Back from the Netherlands

Earlier this month I was in Rotterdam for a Zonta International convention. 2,000 women from 67 countries participating in a 4-day meeting to elect new international officers and board members, and vote on a series of by-law changes -- which turned out to be surprisingly contentious.

While the meetings were interesting, my travel companion and I were most interested in seeing something of the country. Big cities like Rotterdam are mostly the same. Rotterdam's appeal comes in its very modern architecture; it was flattened by bombs in WWII and had to rebuild most of the center city. The Erasmus Bridge, aka "The White Swan" is a particularly striking example.



We took the water bus up the river for an hour to Dordrect, the oldest official city in Holland, chartered in 1220. We wandered the streets of the old city, took many photos, and ate lunch in a cafe along a canal.



We climbed the clock tower of the Grote Kerk, up 247 steps to the top crow's nest for a stunning view of the city and the surrounding country. We could see Rotterdam in the distance.






After our short time in Dordrecht, we traveled by waterbus to Kinderdijk, to see the windmills, as pictured above. A system of 19 windmills drains the Kinderdijk polder; the mills were built in the mid-1700's, and most continue to serve as houses.

We toured the inside of a mill; very tight quarters indeed. As we exited, we saw a family dressed in what appeared to be regional costume, complete with wooden shoes, appropriately called klompen by the Dutch. Of course I bought a pair!



The windmills of Kinderdijk are one of the best known Dutch tourist sites. They were placed on the list of UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.