Tulips and Windmills: Amsterdam and on to Hoorn (long)

The Netherlands is full of canals, and there are boats of all kinds on all of them. This beauty was in Hoorn, but I'm getting just a bit ahead of myself.

Our first full day aboard Gefjon began with another canal boat tour; this one was longer than the one we'd taken independently, and we saw a lot more sights. The afternoon was, again, free for us to do what we wanted in Amsterdam. Viking gave us a schedule for the shuttle buses that they would be running out to Zandam. We had timed tickets to the Van Gogh Museum, so after the canal boat ride, we made a second futile attempt to visit the quilt shop (still closed and there were two other quilters from the States who were just as disappointed as I was) and then took the tram down to the museum. Viking's program director had emphasized the virtue of promptness and cautioned us against being left behind if we weren't on time. So, after the museum visit, mindful of the schedule, we walked to the shuttle point and arrived with twenty minutes to spare. Oh, well, we thought, we certainly won't miss it! 

It was cold. It was raining. There was no place to sit. There was no place for shelter. And the 3:30 shuttle arrived at 4:10. I was becoming disenchanted with Viking, the company I'd always praised to the skies. Fortunately, that was the last mishap and everything else met or exceeded our expectations.

While we slept that night, Gefjon was on the move, and we awoke to find ourselves in Hoorn, a place we knew nothing about until then. A walking tour was in order, and we wandered through this charming town for a while and then were taken to see a performance of locals in traditional clothing, singing and dancing to music from long ago. It was delightful. 

Back to the ship for lunch and then we were on our way again. That afternoon turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. We were taken to a tulip farm where we learned that those fields of colorful stripes were planted for the bulbs, not the blooms! Every single one of those tulips was beheaded and the bulbs were harvested, inspected, and sold. Tulips grown for the blooms came from greenhouses. It was two days before a national holiday -- the King's Birthday -- and since the King is William of Orange, everyone in the Netherlands on that day would be wearing orange. We were shown a greenhouse where there were rows and rows of tulips, just one day before bursting into orange -- they would be sold on the holiday. The woman who hosted us at the farm was personable and funny; clearly, she loved what she was doing. She also baked some amazing (and you know I do not use that word loosely) cookies for us. It was a wonderful time, and the day was not over yet!

Back in the bus, we were on our way to learn about wind turbines. Again, the farmer's wife was our hostess and informant. I'd never been so close to a turbine and it was immense. Some of the group elected to go inside, but only a little ways. Climbing to the top was for professionals only.

So much of the Netherlands is impacted by water. We learned a lot about water management, dikes, polders, and canals. You can see the sign on the turbine right where Joe is exiting that indicates where sea level is!