Arnhem

Arnhem, near the German border

We’ve already posted an entry detailing the wonderful experience we’ve had at the marina outside of town.  Now, we’ll try to tell you a bit about what we’ve done while we are here.

We spent one day at the OpenLucht (Open Air) Museum just north of town.  I’d been there almost 20 years ago, but Bill needed to see it.  There’s a wealth of information about daily life in the Netherlands in the past, and it also gives you a good understanding of the differences in the regions.  Travel has helped me appreciate much more the regional differences in the States, but it has also pointed out the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, differences in regions of countries much smaller than our own.

It also teaches all sorts of interesting tidbits.  For instance, the reason this house is painted this shade of blue is because it keeps away flies. 

Well, that’s what they say anyway.

The museum is celebrating its 100^th year, and the additions since the last time I was here are impressive.  They try to collect buildings from different regions of the country.

They range from the small sod huts used by the lowest levels of society at the time, to whole

farmsteads, large and small,

and have recently added two buildings from the Jordaan district in Amsterdam.  There are a series of 4 workers houses, decorated in the styles of different times right up to the 1960_s.   It’s a bit like Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, and the Smithsonian Museum of American History all rolled into one. 

They claim you can see most of the museum in 3 hours depending on how much time you spend in each exhibit, and they do not suggest you walk the whole route.  One of the  more recent additions is the old trolley station from Arnhem and an antique trolley system that takes you around the park.  

We walked it all, only missed a very few exhibits at the end because we were tired, and did it in about 4½ hours.  Yes, we were tired, and yes, our feet hurt – a lot.


Another day, we did the tour of the two local museums addressing the Battle of Arnhem and Operation Market Garden in 1944.  Being a lapsed historian, I wanted to try to understand the dynamics of the battle on site.  Our mooring is just upstream of "The Bridge Too Far," 

now called the John Frost Bridge in honor of the British commander who initially took the 

north end of the bridge and held onto it for so many days against overwhelming odds.  The bridge is just downstream of our moorings and was the last landmark we

passed under as we came upstream on Sunday.  There are a number of museums and 


cemeteries, but we only visited the two most prominent.  Probably the most poignant
reminder was a memorial outside the entrance to the Airborne museum in Oosterbeek:

You can click on the photo to enlarge it and read the inscription.


And finally, on a lighter note, we discovered another sort of monument on the way back to Arnhem:  

We know it's the real TARDIS because it prominently advertised itself as being out of order.  Since Bill has given Amy his sonic screwdriver, we were not able to gain entry.  


Tomorrow we begin our return down the Rijn through Gouda and Haarlem before we leave the boat south of Amsterdam again for the winter.  Postings may be fewer, both because we've been to these places before and because we'll be moving faster and have fewer internet connections.  Till next time,  take care all . . . .