More Greetings from Holland

[Priscilla]

After lunch on the boat, we head out or an afternoon tour of Gouda, which they pronounce like HOW-da, with the first syllable sounding like one is clearing one’s throat. It has a very large church, which began as a Catholic church, but became a Protestant church during the Reformation. It has remained Protestant ever since. It is open to all regardless of belief. Inside are about 75 very large and complex stained glass windows depicting Biblical stories and the history of the Netherlands and its fight against the sea and human invaders. Together, they represent 60% of the stained glass of Holland. Some of these windows go back to the 1500s. We also went to the town hall and watched the animated clock strike the hour.

The next day was a real treat, as we had steamed down to Belgium and got a chance to go to Bruges. I made sure I had some Belgium waffles at breakfast. Bruges was one of the main things I wanted to do on this trip. 200 years ago, a Gallic-Roman settlement was located at the site. Bruges was the most important fortification in the Flemish coastal are. By the eleventh century, Bruges had expanded to become a commercial center for Europe. It had a canal linking it to the sea. When this silted up, Bruges rapidly declined. Without money to build new buildings, it remained pretty much as it had been in medieval times. It is surrounded by a moat and has beautiful Gothic structures which reflect its importance in the past. These include the Stadhuis (town hall), The Church of Our Lady which has a sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo, the Beguinage (nun’s residence), Market Square, and the Belfry of Bruges. “French” fries actually originated here, so we made sure to have a big plate of them with mayonnaise, and Belgian chocolate and cherry beer. There are about 632 different beers in Belgium, each with their own special glass. After our canal ride, we walked all over. There are swans here with Bs carved into their bills. They are the property of the city. They are kept to commemorate Peter Longneck, an associate of Maximillan, who was beheaded in Bruges. Everywhere there are bicyclists. One hears the chimes of the cycle and one better get out of the way.

We next toured the Flemish town of Lier. It is a small but beautiful old city, mostly from the 13th century. The belfry town dates from 1369. In 1212 Lier first became a city. It began in the eighth century as a fortification. Market Square was demolished by the Germans in WWII. Only 3 structures remain in their original condition. The iron fence around the City Hall was restored by Lodewyk van Boeckel, who also made the fence around the White House in D.C. There is a Beguinage here, also. The Beguins (think nuns) were here beginning in about 1268. The last one died in about 1995. The most exciting thing for us is the Zimmer Tower Complex. It consists of the Jubilee Clock, the Astronomical Studio and the Wonderclock. The Wonderclock was built for the Brussels World Fair and later shipped to the USA to the Rockefeller Center for the New York World’s Fair. It was somehow lost, but later found in the Smithsonian Museum after the war and returned to Belgium. The Jubilee Clock was given by Zimmer to his birthtown in 1930, the year of the centenary celebration of Belgium’s independence. It and the Astronomical Studio are in the same tower. They are kept going by only one single master clockwork. The clock has the equation of time, the zodiac, the solar orb and dominical letter, the week, the terrestrial globe, the month, the dates, the season, the tide, the moon’s age, the phase of the moon, and the moon’s orbit with epact. The Astronomical Zimmer Studio has the time zones, tides, a planetarium, the saros period, the cotsworth calenadar, sunrise, sunset, comets, eclipses, rotary motions of the planets, and other measurements. The Wonderclock has 93 dials fixed to the sun, planets, time zones of the earth, ecliptic longitude, constellations, calendars, seasons, distance between sun and earth, declination of the sun, the zodiac, the constellations, dislocation of the big axis of the earth’s orbit, general precession or progression of the equinoxes, solar day and solar night, revolution time of the earth at the equator, velocity of the earth, year of the Olympiads, the mooncircle, comets, the orrery, the saros, tides, and other measurements. This clock takes 25,000 years to return to the point of origin. It is the slowest known moving mechanism in the world.

We next toured Antwerp. After Bruges silted in, Antwerp became an important port. It was inhabited as early as the second century. In the tenth century it became a province of the Holy Roman Empire. Political-religious struggles between the Protestant North and Catholic Spain led to the Fall of Antwerp in 1585. It had several recovery periods. In 1993 Antwerp was selected the Cultural Capital of Europe. The tide at Antwerp can vary by as much as 18 feet. The best part of Antwerp for me was Our Lady’s Cathedral, which is among the largest Gothic cathedrals in the Low Countries. Its art works stretch over several centuries. The ones I really liked were by Ruebens. Several triptychs of his are there. Days could have been spent just on these art works. I brought along some bedroom slippers from home that look like wooden shoes. At the evening briefing this night the speaker singled me out by name for wearing such iconic foot gear.

