Today, John (Ineke's brother) took Ineke, Frances & I for a day trip in southern Holland. The first stop was Kinderdijk. Kinderdijk is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands and have been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997. 
This area is very low, and to guard against flooding, a series of 19 windmills were built in the 1700s to pump water out of the farmland. We took a short boat cruise along a canal between the windmills. 
The weather was typically Dutch – windy and patches of cloud and sunshine. The effect is that, the high patchy clouds drift past quickly, and within a few minutes, you could be being chilled in shadow or cooking in the sunshine. The closest to this type of weather we have is in the upper Blue Mountains. It was nice to be on water again cruising along a canal, watching the scenery slowly pass by.
Next we went to Willemstad (another link) small historical town with well preserved fortifications dating from the 1400s. It was also fortified by the Germans in WWII to guard against an allied invasion.
Now it’s a small tourist town and popular for weekend visits, and on the river cruise circuit. Nevertheless it’s a quaint little town with some very nice buildings, including the beautiful Mauritshuis which became the Town Hall.
We arrive home tired and visually saturated after seeing these interesting places. Fortunately Ed had stayed home and cooked up a fantastic Nasi Goreng which was ready to hit the table shortly after we arrived. The assist with the eating, we had a bottle of white wine from De Santspuy, the asparagus farm we visited as part of the 4-day Fietsvierdaagse Hoeven who also have a small vineyard. Both were delicious and well appreciated after a long day.
