Our first full day on the ship featured some morning tours and then an afternoon of cruising. We left Amsterdam last night at 11:30 a.m. (and never woke up when we left, the ship is very quiet and smooth). This morning, the ship docked for a short while in Rotterdam to let those of us off who were doing the morning excursions. We (along with two of our friends) did the Dutch Cheese Making & Kinderdijk Windmills tour. The bus from Rotterdam drove us a half hour to a small family-owned cheese making company. There we learned how Gouda cheese is made and tasted some “young” Gouda, “old” Gouda, and several other varieties of cheese. It was very interesting and delicious! Below are pictures of the wheels of the cheeses as they are aged. In the Netherlands, they say that smoked Gouda cheese is what you do with bad cheese not good enough to sell as straight gouda. And then she laughed and said they do not make smoked gouda in the Netherlands.
Then we got back on the bus and were driven another 15 minutes to Kinderdijk which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The windmills of Kinderdijk are used to pump water in or out of the reservoirs and rivers depending on the water levels. At one time there were more than 150 windmills in the area dating back to the 1600’s and 1700’s. Since there are now two modern pumping stations, the number of windmills in the area is down to 28, with 19 right in the Kinderdijk area. We got to see an old windmill in action (it goes fast!) and went inside (very cramped!). Then we walked from there right to our ship, which as soon as everyone boarded left quickly for the afternoon sailing to Germany.
We all ate lunch on the boat then had time for naps or just to enjoy the view from our balconies and windows as the boat cruised along the Waal River. Kathy attended a Q&A talk with the captain, and later we all went to cocktail hour. That was followed by “A Toast to Our Guests” with the captain and Sigyn management officials and then there was a Port Talk about tomorrow’s plans. Dinner was again excellent, followed by another self-imposed cocktail hour. And we still didn’t do everything offered on the ship! The travel to Cologne will take 24 hours with some slow speeds at time due to the water level in the Rhine being low.
Thursday is another interesting day as we have two excursions to attend while the boat continues to cruise, so we will be in three different German cities. Back tomorrow!