Lazy day. Morning on ship for breakfast and lunch. Read and walked on the deck. In early afternoon bus to Delta Project near Veere in southern Netherlands. This massive engineering project took place after the storm and flooding that killed more than 1700 people in 1953. Funding began in 1960's , then planning and finally construction from 1978 to 1986 at a cost of 8 billion dollars. In 1971 decision to create 62 movable barrier walls so that fish, mussels, an...

Toured the Hague and Delft Bus to Hague, which is gvmt center but not Capitol It is 22 miles from Utrecht. Toured municipal museum and saw paintings by such Dutch masters as Rembrandt and Vermeer. Stopped for a photo of Peace Palace,built after WW1 with contributions from each nation. Netherlands had been neutral in that war In afternoon toured Delft, famous for its porcelain and as the home of William of Orange who liberated Netherlands from Spain. William wa...

Lecture on HanseaticLeague. Originally founded to protect merchants from pirates on Baltic and North Sea. Then evolved into a loose federation of trading communities that stretched from Netherlands to Scandinavia. Kampen was one of the cities and our boat docked there. Toured In afternoon . In morning bus to Giethoorn, literally goats horn , named because of what was found when land was drained Entire trip through the town was by canal boat, like Venice. Even g...

Spent morning at Keukerhof which has some 7 million tulips. Began in late 1940s as a fair. land was originally vegetable garden for Bavarian princess. Tulipmania began in 17th century. Keuken means kitchen. some 7 million tulips are planted each year. Park has about 15 km of walks. Very scenic. Biggest spring garden in the world. Also has 2500 species. When we were there, spring was late and the blooms were about 4 weeks behind. Still, the tulips are plan...

Arrived today. Hectic flight from Columbus to Dulles but arrived safely. Airport named ships hell because of the number of wrecks found when land was drained . Had bus tour of Amsterdam, a city of 750000 began in 1200s. Took picture of windmill favored by Rembrandt. Also ate fresh herring at a street stand. Biggest tourist attraction is Anne Frank museum where the wait is more than an hour. Before ww2 there were 16000 Jews but only 600 survived. Photos of can...