Netherlands – Central and West (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Almere) Sept 22-29, 2021
Observations
1. Highways
a. Speed limits. In every other country in Europe, the speed limit is 130kms/hr, but there is never radar and the left lane is full of some going very fast. Here the speed limit is 100 and few are going over it – nobody going 200 in the left lane, with their left signal on indicating “get over”, no one tailgating. It is all very calm and orderly.
b. The main rest areas charge to use toilets and have no showers.
c. Trucks stop at big rest areas that have no services, not even a bathroom.
d. No tolls. This is a welcome change after Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain where tolls average at least 1€ per 10kms (you pay more for tolls than gas).
2. Netherlands Museum Pass. Only the NL has this and it is a screaming deal – completely free access to 400 museums for 65E for a year. I will only be in the NL for 6 more days and bought one. It will still pay for itself several times over. I used it extensively the last time I was here.
The temporary card becomes invalid after 7 days or after 5 museums. This latter point is not apparent on the website. The best thing to do is to order the card a week before you enter Holland, have it delivered to someone you know (if not, you are out of luck), and then you will have the permanent card to use once you reach Holland.
You can’t phone the website without an NL phone number. I used a phone at a museum and called complaining about the 5 museum rules, explaining that I was only going to be in the NL for a week, but there was no way around the rule.
3. Covid Rules. Nobody (ie zero) wears masks indoors except in public transport. But there is hand sanitizer everywhere and use is often enforced. I am surprised at how unscientific the Dutch are.
4. Muslims. The NL appears to have a large Muslim population. As all the women are wearing a headscarf and some a veil, I assume most are Sunni.
5. Bicycles. Everywhere, they make driving complicated as they seem to have the right of way. It is especially difficult making right-hand turns as they come up behind you wanting to cross the streets and get pissed if you cut them off. I almost hit three at once on a roundabout as they came from behind and zipped right in front of me.
Unlike any bike available in North America, they look very “clunky”, mostly because few have a horizontal tube and thus a double or heavy diagonal tube. Most have a heavy front rack, a back rack, basket, panniers, chain guard, fenders, and awkward back-curved handlebars. Large front-end carriers and freight hauling contraptions are common. Baby carriers are common. I saw one with 8 little kids in it. And all are ridden in a very sedate fashion. Every street had bike lanes. Zero wear helmets. Scooter riders don’t wear helmets and also drive on the bike lanes.
6. Taxis to the Airport. The 65€ bill from Naarden was very expensive. Take a taxi to the local train station, just as fast as a taxi.
Museum Mr. Simon van Gijn, Dordrecht. Van Gijn (1836-1922) was a lawyer and collector who donated this house where he lived from 1864 till his death. The interiors have rich woodwork and date to the 17h century and contain historical prints, sketches, photographs, ceramics, tapestries. The attic has a large collection of toys. 10 free with NL museum pass.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Lower German Limes WHS
Following the left bank of the Lower Rhine River for approximately 400 km from the Rhenish Massif in Germany to the North Sea coast in the Netherlands, the transnational property consists of 102 components from one section of the frontiers of the Roman Empire, which in the 2nd century CE, stretched across Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, over 7,500 km. The property comprises military and civilian sites and infrastructure that marked the edge of Lower Germany from the 1st to 5th centuries CE. Archaeological remains in the property include military bases, forts, fortlets, towers, temporary camps, roads, harbors, a fleet base, a canal, and an aqueduct, as well as civilian settlements, towns, cemeteries, sanctuaries, an amphitheater, and a palace. Almost all of these archaeological remains are buried underground. Waterlogged deposits in the property have enabled a high degree of preservation of both structural and organic materials from the Roman periods of occupation and use.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Lower German Limes ran for 400 km along the Lower Rhine, along the north-eastern boundary of the Roman frontier province of Germania Inferior (Lower Germany), from the Rhenish Massif south of Bonn (Germany) to the North Sea coast (the Netherlands). For more than 450 years from the late 1st century BC, it protected the Roman Empire against Germanic tribes. The first military bases were built in the last decade BC for the conquest of Germanic territories across the Rhine. Once this ambition had failed the left river bank was converted into a fortified frontier. Military installations of varying types and sizes and associated civil structures and infrastructures were built on the edge of the river. The frontier shared the phased disintegration of the Western Roman Empire until the mid-5th century. The remains of the Frontier illustrate the important impacts of the Roman military presence on the landscape and society of the periphery of the Empire.
