Photo Album Two - The Netherlands

Driving down highway in Holland can be a challenge! Even though we are on a major motorway, traffic came to a halt so a sailboat could go down the canal.
	This scary beast greets you outside the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
To learn more about this painting, go to Rijksmuseum . It is definitely one of my favorites. Below is a painting showing what Dutch ships looked like at the height of their empire. To the right is a model of one of these ships.

To go from the staid, somewhat stuff atmosphere of a museum to downtown Amsterdam can be a bit of a culture shock. The quiet canal boat ride from the museum did NOT prepare me for the center.


How many windmills can you count in the above picture? Go to The Kinderdijk windmills to find out more about the windmills. As you can see, Dr. Novak had a great time cruising on the canal boat looking at windmills. It is INCREDIBLE to do this. Below left: Windmill with sail up. Below right: People still live in these windmills!

	This is the 'odd man' out windmill. All of the windmills on the right side were brick. All the windmills on the left were thatched. This windmill was different from all the rest. Below left: The wheel at the rear of the windmill. Below right: The windmill tied down.

Out the window from inside the windmills. Some of the gear work of the windmill shown below. Below right: Date plaque on windmill.

For me, one of the most precious thing about Kinderdijk is that is preserving the wildlife that takes refuge in such a special environment. I loved watching the ducklings doing lily pad walking. I enjoyed the sounds of all the birds, insects and many, many frogs. Watching a pair of great blue heron taking off from a canal side fishing trip was awesome.
On to Miscellaneous Pictures - Photo Album 4