Monday, July 3, 2023

Viking Cruise Vacation #8: Cat & the Cradle Legend, What is Holland? and 4 Min. Video Tour!

This is the eighth blog about our Viking Rhine River Cruise and it continues our tour of the historic windmill region. There's one legend associated with the 19 Historic Kinderdijk Windmills of the Netherlands, and it's called the "Cat and the Cradle." Today's blog shares that story and has a bonus NEW 4-minute video from a man who apparently visited the week after we did!
(Photo: Statue of the cat in the cradle in one of the Kinderdijk's dikes. Credit: R.G.)  

Encircle photos provided a great short summary of the legend of the cat in the cradle near the windmills of Kinderdijk:

 

(Photo: Tom and Rob on a bridge near the statue of the cat in the cradle. Credit: R.G.)

Cat and the Cradle Legend in Kinderdijk, Netherlands 

According to legend, the Saint Elizabeth’s Flood of 1421 ravished the land around Kinderdijk and drowned up to 10,000 people. The following day, an infant girl was found drifting in a crib. The baby had remained afloat only because of the tireless efforts of a cat jumping back and forth to keep the cradle balanced. The story became a popular Dutch fairytale. 

HOW THE TOWN GOT IT'S NAME: The village was named "Kinderdijk" meaning "children’s dike."

This story will likely bring back a memory of Harry Chapin’s 1974 hit song “Cat’s in the Cradle.”  

(Photo: A look at several of the windmills in Kinderdijk from the main road. Credit: R.G.) 

DID YOU KNOW? HOLLAND IS ONLY A PART OF THE NETHERLANDS - Holland is the western part of the Netherlands.  The Netherlands consists of 12 provinces but many people use “Holland” when talking about the Netherlands. There are 12 provinces, that together make up the Netherlands. The two provinces of Noord- and Zuid-Holland together are actually considered Holland and is one-sixth of the country. Commonly, thought, Holland is often used when people mean the Netherlands. Now you know. 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/emrEFX6EGtY

NEXT:  Welcome to Cologne, Germany & its Haunted Cathedral

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Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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