I visited this particular site on my first trip through the Netherlands.
Day 2
I made a long drive from Rotterdam and saw the following in order.
Toren van Goedeereede is a gray square brick tower in Goedereede, Netherlands, 39.5 metres (130 ft) high, belonging to the Catharina church. It was built in 1512. From 1552 to 1912 the tower served as a lighthouse and went through various changes during this period. Today it has been restored and is a museum, housing a carillon.
The original tower was part of a large parish church in the then-prosperous fishing and trading port. Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens (1459–1523), the future Pope Adrian VI, was pastor of the church. During a great fire in Goedereede in 1482 the old “Katharina Church” and its tower were destroyed. A new church was erected in 1512 beside a giant new tower, which still stands today. A large bell that sounded the hours was cast in 1519, with the Latin inscription, Est mea vox grata, quia sum Maria vocata et Georgius Waghevens Me fecit Anno Domini MCCCCCXVIII (My voice is welcome because I am called Maria and George Waghevens made Me in the year of our Lord 1518.) A second bell was added in 1647.
Although at first unlit, the tower served as a landmark to help ships navigate.[2] From 1552 the tower served as a lighthouse. The light originally came from an open coal fire.
Goederede went into a long decline, losing trade to better-suited ports. There were insufficient funds to maintain the church. In 1706 the dilapidated building was pulled down, but the tower was preserved. In 1823, the spire of the church was removed to improve the use of the tower as a lighthouse. On 26 February 1834, 45 metres (148 ft) high light with optics were installed.
In 1967 the tower was designated a national monument (Rijksmonument). From 1973 to 1978 the tower was restored at a cost of over two million euros and made into a museum. A carillon of bells was hung in the tower, which can be played either mechanically or by hand. The carillon of 37 bells was inaugurated on 24 June 1978. In 1999 it was extended with six bass and seven treble bells. Two more bells were added in 2010, providing many more options to the player.[3] In April 2011 the Dutch Carillon Society organized an international competition for carilloneurs, each of whom had twelve minutes to perform. It was a long drive here. 3€
Bernisse (AMS 60). This minesweeper was built in 1953 and decommissioned in the 90s. Had a nice tour. It was in the Belgian navy and used to carry ammunition.
Ramtorenschp “Buffet”, Hellevoetsluis. Built-in 1873, this steamship is now a restaurant/event venue.
Between them is a lightship built-in 1963, it was used for navigation in Dutch coastal waters. Video and a small museum. Free to walk all over. Free
Elbe, Maassluis. A tugboat built-in 1958, it is no longer used as a tug but is an event venue used for parties and meetings. Was apparently used by Greenpeace. Closed to visits because of Covid.
Vlaardingse Vaart Bridge, Vlaardingen. Called De Twist, it has a steel girder suspension that twists, called a helical truss bridge for pedestrian and bicycle traffic over the Vlaardingervaart canal in Vlaardingen, Netherlands. The bridge has a span of 45 meters.
The bridge’s truss is made of 400 steel tubes, welded together, and originally painted red; the color has since rapidly faded. The truss’s rectangular cross-section twists through a 90-degree angle along the span of the bridge so that it is nearly horizontal at both ends of the bridge but diamond-shaped in the bridge’s center. This design creates an illusion from some points of view that the bridge has collapsed, but it also serves a functional purpose, damping vibrations from traffic on the bridge.
It officially opened in April 2009. It was one of three finalists in the “best public space” category for the Dutch Design Awards in 2009.
Schiedam:
De Nieuwe Palmboom. There are 2 huge lighthouses that appear identical – tapering brick with a central platform to rotate the top.
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. museum for modern and contemporary Dutch visual art (much from the Cobra movement (the color of freedom ) in the city of Schiedam Much is modern art is by Dutch artists who have not yet acquired a name.
