Janice Cruises Europe 2017

Did You Know? - The windmills at Kinderdijk are a group of 19 monumental windmills in the Alblasserwaard polder, in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Most of the mills are part of the village of Kinderdijk in the municipality of Molenwaard, and one mill, De Blokker, is part of the municipality of Alblasserdam.

Built in 1738 and 1740, to keep water out of the polder, it is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands and one of the best-known Dutch tourist sites.

The mills are listed as national monuments and the entire area is a protected village view since 1993. They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

Did You Know? - A klomp (plural klompen) are whole feet clogs from the Netherlands.

Approximately 3 million pairs of klompen are made each year. They are sold throughout the Netherlands. A large part of the market is for tourist souvenirs. However some Dutch people, particularly farmers, market gardeners, and gardeners still wear them for everyday use. Outside the tourist industry, klompen can be found in local tool shops and garden centers.

The traditional all-wooden Dutch clogs have been officially accredited as safety shoes with the CE mark and can withstand almost any penetration including sharp objects and concentrated acids. They are actually safer than steelcapped protective shoes in some circumstances, as the wood cracks rather than dents in extreme accidents, allowing easy removal of the clog and not continued pressure on the toes by the (edge of the) steel nose.

Did You Know? - The position of the sails on a windmill can be used to convey messages such as a death in the family, a joyous occasion such as a wedding, a short or a long time of inactivity or even a call to come to the mill as quickly as possible. Sail signals also warned locals against impending Nazi raids during World War II.

Did You Know? - A Greek engineer living in Roman Egypt in the 1st century AD is credited as being the inventor of the windmill – using it to power a machine. The name of the man is a reminder of how important the invention is – he was called simply ‘Hero’.

Did You Know? - It is said that ‘windmills built the Netherlands’. Without windmills, water could not have been drained away from the flat, marshy lands of Holland – and farmers couldn’t have grown fruit, vegetables and tulips.

Did You Know? - The phrase ‘tilting at windmills’ is a phrase used to describe the act of attacking imaginary enemies or fighting unwinnable or pointless battles. This expression originates from an incident in a book called Don Quixote, written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes in 1605. Quixote is a retired country gentleman who becomes convinced that he is a chivalrous knight and embarks on several ‘adventures’ to the bemusement of all he comes across. One passage of the book details how, riding on his skinny old farm horse, he attacks windmills in the mistaken belief that they are giants.