Kinderdijk, Holland, The Netherlands

We headed up to South Holland for a weekend trip. With the tulip season in full swing we wanted to see the Netherlands during this time of year. Our first stop was to Kinderdijk. It is situated near the city of Rotterdam and contains 19 windmills. The canal and original windmills date back to the early 1300's. The ones currently here date from the mid-1700's and 1800's. 18 of the 19 are rental properties with people living in them year round. The second one in from the parking lot is set up as a period museum. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Over half of the windmills were spinning and the sun shone the whole day. Our first stop was for a canal boat tour. This gave us the quick view of the windmills and the girls really enjoyed it. After that we headed to the museum windmill. Inside the living quarters were set up as they would have been 2-300 years ago. The people slept in beds built in to the wall. The inner workings of the mill were going and you could see the scoop wheel pumping water out of the field into the canal. We ended up having a picnic lunch and a nice stroll along the canal. On our way out there was a Peugeot car club that was meeting up in the parking lot. The girls got to sit in the rumble seat of a 1933 car. Tori offered $99 to the man to buy it from him. He smiled and said "now that's an offer". After the windmills we headed to Leiden for our overnight stay. It is a quaint university town with canals running through it. We stroll along the streets and eventually had a nice dinner. Tomorrow Keukenhof.