Founded in 1899, it is located in the former Sint Jacobs Gasthuis (
The museum has two large collections, a collection of modern and contemporary Dutch visual art and a cultural-historical collection (20,000 objects).
Collection of Modern and Contemporary Dutch Visual Art with more than 1000 about the history of the city. An important part of this is the utensils that have to do with jenever production. These objects have their own museum, the Jenever Museum next door. NL card
ROTTERDAM
Zuidplein Mall. A large older mall. All the stores.
Dutch Pinball Museum. A lot of pinball machines, some real beauties. I never did play pinball and didn’t bother playing. NL card
Museum Rotterdam ’40 -’45 NOW. Rotterdam was heavily bombed in WWII and this museum primarily shows artifacts recovered from the war years. Watch a short video.
Telecom Museum.
The Luchtsingel. This pedestrian bridge crosses a big road, then divides into two, one side crossing a railway line, the other a grassy area. The outside is lovely sun-weathered wood, the inside painted yellow with the boards labeled with businesses’ names (donors?).
I visited the Decathlon store near the bridge and found some great bargains.
Gebouw Delftse Poort. is a twin-tower skyscraper complex. Tower I is 151.35 m (496.6 ft) with 41 stories, and Tower II is 93 m (305 ft) with 25 stories. Until May 2009, Tower I was the tallest office tower in the Netherlands. Both towers are built over a 4-story multifunctional podium that adjoins the Rotterdam central station. The entire complex has 28 elevators.
It was constructed between 1988 and 1991. The cost of the construction was 240 million Dutch guilders, or about €110 million. Due to a metro tunnel running underneath the complex, advanced construction methods were required, allowing only a single underground floor to be built.
Until 2004, an annual race up the building’s stairs took place in this building.
Schaakstukken Museum (Museum of Chess Pieces). It opened its doors in 2006. Since then, the museum has displayed a wide collection: from antique chess sets to popular film characters and from folklore to abstract works of art. The museum organizes an annual Design Competition from which the Rotterdam Chess Game, a designer chess game of Rotterdam buildings by Harry Hoek, and the Game of Religions by artist Alie Kalverda have emerged.
TENT Rotterdam. A typical modern art museum with large installations, most awful. One I liked was 4 plastic molds of the mountains of Venus colour coded according to heat. NL card
MLV Castor. A yellow/white gunboat. Can’t be entered.
Feyenoord Museum. Located on the Olympia side of the stadium it is thematically designed with countless relics and an impressive timeline together from the history of Feyenoord and the stadium. See the old players’ tunnel. From the first national championship in 1924 to the most recent national championship in 2017.
It can only be seen on 1 ½ hour guided tours. I don’t like watching football because it is so boring. And really didn’t appreciate much here. NL card
Day 3
Arboretum Trompenburg. This is a lovely garden with a huge variety of trees and flowers under, canals, bridges. 4
De Boeg is a war memorial in Rotterdam . It commemorates the 3,500 people on board Dutch merchant ships who lost their lives in the Second World War. The Fred Carasso monument was unveiled by Princess Margriet on April 10, 1957, on the corner of Boompjes and Leuvehaven. The 46-meter high aluminum construction symbolizes a bow in the concrete waves. Later, on July 15, 1965, an 8-meter high bronze group of statues was added to the monument: a helmsman, three sailors, and a drowned man. On the side is the text: “They kept course”. A huge monument by the water in a good area for a stroll.
Santa Clause with Tree (aka the Butt Plug Gnome). A large Santa Claus (painted black) holding a bell and a three-lobed “butt plug”? in his right hand. There is no sign so I don’t know what the reference to Paul McCarthy is.
Santa Claus stirred up the biggest local art scandal of the last few decades -and yet it looks so friendly and benevolent! What is the problem? This Santa Claus is holding not a miniature Christmas tree, but a sex toy; a butt plug.
When the politicians and the general public learned of that, a long debate began that extended far beyond the national boundaries. Some found it tasteless and offensive, while others considered that a hypocritical point of view in an era permeated by commercial sex. Is this élite taste terrorism, or should art stimulate the debate? And should it be allowed in the street, or would it not be more in place in the closed setting of a museum?
