Pictures of the Netherlands

[The Lawspeaker]

Lente in Limburg:

[The Lawspeaker]

Winter in Limburg (Noord en Zuid):

[The Lawspeaker]

More springtime in Limburg for Lily. This will be the final post I will dedicate to this beautiful province.

[The Lawspeaker]

Ravenstein and the river Meuse - in Brabant.

[The Lawspeaker]

De Batavia is een authentieke reconstructie van een VOC-schip uit 1628. Onder leiding van scheepsbouwmeester Willem Vos bouwden van 1985 tot 1995 in Lelystad enkele honderden jongeren aan dit schip, in het kader van een scholings- en werkervaringsproject. Op 7 april 1995 werd de Batavia door Koningin Beatrix gedoopt en te water gelaten. Het duurde echter nog tot 4 oktober 2000 voordat het schip helemaal op eigen kracht kon gaan zeilen, tijdens een verblijf in Sydney, Australië, waar het schip ter gelegenheid van de Olympische Spelen heen was vervoerd. Cineast Roel Oostra heeft bouwmeester Vos en zijn Batavia sinds 1985 met de camera gevolgd: de bouw, de doopplechtigheid, de reis naar Australië en de eerste zeilproeven zijn door hem gefilmd, wat tot een uniek tijdsdocument heeft geleid

[The Lawspeaker]

Groningen was in de jaren 50 een echt diesel bolwerk. 4 van de 5 op dit station eindigende lijnen waren nog niet geëlektrificeerd.

[The Lawspeaker]

This distant corner of Brabant (known as the Land van Cuyk) is the area between the ( Limburgic border on the Western bank of the Meuse (near de Peel) and the Limburgic border on the Eastern bank of the Meuse (both in the East and South) and an area as far North as Grave used to be originally part of the Duchy of Guelders but later on became part of Brabant. Even today, the language and the local dialect differ from Brabantic and the area focusses more on both Venlo (Limburg) and Nijmegen (Guelders). It's a landscape of contrasts: whereas the river valley always nurtured life as back as the days of the Romans (who once built and maintained a bridge at Cuyk), the area the areas further away from the river were dirt poor a mixture of marshes and forests. Much of it was only brought under the plow during the 19th century. Today - the area is known as the center of the Dutch meat industry with most farmers dedicating themselves to pig breeding.










Maasheggen (lit. "Meuse hedges") in Eastern Brabant, Southern Guelders and Northern Limburg. A typical landscape in the valley along the river Meuse.















Further away from the river on the Brabantic side, the area becomes a flat plateau with fields surrounded by rows of trees - often interspersed with forests.





That the area was only recently cultivated can be seen here on Google Maps. As it is not a particularly interesting area - not many pictures of the countryside itself exist but all the more exist from the various small villages and farms that dot the area.

[The Lawspeaker]

Overloon and the Peel. Overloon is particularly well known in the Netherlands for the Battle of Overloon. This September/October 1944 tank battle between, mainly, British and German forces turned into a quagmire where the Allies advanced painfully slow and with heavy losses. Much of the Land van Cuijk and the surrounding area was littered with landmines and left completely devastated as the Allies tried to secure the salient that had been built up during the failed Battle of Arnhem between the Belgian border and Nijmegen.


Churchill tanks with infantry advance during the attack by 3rd Division on a German pocket near Overloon, 14 October 1944.


British graves at Overloon - photographed in 1946.


And the modern Overloon War Cemetery for British and Commonwealth troops.

Pictures of the landscape in the area - going down to the Limburgic border:











In Ysselstein - Limburg. This is where the Dutch gathered the German casualties of war that had fallen around the country once the war was over and reburied them in a place as far away as humanly possible from what the Dutch perceived "the known world": a distant field in Northern Limburg. Out of sight, out of mind - or so they thought. Today, the funeral area is well looked after by both the Dutch government and the German organisation that concerns itself with military cemeteries. A remote, yet peaceful place.

[The Lawspeaker]

The Waalbrug at Nijmegen (bridge across the River Waal):



(1935 - during its construction):


(Autumn 1939: guarded by the Army)


After a joint offensive by the XXXth Corps (British), the Guards Armoured Division (British) and the 82th Airborne Division (U.S), British engineers are removing the charges the Germans had placed to blow up the bridge.


XXX Corps cross the bridge.


(Before 1980: in its original colour scheme)

The daring German commando attack to destroy the road and rail bridges at Nijmegen just after Operation Market Garden, September 1944.

[The Lawspeaker]

Spring in the Montferland:

Het was vandaag prachtig mooi weer, de zon scheen en het was 12 graden. Dat is wel even wat anders na al die natte grauwe dagen! Genoeg reden dus om er even op uit te gaan.

Nijmegen, Kronerburgerpark:



And Nijmegen singer Frank Boeijen's famous song about a heroin prostitute he once passed by heroin addicted prostitute he once passed by while driving home - discovering to his shock and horror that she was once of his former class mates. This song dates back to Nijmegen as it was during the 1970s and 1980s when the city (like the country) had reached its absolute lowpoint:



A translation can be found here.