The windmills of Kinderdijk

Amidst rainy and windy conditions, we journeyed to the Kinderdijk park where we walked among windmills built in the late 1600's. The Netherlands used to have 10,000 windmills, but now they number around 1,200, 19 of which stand in this park. Many of these structures have people live in them and they're still working at pumping water out of the poldir or flat land.
One windmill is set up as it would have been back in the 1700's, and we were able to go inside to see how it's family would have lived. There isn't a ton of space inside a windmill, but what room they had was used efficiently, with beds touched into the walls and storage tucked into every corner.. Steep stairs led up to each new level and I had to descend backwards like climbing down a ladder when I returned to the lower floors. It would have been cosy for a family and I think the parents would be telling their kids to go outside to play every chance they got.
We learned that we have incorporated windmill sayings into our language. For example, the sails on a windmill have to be opened in pairs or the windmill is off balance. Thus the saying that someone who has drank too much is wobbly and "3 sheets to the wind". Another example is crazy people were said to have been hit on the head by a windmill and then the person makes a circle with their finger, mimicking the rotation of the windmill sails.
What an experience! We returned to our bus soggy, cold, but happy!Read more