The Kinderdijk!

 



 Last night I had a much better sleep.  Kim and I both slept until 10:00!  One more good sleep and I think I should be mostly caught up.  Today I'm still feeling a bit tired.  But it has still been very exciting!  This morning Oom Gert Jan and Tante Joke drove Kim and I to see Erasmus University.  It

  is enormous!  I think Kim and I will have to perfect our charming smiles and our 'Can you us poor lost girls?'  Then we went to Southern Rotterdam (we live in East Rotterdam) Oom Gert Jan had an errand to do.  It's so fascinating to see all the quaint buildings, the boats on the harbour, the brick streets and houses.  And our very first windmill!  Kim and I were so excited we had to get out of the vehicle to see it.  Another most surprising sight was the smallest house.  It was only one meter wide, but four stories tall.  I don't think I could live in a house that narrow.  I would get so claustrophobic.  All the houses here are small (though not that small), but the people make such efficient use of space that it's hardly noticeable.  They also have less stuff in general and spend more time outside, which I think is a very good thing.  This afternoon the Macleans were going to take the Metro with us to Erasmus so we could see how the system worked, but on a whim decided to go the Kinderdijk instead!  It was raining, and the tourist windmill was closed, but it was so lovely!  Most of the windmills have families living in them.  That was a fascinating fact to learn.  We had a very nice walk along the canal, and took some pictures as well.  There were also two men fishing, and they caught a pike that was about as long as my arm.