As we traveled to the boat we passed some modern windmills. We will see old ones in a few days. The day was very stormy and windy. The dining area looks out on the harbor. We could see waves splashing against the windows and whitecaps everywhere. The plan to leave port was changed due to high winds. My weather app says 26 knots out of the northeast. The captain said that our planned trip would have been very rocky. It’s not good to have passengers who are seasick on day 1.
As I knew it would happen, they changed plans to take us by bus to Hoorn since we couldn’t go by boat. Apparently this town is the source of the name for Cape Horn. We are doing an afternoon walking tour of the town. Others are going to a tulip farm to see how they cultivate and sell the bulbs. Tulip flowers are not the main sales. The bulbs are a 100 billion dollar worldwide industry. So the flowers are usually mowed down early to allow the bulbs to grow large. Size matters!
On the way to Hoorn we drove across one of the huge dykes that were built to regulate the water level in the interior. We also passed many tulip fields. Our guide told us that the season to see fields is nearly over because it will be time for the flowers to be cut off so that the bulbs can grow. We reached Hoorn with our guide and split into groups to walk the town. Many of the old houses have plaques depicting scenes from war or showing the business of the original owner.
Hoorn seems quite small and charming. There has been a housing crisis in the Netherlands such that the government has subsidized people to move from cities like Amsterdam to towns like Hoorn which has available land and housing. It’s only 36 km away from Amsterdam.
We returned to the ship for dinner. It was our turn to eat at the upscale restaurant in a private dining room in the stern of the boat. As dessert was served, we entered the first of many locks and watched the gates close behind us. These locks are quite wide so that other huge ships are in the lock with us. There are mostly barges carrying all sorts of things. We have a whole morning of locks ahead of us tomorrow too.
Sent from my MarineTraffic app for iOS
The Adventures of Anne 