An unwelcome surprise and then wonderful Kinderdijk

As we woke this morning I said to Joan that River Cruising is smooth. I neither felt us departing nor any boat movement throughout the night. We are up a bit early such that we can enjoy some of the scenery before we dock in Kinderdijk, the world heritage site for old windmills. We'll enjoy a bit of breakfast and if its sunny maybe even adventure out on deck. 

Alas, Joan looks outside and says we are still docked. We haven't moved an iota. Drats!

We venture on to beakfast where we expect maybe we will find out why we haven't left yet. The staff has all been coached to not say much but that there will be an announcement shortley. We find our bar boys and get part of the truth from them that the problem is the bow thruster isn't working. On the first cruise of year? Color me NOT happy. One of the highlights from the commercials for Viking that attracted us to try this cruise was the scenes of boating through the canals with flowers and agriculture to either side and a Dutch Windmill every so often. 

OMG!  A bus shows up. Not a good sign. Then over the ships PA comes the announcement from Jutte (pronounced Utah) that unfortunately the bow thruster isn't working and a repairman is on the way. So they will be busing us to Kinderdijk a 2 hour ride away. 

Todays Cruise Will Be with Four Wheels

Our boat stuck at the dock

For Holland we are having beautiful day. This means it isn't raining, and we have spotty sunshine.

Its a long ride to Kinderdijk but when we finally turn the corner in this small town it was definitely worth the trip.

Kinderdijk is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is collection of remaining windmills dating back to 1740 that were built to drain the marsh in this area to make it farm land. 

The name Kinderdijk is Dutch for "Children dike". In 1421, during the Saint Elizabeth flood of 1421, the Grote Hollandse Waard flooded, but the Alblasserwaard polder stayed unflooded. It is said that when the terrible storm had subsided, someone went on to the dike between these two areas, to see what could be saved. In the distance, he saw a wooden cradle floating on the waters. As it came nearer, some movement was detected. A cat was seen in the cradle trying to keep it in balance by jumping back and forth so that no water could get into it. As the cradle eventually came close enough to the dike for a bystander to pick up the cradle, he saw that a baby was quietly sleeping inside it, nice and dry. The cat had kept the cradle balanced and afloat. This folktale and legend has been published as "The Cat and the Cradle" in English.

It was beautiful but cold as a witches tit. joan bought herself a hat which I quickly named "where's Waldo".

Now for the long drive back, with another LA type traffic jam to the ship where I want some good news regarding that bow thruster.

When we finally get back, the bow thruster is in fact repaired and we enjoy our dinner while cruising the river to our next destination: Antwerp, Beljium.