Day 15 (16th July): Kinderdijk in Honeymoon

We had a short stop at Kinderdijk today. Docked at 1 and left at 5, with a 2 hour tour of a windmill museum.

Most of the day though, we prepared for disembarkation tomorrow. A lot of people exchanged emails and contact information. It was interesting to see a bunch of retirees exchanging e-mail on their iphones and ipads taking selfies, it reminded me of 10 years ago when I first came to New York when a bunch of young students exchange their e-mails and phone numbers after a party.

La Professeure did not feel good at all, and stayed in the cabin almost the whole day. In the morning I went up to the sun deck to enjoy the sun and the breeze, and we had a session where we went up to the wheelhouse and the captain explain the workings on the bridge. It was very interesting; the skillset of a river boat captain is very different from an ocean captain, and a lot of knowledge is even tied to the waterway.

We had gone into a triburary of the Rhine by the morning, and the scenary had changed into very flat land, with sheep on both shores grazing. Apparently the Dutch think that having sheep but not cattle grazing on the banks is going to help the dykes. In the afternoon we stopped at Kinderdijk, our ship being so fast that it arrived an hour ahead of schedule. We went out to the windmills museum. It was hot, and a Professeure lasted maybe 10 minutes before having to go back. I stayed on with the tour, and got to the highlights, which is a visit to the demo windmill. It is basically a house - the miller and his family stays there the whole time to operate the mill; it is basically a 24/7 job - but built around a windmill. The windmills themselves are a system that keep water out of the lowlands. Our guide (who speaks in a boring monotone voice) explained to us how, over the centuries, the dutch devised first a system of canals, then windmills and reservoirs, and then finally pump stations, to keep water out of places that flood. When you hear it in the entire context, you could tell it's basically one hack after another, even though individually, the changes make logical sense.

It being a hot day in Holland, there were a lot of people who come out to the canals just to swim or to sunbathe. So it was weird to have a bunch of tourists being shephrded around families having an outing.

When we got back to the ship, we packed, I read up on facebook, and then it was time to have the farewell speech and dinner. We have the ship's staff paraded in front of us while we applauded them (the same thing happened on the first day of the trip too, so I think it much be a chore for them, having to go through it twice every two weeks), and had the dinner. It was good food; I'm going to miss that when I get home.

We have to wake up at 4:30am (if it were just me, then it would be 4:50am, but La Professeure wanted to be ready earlier) in order to catch a ride to the airport at 5:45am to catch a flight at 9:10. Hopefully it will be a smooth ride. I am hopeful because it will be early.