Of course, this being the Netherlands, money came into the debate. The sculpture cost 180,000 euros, which is not much for a large work by McCarthy. The US artist is regarded as one of the leading lights of the art world. The low price was secured through the keen bargaining of Joop van Caldenborgh, (former) chairman of the committee.
In the meantime, the sculpture has been shifted from one location to another in the city like a hot potato. In the end Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen offered it a haven, as it had done earlier for other sculptures.
It is to be hoped that one day it will be given a location in a busy shopping street. McCarthy’s Santa Claus is the bronze king of instant satisfaction, a symbol of consumer enjoyment. The design of the sculpture combines high and low culture. Will Rotterdam ever become endeared to ‘the gnome with the butt plug’, as happened with other controversial sculptures in the past? If indignant residents were to have their say, Zadkines sculpture would not be there either.
Sonneveld House. 1933 home noted for its modernist architecture and period furniture. NL card.
Bierhandel De Pijp Pub. In the NM Hospitality legend series, this small bar on a nondescript side street was established in 1898.
Restaurant “Bierhandel” De Pijp still has that student-like interior and is not only the oldest restaurant in Rotterdam but also “the meeting point for social traffic”. Behind the windows in a side street of the Nieuwe Binnenweg, behind that (decayed) metal sign, behind that weathered wooden entrance door, you end up in another world. People don’t know their own tables there, there are long tables and you have to queue. The open kitchen is in the middle of the store on one side and there is no menu: the dishes are written in chalk on blackboards. The surface area is only 70 m2, with 68 place settings. De Pijp and Rotterdam are one. Accessible and informal. All worlds feel at home there. De Pijp is timeless and moves with the times.
Stoom Stichting Nederland. A railway museum located outside the western city limits, it has a very active maintenance shop, apparently getting the steam locomotive ready for the weekend trip to Den Bosch. From there they pick up 8 carriages for an 8 km trip. There are several old passenger cars on the tracks outside.
Garage Rotterdam. A gallery with good food and contemporary art not to my liking. Holds private events like weddings and birthday parties. NL card.
DELFT
Delft Botanical Garden. An average botanical garden.
The Prinsenhof. Museum on William of Orange and the creation of the Dutch republic, plus 17th-century arts and crafts.
William III (William Henry (1650 –1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s, and King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II. He is sometimes informally known as “King Billy” in Ireland and Scotland. His victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is commemorated by Unionists, who display orange colours in his honour. He ruled Britain alongside his wife and cousin Queen Mary II, and popular histories usually refer to their reign as that of “William and Mary”.
William was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, the daughter of Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland. His father died a week before his birth, making William III the Prince of Orange from birth. In 1677, he married Mary, the eldest daughter of his maternal uncle James, Duke of York, the younger brother of Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The Protestant William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic French ruler Louis XIV in coalition with both Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded William as a champion of their faith. In 1685, his Catholic uncle and father-in-law, James, became king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. James’s reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, who feared a revival of Catholicism. Supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, William invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. In 1688, he landed at the southwestern English port of Brixham. Shortly afterward, James was deposed.
William’s reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him and his wife to take power. During the early years of his reign, William has occupied abroad with the Nine Years’ War (1688–97), leaving Mary to govern Britain alone. She died in 1694. In 1696 the Jacobites, a faction loyal to the deposed James, plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate William and restore James to the throne. William’s lack of children and the death in 1700 of his nephew Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, the son of his sister-in-law Anne, threatened the Protestant succession. The danger was averted by placing distant relatives, the Protestant Hanoverians, in line to the throne with the Act of Settlement 1701. Upon his death in 1702, the king was succeeded in Britain by Anne and as titular Prince of Orange by his cousin John William Friso, beginning the Second Stadtholderless period.
THE HAGUE/ZOETERMEER
Great or St. James’ Church (Grote of Sint-Jacobskerk). is a landmark Protestant church on the Torenstraat, named for its high tower. Together with the Binnenhof, it is one of the oldest buildings in The Hague. Members of the House of Orange-Nassau have been baptized and married there. The latest is Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his daughter Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange.
