April 9, 2025 Wednesday, the Netherlands










It’s like our minds are one. We’re both wide awake by 4:15 and up by 4:30 and we’re thinking about the same thing. Our car! Neither one of us know if we are legally parked in the underground parking garage. When we pulled in there yesterday, I saw a sign that said no ticket but when I started thinking about it that didn’t make sense because how are we gonna get out of there without a time. Well, we are certainly not thinking like the Dutch as they have everything figured out and the actual sign said no ticket no problem. They have read our license plate and know exactly when we entered. I keep being amazed by all of the. Innovative techniques, they have here.

We set our GPS for Kinderdijk in the Netherlands and we’re on our way. The drive is only a couple of hours but they’re all on these massive freeways. One becomes another after another seamlessly. I think back to my trip in 2012 and wonder how in the world we ever found our way around without a GPS. Anyway, I digress…. The number of transport trucks on the roadways is unbelievable.

Kinderdijk is made up of 19 old operational windmills. There are two that you can view, but the rest are inhabited by people. In order to rent one of these windmills you must be a certified Miller or someone in the family has to be
We take hard time, strolling down the Dykes between these old windmills. Another beautiful day and so warm.

Now we’re off to the gardens of Kuekenhof. It’s only about an hour drive from Kinderdijk. This park covers an area of 79 acres and approximately 7 million bulbs are planted annually. It’s only open the public from the end of March to mid May so we are very lucky to be able to visit when we are. This is the most beautiful gardens you’ve ever seen with bed after bed after bed of beautiful bulbs.







We drive back to Barendreckt where we will be staying for two nights in the Bastion Hotel. It’s a bit of a disappointment because we’re situated in a very industrial section, but we had no idea when we were booking. It looks comfortable and it’s clean and we’re both exhausted so it will do.

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