Our next stop is Nijmegen in The Netherlands. Nijmegen is established to be the oldest Roman city in the Netherlands. In the ninth century, Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, chose Nijmegen as his favorite residence. We saw parts of the original Roman city wall. The famous recent action in Nijmegen came in 1944 during the great Allied offensive known as “Market Garden.” Thousands of parachutists landed and advanced towards Arnhem. Their goal was to secure the bridges near Nijmegen, Arnhem and nearby towns that were held by the Germans. Only one battalion managed to reach the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem and hold off the German troops for less than a week before retreating. The Battle of Arnhem has become famous for its near success and was captured on screen in the film “A Bridge Too Far.” The occupation was ended a few months later. We went to the National Liberation Museum just a few miles from Nijmegen in Groesbeck. It is in the shape of a parachute, and is set in the field where the British, American and Polish troops actually landed. The museum was founded as a token of gratitude to the men who fought and those who lost their lives in WWII. The area was liberated by the 82nd Airborne. The US troops left in November 1944 and the Canadians took over the area. A passenger who was in WWII as part of a gun crew was asked to lay a ceremonial wreath in their hall of honor.

We next went to Lake Ijsselmeer, which was formed when the Dutch dammed up the former Zuiderzee in 1932 for flood control and to make new land. With the loss of maritime trade (especially the East India Company which had brought such wealth to The Netherlands) the region had to look for other economic activities such as agriculture and tulip bulb growing. We drove over the enclosure dike and visited a bulb grower. He and his wife are second generation tulip growers. He is wearing wooden shoes, which he says serve as safety shoes. When he is kneeling in the fields, he can sit on the heels of the wooden shoes. He gives us tea and cookies, some of which we sneak to his imploring dog. I made a point of tiptoeing through the tulips. The bicycles are everywhere. Most of the bikes are heavy frame bikes with fat tires for touring around town and getting over cobblestones. They all seem to have baskets or saddlebags or a combination of these to use for shopping. We visit a planetarium a fellow named Eise Eisinga built in the living room of his own home more than 220 years ago. It is still working. Although he was a woolcomer, he had enormous knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Panic erupted among the local people because a planetary alignment was approaching. He built the model of the solar system to show that there was no reason for such fears. There are also date indicators, lunar dials, a zodiac, constellations, and solar dials. Menno Simmons, the founder of the Mennonites came from this area, also. This is the land of stolp farms. The farmsteads have two colors on the main building. The front part, where the people live, is black. The back part, where the animals live is red. The animals provide aw heat source in the winter. Couples are given intertwined swans to mount on their houses when they marry. Swans mate for life. There are lots of wind turbines here. We saw sheep lying down in the shade of an arm of one that was on the ground.

Vrolyk Pasen! That’s Dutch for Happy Easter! Breakfast is special. They serve champagne, and eggs benedict. We find a chocolate bunny at our place setting. We take a ferry to a village they moved when it was going to be flooded by the damming up of the Zuiderzee. They have reconstructed it as a typical Dutch village. I was even able to mail a post card from a turn-of-the-century post office. We walked back through the modern town of Enkhuizen to the waterfront and boat. It is like most of the towns we have visited, very charming. The houses are all very neat and intimately situated on canals. All of the structures have terra cotta tile roofs as well.

Our boat next goes to Hoorn. Cape Horn in South America was named after this town. We passed through an unusual lock. It is called a naviduct, where the boat goes on top of the roadway. Or maybe I should say the highway ducks under the canal. We walked around Hoorn then had Easter Dinner at a church. There were orange feather boas for sale in town to commemorate the queen, a member of the House of Orange.

[Corky]

Thank you for such a concise report, it truly makes one feel like they were right along with you. Enjoy!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

enjoyed your report

[ShipMaven]

Your reports continue to be wonderful, Priscilla. Thank you.

[Jeanie]

Enjoy hearing from you