The Great, or St. James’ Church, was founded in the late 13th century, probably as a wooden church. The present church was built in stages, between the 14th and 16th centuries. It has a fine vaulted interior and contains some old stained glass, a carved wooden pulpit (1550), a large organ and interesting sepulchral monuments, and 34 escutcheons of the knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece, placed here after the chapter of 1456. During excavations in 2009 archeologists determined that some basement walls were built with bricks which they could date between the years 1320 and 1350.
It was the first example in the Low Countries of the so-called “Hague Hall church”, a type of hall church.
The church is remarkable for its fine tower and chime of bells and contains the cenotaph monument of Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam, designed and sculpted by Bartholomeus Eggers in 1667, and the renaissance tomb of Gerrit van Assendelft (1487 – 1558). Also notable is the late Baroque tomb of Philip, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal and his wive Catherine of Solms-Laubach, designed by Daniel Marot in 1721. The church’s six-sided tower was finished between 1420 and 1424. The tower, 93 m (305 ft 1 in) tall, is one of the tallest in the Netherlands. The church is formally owned by the City of The Hague and is managed by the “Stichting Grote Kerk Den Haag”, which conducts restoration activities and rents it for concerts, but also facilitates various cultural initiatives of the city.
Who knows when this is open – no obvious front door or signs.
Prison Gate Museum (Rijksmuseum de Gevangenpoot). Local history museum
The Mesdag Collection. The Mesdag Collection is home to the remarkable collection of 19th-century art assembled by renowned seascape painter Hendrik Willem Mesdag and his wife Sientje Mesdag-van Houten.
The collection features countless masterpieces by Barbizon painters including Charles François Daubigny, Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet, and from the Hague School, such as paintings by the Maris brothers, Anton Mauve and Jozef Israëls.
The collection has been exhibited in the Mesdag’s charming private museum since 1887, and the museum’s galleries still exude the captivating 19th-century character. The Mesdag’s former residence is located adjacent to the museum and is now used for temporary exhibitions. Several attractive spaces are available for hire for meetings and events.
See the house, then his art collection. Most of the art is not so interesting. I did like Mancini though. NL card
Museon. State of the art museum exploring mankind’s relationship with nature and culture. NL card
Stalin Monument (Telefooncel met buste Stalin). Inside a telephone, booth is this black bust of Stalin. Beside him on the platform is a fancy small lamp and a dead fish. On each side of the telephone, booth is written: ALARM BRAND-POLITIE
Scheveningen Lighthouse. Built-in 1875 on orders of King Wilelm II, this red, octagonal LH sits amongst houses above Scheveningen Beach. There were many kiteboarders on a windy day.
Scheveningen Beach
Japanese Garden. Located in the middle of Clingendael Park, but because the garden is quite old and fragile, it is open only 8 weeks in the year.
The garden has a unique and special atmosphere. This is due in part to the beautiful moss cover. There are also beautiful and rare plants and trees in the garden. In the spring you can admire the azaleas, rhododendrons, and Japanese cherry trees. During the autumn the town is exceptionally colorful with the autumn hues of the different Japanese maple trees. The garden contains stone lanterns in all shapes and sizes. It also has 2 water casks. One water cask has 4 images of Buddhas. The other water cask is in the shape of a lotus flower. The pavilion offers a great vantage point to admire the garden. In a large park, this doesn’t quite measure up but is still nice.
Louwman Museum. World’s oldest private car collection, with cars dating from the 19th century. I have visited this before as I remember the Mercedes display of racing cars.
LEIDEN
St. Louis Church. I don’t think this church is ever open. I have been here before.
Botanical Garden
Gravestenenbrug, Haalem.. A pedestrian bridge over a wide canal. Is a white drawbridge with piers lifting the short central section.
Zuid-Kennemerland NP is situated west of Haarlem. South Kennemerland is characterized by sand dunes. The park, about 38 square kilometres (15 sq mi) in size, also includes some estates, forests on the dune fringes, and coastal beaches.
The dunes are rich in lime, allowing the growth of several plant species which are rare in the Netherlands. The inland dunes are covered with bacciferous shrubs attracting a variety of songbirds.
