemed like more fun just to stroll.



There were birds and ducks and things all over the place.  On the right is the ubiquitous coot.  On the left is some weird bird with a red head and pointy horns.  I don't know what it is but recently I saw one with babies and one of the babies was riding on its parent's back, like a loon.

Kinderdijk had a really good gift shop, plus a couple of others.  I think that we for sure decided to try the apple cake on the boat when we were in the shop because they had apple cake slices on display and they looked delicious.

Jael was so much fun to have along.
I did all of the touristy, fun things vicariously through her, got funny pictures, and didn't have to do anything but hold a camera.
Win-Win-Win.  (The other win is for you guys, since you get to see the pictures as well.