Above, the memorial garden and bike-roundabout commemorating the WWII events noted yesterday. Below, other views from both ground level and from high in the tower of Eusebiuskerk, about which we shared more in an earlier post….and will share still more in posts yet to come :-).
Compare the river traffic in yesterday’s post and today’s. This is the Nederrijn (“lower Rhine”) at Arnhem, just some 15km north of Nijmegen. My working hypothesis is the Dutch generally channel passenger boats and river cruises into this branch of the Rhine, versus commercial freight traffic onto the much larger Waal.
Fun-sad fact: in late 1944, the allies held (most of?) Belgium and areas of NL to the south of the Waal, at least this far east. Meaning allies held Nijmegen; Germans still held Arnhem, with no-one’s-land between. The rounded building with windows on the left is a fine museum commemorating and documenting a (individually) valiant but (tactically) disastrous effort in September 1944 to liberate Arnhem and free the road for an earlier advance on Berlin. One outcome of this failed operation was the premature exposure of many Dutch resistance fighters. Another was the (German-)forced mass evacuation of Arnhem – in winter – and the destruction of the bridge here, which is now named in commemoration of the British commander who tried valiantly but without success to hold the bridge for the allies.
The Waal at Nijmegen, which carries more than half the water which enters NL when the Rhine comes in from Germany. I’ve heard the Rhine in DE is now at dangerously low levels for commerce, and I’m sure the Rhine’s various branches are also lower than normal in NL The Dutch being the engineers of water that they are, though, I somehow assume they’re opening and closing flow controls to sustain volume in the various branches at viable levels for as long as possible.
Fun fact: what you see right here was the northernmost edge of the Roman empire for some few hundred years, after they gave up trying to take even more territory away from the Germanic tribes still resisting on the other side of the Rhine.
The first time, I believe, that I’ve devoted an entry in the Small Wonders series to a human creation. But this 2000-year-old Roman wonder from the superb museum in Nijmegen captivated my spirit with its luminous beauty, to be quite honest. Roman – and other ancient or modern – glassware will sometimes have that effect on me 🙂
This is the dike about which my brother Steve asked me in a recent post. To the right is an inland (country) canal, to the left what I believe can already be called the Wattenmeer or Wadden Sea here, although most folks think of it as being much further east. Texel is the westernmost of the many Frisian islands which collectively – I believe? – form the outer boundary of the Wattenmeer. Correct me in a comment if I’m wrong, someone, please. This dike runs most of the length of the eastern edge of Texel, where natural dunes aren’t as prevalent as they are on the western (much windier!) side. The road – also named Lancasterdijk – runs up nearly to de Cocksdorp, which you’ll see again from this vantage point in our next post :-).
This is Eusebiuskerk (St Eusebius Church) in Arnhem, capital of Gelderland. I’ve just returned from spending five nights in Arnhem, while playing in the tennis competition portion of the EuroGames in nearby Nijmegen. Had a lot of fun exploring both cities and am trying to get some photos ready for posting while I’m on planned travels to a quite different location for most of the month ahead. Nijmegen is rich in Roman history, while Arnhem has a quite sad WWII history, for which many visit it. This church had to be rebuilt after the war, along with much of the rest of the city. Well worth a read, and friends who love classical history might add Nijmegen to the visit list; a day trip is perfectly feasible, though it might be a long day.
(so much world, so little time....) 