Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Windmill at our hotel

Good morning from Bergambacht, where we are beginning our day with a tour of a working windmill.  This particular windmill mills grains.  Our "miller," Marc, opened the canvas on the windmill's blades.  Now the windmills make sense.  I couldn't figure out why they all had lattice work on the blades of the mill.  How could the wind make them move?  

Marc unfolds the canvas.

Well, canvas has to be rolled out, just like on a sail boat.  The whole top portion of the mill, the head, is moveable and done by hand.  A structure of wooden beams is connected to the head of the windmill and the base of the platform surrounding the head, use pulleys and wheels to move the head into the wind.  Maybe this will make more sense when you see the photo.   The blades begin to turn and when the gears inside the mill are engaged, the wheels spin to turn the stone wheels grinding the meal.  The faster the winds, the faster the wheels turn.  

Freshly milled Corn Meal.

I bought a bag of fresh stone ground corn meal.  Mom, it's coming to you.  When I come to visit, I would love to have some of your home made corn bread with the corn meal I'm bringing you from Holland.  Yum!!

Awaiting the Ferry's arrival.

After our windmill tour, we set off for the most picturesque part of our ride, through windmill country to Kinderdijk.  We've added another means of transportation to our travels, riding our bikes on to a ferry to cross the Lek River sending us on our way to windmill land.  We were first to board the ferry, tucking away on the side of the boat.  

On board our ferry crossing the Lek River.

Then cars filled four lanes.  Last to board was a truck hauling gasoline.  What could possibly go wrong?  But we made it across just fine and peddled on toward Kinderdijk.

In the mid 1700's, 19 windmills were built here, one beside the other.  Their function was (and in a pinch still is) to control water.  I took many photos of the

Riding to Kinderdjike.

windmills, which have been the symbol of The Netherlands since the early 16th century.  Each windmill is numbered and recorded in the historical archives and now protected.  Here are a few photos of Kinderdijk.

Riding down the dike toward Kinderjike.

Rows of Windmills define the landscape.

Yes, it's cold.

No wonder Susie can't navigate the.  Check out the route notes!

Ellen and Susie do "the windmill."

After the magical ride down the dike through the beautiful windmills, we hopped on a bus for an hour and a half ride to Zierikzee.   Here, we boarded our private launch, Vrolijke Visser, which means "The Happy Fisherman," for a lovely Dutch lunch as we cruised the Oosterschelde to meet our bikes in

Bus ride to Zierikzee

Ellen shows off her bruises from the bath tub fall.  OUCH!

Wilhelminadorp. Ok, you think these names are hard to pronounce.  Try reading "route notes" which is our means of finding our way across Holland.  If this was "Wheel of Fortune," you'd get a lot of clues if you bought a vowel, but still never figure out the name.  So I apologize.

Our boat for the trip across Oosterschelde.

Lunch aboard Vrolijke Visser.

"Selfie Stick" shot with Captain Jan.

Celebrating Captain Jan's birthday with a shot.

Delicious Dutch Picnic Lunch

The cruise lasted about an hour and a half and then we were back on our bikes heading for our hotel in Zeeland.  Yup, the folks from here discovered New Zealand.  One can see the similarities in these two areas mainly with the "wind rows" which are huge trees surrounding farm land to block the constant winds in Holland.  This brings up another interesting topic.  Bike riding on the flat Holland countryside is pretty easy ... unless you have a headwind.  With windmills as the symbol of Holland, it goes without saying that they have LOTS of wind here.  Duh!  It seems no matter which direction we ride ... it's into the wind.  Just wanted to share that little tidbit with you so you don't think it's all fun and games on this ride.  Well, it is, but it's also a great workout!!  And something else I found out.  The girls I'm riding with have been on MANY bike trips, but they don't necessarily love biking, they just want to burn calories allowing them to eat while on vacation.   Never the less, I've thoroughly enjoyed the bike ride, meeting new folks, the scenery, and the challenge, which I'll address more in tomorrow's blog. 

The ride to our hotel, Inter Scaldes was through more beautiful Dutch countryside with fields being prepared for planting where we saw many pheasants.  They are beautiful birds.  

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Arriving at Inter Scaldes, we were greeted by the hotel staff and directed to our beautiful rooms overlooking Pheasant filled fields.  Haha!  Try to say that three times really fast!  This hotel was designed, built and decorated by Chef Jannes Brevet and his lovely wife, Claudia.  From the furniture to the art work, Jannes and Claudia selected each piece.  I would describe the style as being sort of modern Scandinavian but with more warmth.  Dinner tonight, a tasty three course meal in the dining room, prepared by Chef Jannes Brevet, who has been awarded two Michelin Stars for his cuisine.  

Tomato Caprese Salad

Delicious and unique, the meal was spectacular.  Not only was the food tasty, but the presentation and the plates themselves were a piece of art.  The photo (above) of a Tomato Caprese Salad, had the full flavor of the tomatoes, cheese, balsamic and basil, all molded into a gelatin and served in this beautiful bowl.   I've never been to a Michelin award winning restaurant before.   I must say, although I enjoyed it, I think I prefer a more simplistic approach to a meal.  A really great designer cheeseburger works for me.

After dinner, I was ready to go to bed to rest up for tomorrow's Metric Century ride ... 100K!!  Check in tomorrow to see how that worked for me.