Windmolen, vriend, beer

This IS the Kinderdijk. (pronounced Kinder – dike) It is a world Heritage site.  Click to read more.

(by the way if you click any of my photos, they load larger in a new window)

 Quintessential Dutch Stereotype.

The Kinderdijk is an area outside of Delft, where windmills dominate the landscape.  As I may have mentioned before, much of Holland is below sea-level and most of it is depends upon an intricately controlled system of canals, levees, and dikes.  In this area in particular, a series of windmills pump water out of lower land and raise it to higher land, ultimately it into a canal.

THEY ALL STILL WORK!  This is so cool. 

Though it is rare to see them all functioning at one time, there were one or two working when we were there.  It’s a free area to visit, except for the opportunity to go into one of them, but really we couldn’t pass that up.  So here are some images from inside!

I realize this photo doesn't really show you much, but you can see all the cogs and cranks working on the windmill just being propelled by the breeze from outside.

Took this one from inside the windmill up top. Hence the obstruction of the arm-thingie (that's its official name)

Note the cows. They're real.

Hey how'd that one get in there? And Bear, how did you pass through the gated area designed to keep people and Bears OUT?!!!

Oh, and by “we”…since you brought it up...

 I’d like to point out that when I said "we," I was no longer refer to  the “royal we”, or to myself and Bear,  nor  do I  mean my friend Ben from the US who just got here today… but in “we” I refer to my real-live, very own, Dutch friend, Wim. Pronounced to us like Vim. It’s short for Willem, so for those of you who need to Americanize everything, that would be like Will short for William.  Anyway, Wim is a researcher/phD student at TU Delft (also levees, flooding, etc) and was encouraged by his supervisor to help me out for the week, but I’d like to think that he wants to do it on his own.   See, that's him in the photo, and no, I didn’t use photoshop.

Thursday morning, the day of our trip out there, I thought to myself,

“okay… the true test of whether Wim is actually a friend whether he is just “encouraged” by his supervisor to spend time with me depends on how he feels when I bring my Bear out in public.” 

Since I had meetings in the morning, I had to hide Bear under my professional guise of a messenger bag and scarf until I was out of the university.  Mission Successful.

On the ride over, we are chatting about life, things in the U.S as compared to Holland, speeding tickets, the drinking age, etc… but I am focused on Bear and trying to decide how I am going to break the news. 

I look at bear (he’s hidden in my messenger bag on the floor).  I look at Wim.  Then I look back at Bear and back at Wim.  Deep breath.

Ultimately I explain that I had this bear, (thank you Benson family) that he was my companion and that Bear travels everywhere.  I explain partially that sometimes, Bear likes to have his picture taken, sometimes bear likes to protest war with chants in NYC like "More snuggle, less war"... sometimes, bear flips you the bird or uses italian hand gestures to get a point across, sometimes he hugs, and sometimes  just sometimes, Bear likes to get silly.  So I mentioned that Bear would most likely make an appearance today at the Kinderdijk. 

Wim seems okay with this.  So I feel glad.  And I say, “good, now you won’t think I’m crazy.”  And Wim replies that he still thinks I’m crazy, but he understands a little more now why.  I was waiting for a chuckle or a smile after he said this, something encouraging that he was joking, but none came.

Right.

I think one of the fantastic things about these windmills was how simple a concept and how it is all mechanical and powered by wind.  

Another really cool thing that happened is finally I was able to translate for someone ELSE instead of the other way around all the time. We tried to ask a woman where the visitors center was first in Dutch and then in English but she spoke neither so ultimately I asked in Portuguese and alas… success! I felt slightly more useful.

The best part about this last picture is that just as Wim and I had left the windmill, I looked to the right of the doorway, and saw some Dutch wooden shoes.

 So did Wim apparently.

 I glanced around and began thinking how nice Bear would look in those wooden shoes. 

Simultaneously, Wim asked if perhaps Bear wouldn’t like to try on some shoes.

Who’s crazy now?