Around the World with Marsha & Joel

“What’s that kid doing with his finger…”? Sometimes fairytales do come true. It (could have) all started here, in Kinderdijk (“children’s dike”), named possibly by the legend around St. Elizabeth’s Flood in 1421 where a local boy inspected and helped save the dike — or as some say because much of the dike building work was done using child labor. You decide.

The village of Kinderdijk has been shaped by Rhine Delta waters and is most known for its 19 beautifully preserved (and working) 18th century windmills. It’s surrounded by low lying polders – tracts of land reclaimed from the sea by the power of the windmills and enclosed by the dikes. The town was given UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1997.

We woke up at the dock in historic Dordrecht and our first view is an old windmill (a landmark that’s not really in use). We grabbed some (way too much) breakfast (again) and met a guide with our group to explore the downtown and harbors before our departure at noon for Rotterdam.

We walked across some drawbridges that allow the smaller vessels in and out of the narrow canals (they call them harbors) to the main harbors. Dordrecht is a city that operates as much on water as on land. Water is both the beauty and the challenge of the Netherlands. Our group got separated by the sudden opening of the drawbridge (above). The gate in the foreground controls pedestrians, bicycles…and tourists.

We took a little side trip today into Wesel, Germany (not the picture above). Wesel itself had some military importance that can be seen by the 17th century citadel that was largely dismantled after WWI by the Allies. The citadel area now serves as the cultural center of Wesel, but we soon see it is not the reason we are here. It’s been overseen by Spain, the Netherlands, France and Prussia. Peter Minuit, the founder of New Amsterdam (New York City) was born here.

But, our interest was in the nearby city of Xanten in the time of Rome and today. The photo above is of the ancient Roman archeological site that has been in a continuous state of excavation for many years.

We explored the ancient aquaduct system the Romans used to source their water. The digs are going on all over the expansive site with archeologists and students from all over the world. They even live on site in existing buildings converted into little “hotels”. The site was at the far reaches of the expanding Roman empire, and was left to be inhabited by the “lesser” of Roman subjects who would have to deal with the cold weather and rain that most nobles enjoyed in territory closer to Rome. But Xanten was of strategic importance to Rome and needed subjects to keep it alive and flourishing.