Today we are able to appreciate the difficulties experienced by the early settlers and fishermen of the Netherlands. We land in Enkhuizen to have an opportunity to visit the Zuiderzee Museum. The skies are grey, the seas are rolling and we are transported back in time to see how it was when herring was king. the Zuiderzee Museum has been recreated stone by stone or in some instances house by house to illustrate how the people of the Netherlands caught and dried fish as well as contended with the sea by building dikes. It is fascinating and made all the more impressive because the temperature is in the 40s and the winds are howling.
Upon leaving Enkhuizen to sail to Hoorn we experience one of the newest locks as we sail through the Houtribdijk Aqueduct. What makes this so unusual is that there is a road carrying heavy traffic that passes under the boat as we sail through.
This afternoon we had the delight to ride through the countryside and visit a family cheese farm. The cheese was terrific. I did not know that it takes 10 pounds of milk to make 1 pound of cheese. There was a calf that was only an hour old. After the cheese farm we visited a working
windmill. It is quite impressive how the country has been rescued from the sea by use of these windmills. Almost the entire country is below sea level. The airport in Amsterdam is 13 fett below sea level.
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