Zandvoort Beach. Zandvoort has one of the most famous beach resorts in the Netherlands. Together with the sea, dunes, beautiful nature, it is a hip beach with frequent great parties, an international Formula 1 racetrack,
I am finding that many of the places I am seeing, I have been to before. An odd thing about Nomad Mania is that my previous tics have not been recorded.
Last night, I slept in an industrial district. It smelt very good. In the morning (as the smell was stronger, I realized it was a bakery. Very nice.
Day 4
De Bazaar. A sprawling shopping and dining complex with market, food stalls, a gold souk.
Cheese Market, Alkmaar. This is a “tourist” event held on Fridays. Some of the cheeses are truly gigantic, initially weighing 70kgs, they “age” down to 60kg, increase their flavour but still retaining a creaminess.
Den Helder Light (Lighthouse Elektrotechnie), Huisduinen. Google Maps brought me to the middle of a suburban district without any visible LH.
There is a great lighthouse in Den Helder.
TEXEL (Frisian islands). An island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den Helder, northeast of Noorderhaaks, and southwest of Vlieland.
The All Saints’ Flood (1170) created the islands of Texel and Wieringen from North Holland. The island is 23.7 km long and 9.6 km wide, its surface is 169.82 square kilometers. The highest point of the island is not, as one might assume, de Hoge Berg (15 m above sea level), but the dune “Bertusnol” in the Dunes of Texel National Park, at 19.6 m. The dune landscape on Texel is a unique habitat for wildlife. Notable areas include De Slufter, where the tide comes in and meets the dunes, forming a marshy environment rich in both fauna and flora. Texel is known for its wildlife, particularly in winter, when birds of prey and geese take up residence. About one-third of Texel is a protected nature reserve. A wetland called Utopia has been designed for birds to nest in.
The ferry is in Den Helder, departs every 30 minutes. 37E return.
The very flat island has a massive earthen dike on its perimeter. The island is almost all agricultural. Outside on the east are coastal wetlands.
Dunes of Texel NP
Eierland Lighthouse. On the north tip of the island, it was a 25km drive from the ferry. Built in 1863-64 and built of bricks in 1948, it is 53m to the top of the light and 37.7m to the top of the tower and can be seen for 54kms. Made of 8 stores. pay to climb the 153 steps to the top.
After a few days in Amsterdam, I made a trip to Naarden to visit My California and finish business related to selling the van.
Muiden Castle, Muiden is located at the mouth of the Vecht river, some 15 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam, in Muiden, where it flows into what used to be the Zuiderzee. It is one of the better-known castles in the Netherlands and featured in many television shows set in the Middle Ages.
A stone castle was built here in 1280, The Vecht river was the trade route to Utrecht, one of the most important trade towns of that age. The castle was used to enforce a toll on the traders. It is a relatively small castle, measuring 32 by 35 meters with brick walls well over 1.5 meters thick. A large moat surrounded the castle.
In 1297, the castle was conquered by Willem van Mechelen, the Archbishop of Utrecht, and by the year 1300, the castle was demolished. A hundred years later (ca. 1370-1386) the castle was rebuilt on the same spot based on the same plan. The next owner of the castle shows up in the 16th century, when P.C. Hooft (1581-1647), an author, poet and historian took over sheriff and bailiff duties for the area (Het Gooiland).
At the end of the 18th century, the castle was first used as a prison, then abandoned and became derelict.
The inside of the castle, its rooms, and kitchens, was restored to look like they did in the 17th century and several of the rooms now house a collection of arms and armor.
El Al Flight 1862 memorial (Monument Bijlmer disaster). a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft of the then state-owned Israeli airline El Al, crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in the Bijlmermeer (colloquially “Bijlmer”) neighbourhood of Amsterdam.
In all, 43 people were officially reported as killed, including the aircraft’s three crew members, a non-revenue passenger in a jump seat, and 39 people on the ground. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in the Netherlands.
On 4 October 1992, the cargo aircraft, a Boeing 747-258F traveling from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel, made a stopover at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The jet landed in Schiphol at 2:40 pm for cargo loading and crew change. Once airborne, the aircraft turned to the right on its departure route. Soon after the turn, at 6:27 pm, witnesses on the ground heard a sharp bang and saw falling debris, a trail of smoke, and a momentary flash of fire on the right-wing while the aircraft was climbing through 1,950 m (6,400 ft). Engine number three separated from the right-wing of the aircraft shot forward, damaged the wing flaps, then fell back and struck engine number four, tearing it from the wing. The two engines fell away from the aircraft, also ripping out a 10-m (33-ft) stretch of the wing’s leading edge. That differential configuration caused the left wing to generate significantly more lift than the damaged right wing. The crew finally lost almost all ability to prevent the aircraft from rolling to the right. The roll reached 90° just before the impact with the apartments. At 6:35:42 pm local time, the aircraft nose-dived from the sky and crashed into two high-rise apartment complexes in the Bijlmermeer neighborhood of Amsterdam. It exploded in a fireball, which caused the building to partially collapse inward, destroying dozens of apartments.
First responders came upon a rapidly spreading fire of “gigantic proportions” that consumed all 10 floors of the buildings and was 120 meters (130 yd; 390 ft) wide.
Cause. In the event of excessive loads on the Boeing 747 engines or engine pylons, the fuse pins holding the engine nacelle to the wing are designed to fracture cleanly, allowing the engine to separate from the aircraft without damaging the wing or wing fuel tank. Airliners are generally designed to remain airworthy in the event of an engine failure or separation, so they can be landed safely. The design and certification of the Boeing-747 pylon were found to be inadequate to provide the required level of safety.
Memorial. A memorial was built near the crash site with the names of the victims. Flowers are laid at a tree that survived the disaster, referred to as “the tree that saw it all”. A public memorial is held annually to mark the disaster; no planes fly over the area for one hour out of respect for the victims.
All in Dutch, the memorial is in a rather poor neighborhood sitting in the middle of a large park.
Museum Vrolik is an anatomical museum located in the Academic Medical Center (AMC) in Amsterdam. The history of the museum starts around 1900 when Gerardus Vrolik and his son Willem started to collect a collection of anatomical and medical preparations. This collection formed the basis for the museum. Since then it has been expanded to include the Hovius collection and the Grevers dental collection. The museum property is mainly used for education and research.
The total collection includes approximately 10,000 anatomical specimens, including conjoined twins and cyclopes in spirits, human and animal skeletons and skulls, and wax anatomical models. The Hovius Collection consists of an 18th-century cabinet containing bones and skeletons affected by various diseases.
The Witches Weighhouse, Oudewater. In the past, each city had its own weigh house, where people could have their merchandise weighed before it was sold. However, a few centuries ago, these scales were also used to weigh people who were accused of practicing witchcraft. It was believed that witches weighed next to nothing. After all, how could you fly all night on a broomstick to a witches’ sabbath if you didn’t?
Oudewater became famous for these weighing tests and its refusal to participate in the delusions about witchcraft. All of the so-called witches who were ever weighed here were not found to be too light, and there was never an incident in which someone was found to be too light and sentenced.
Witchcraft in Europe. It wasn’t that difficult to accuse someone of practicing witchcraft. A rumor was often enough for those who were superstitious or malicious to accuse innocent people of sorcery. It was much harder however to be cleared of these accusations. From the mid-15th until very late in the 18th century, thousands of innocent people, mostly women, were put to death in Europe.
Get weighed on the original oak scales that date back to 1482. If you pass the test, you will receive a certificate as proof, just like the ones they used to hand out way back when.
Monument MH17, Vijfhuizen commemorates the 15 Hilversum residents who died in the MH17 air disaster on Thursday 17 July 2014. Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with flight number MH17 crashed into a field of sunflowers in Ukraine. The memorial consists of a circle of 15 bronze sunflowers, one sunflower for each victim. The flowers are connected by leaves. The largest flowers symbolize the adult killed Hilversummers, the smaller flowers symbolize the killed children. The names of the victims of Hilversum are engraved in the bench in front of the monument. The statue is located in the centrally located Dudok Park near the Hilversummer town hall. Hilversum was the place with the most victims of the disaster after Amsterdam.
The statue was unveiled in July 2016, exactly two years after the disaster. Sunflowers became the symbol of the later commemorations of the victims. At the commemoration in 2019, five years after the disaster, flower boxes with sunflowers were placed in several places in the city, some of which were grown from seeds from the field in Ukraine. In addition, 35 bins with ‘normal’ sunflowers were placed on various roundabouts in Hilversum.
Day 7
I went to My California in Naarden to pick up my NL museum card. There was no mail delivery on Monday and the card did not arrive on Tuesday.
However, I was able to finish all the business necessary to sell my camper van back to My California. I had spent a lot of time washing and cleaning.
I had had an accident on Jan 1, 2020, outside of Verona Italy, and because of Covid, had not been able to return to Europe until July 14, 2021. I saw the Azores, Cape Verde, Madeira, Canary Islands, Mallorca and flew to Verona on August 5, just as the repairs were finally finished (it’s a long story about why it took that long to repair). But, as a result, the van’s bodywork was perfect. Several bits of parking damage that had occurred over the previous year had been repaired.
As a result, the California was in perfect condition. It had about 96,000 km on the odometer. I had paid 51,000€ for it and they gave me 42,000€. In the final analysis, It had cost me about 10,000€ to drive almost 200,000 km around Europe and see almost everything.
Naarden Fortress, Naarden. In the 17th century, Naarden was a small fortified town overlooking a stretch of dry ground between the sea and the marshes of the river Vecht (the fortifications dating from the 1570s). After Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands in 1672 the fortifications were updated to modern standards. Most of the fortifications that exist today date from this period. The fortifications can be separated into two parts: the part facing the sea and the part facing the land.
This huge complex houses the town of Naarden has two moats and lines of batteries under the curtain walls.
The town had two gates, of which both the originals have been demolished. The Amsterdam gate doesn’t exist anymore and the current Utrecht gate dates from the 19th century
During the 19th century, the fortifications were updated, resulting in the construction of many new bomb shelters and other army-related buildings like barracks. At the end of the 19th century, the increased firepower and range of the artillery made the defenses at Naarden useless. After the First World War, the need for Naarden as a fortress was over. The army left and it was turned into a monument and preserved just in time to prevent it from being demolished. You can walk around and inside Naarden freely – the covered way makes an excellent walking path to discover the fortifications.
In the 20th century, a third entrance into the town was made. One of the bastions holds a museum about the fortress, which gives a lot of information about the town’s history. The museum also gives access to all the tunnels and casemates, making it a must in exploring the fortress.
I eventually parked outside a McDonald’s that had good wifi that unusually stayed on all night (most McDonald’s turn it off when they close). I was able to finish a lot of business that had been waiting.
Day 8
I bought and registered my Netherlands museum card a week before. But it only allows visits to 5 museums so used those up on my first day. So, I had no card to use until my permanent card arrived at My California. It finally came on Wednesday, the day before I was to leave Amsterdam for Rome. As a result, I had a mad rush to see what I could do that day, and Thursday, my last day in the Netherlands.
UTRECHT
Railway Museum (Spoorwegmuseum). This is a great railway museum with many cars to explore. I especially liked all the posters advertising Holland internationally plus the national ones. NL card
St. Catherine Cathedral. The walls are lined with mosaics, very nice.
Foundation FOTODOK. A photographic collection.
AAMU Museum of contemporary Aboriginal art. This no longer exists and closed a few years ago.
Dutch Museum of Working Class Districts. A nice small museum showing households dating back to the end of the 19th century. NL card
Day 9
I parked for the night at a service center about 20 km south of Amsterdam. The next morning, a truck overturned on the highway blocking four lanes and causing a huge traffic line that extended back forever.
I was able to pack all my clothes and finish packing a box that I was mailing back to Canada by post. I threw out all my bedding, towels, and clothes. I also left many useful things at the service center (good frying pan, dishes, cutlery) next to covered area with a large garbage. Hopefully, someone will take them and get some use from them.
By the time the traffic had partially cleared, I drove into Amsterdam, mailed my large box for home, had a difficult time finding free parking, and had a mad rush to see as many museums and other attractions in Amsterdam as possible.