Battle of Arnhem

Hartenstein 

You have probably read "A Bridge Too Far" or watched the movie with the same name from the 70's.  The Battle of Arnhem is not far from where we are staying so this was our first out-of-town trip yesterday to the Airborne Museum Hartenstein in Oosterbeek.  At least, it did not rain even though it was brisk and cloudy.  The museum was located in the former Hartenstein Hotel where the British Major General Urquhart, was headquartered.  There are three floors of interesting exhibits with everything labeled in Dutch, German and English including a couple of short films and some interviews with soldiers who are still living.  The actual battle of Arnhem involved mainly British and Polish troops fighting the Germans while the larger Market Garden operation involved US, Canadian and other allied divisions.  If you wish to refresh your memory about this battle - read this from Wikipedia.  The last part of the museum was in the lower basement and was called the Airborne experience.  It was a life size reconstruction of the battle that took place at Oosterbeek by the Hartenstein with all the sights and sounds of battle which you walked through.  Overall, the museum displays were very moving.  Since I was too young (barely) to remember anything at all about WWII, I found it very interesting and a well spent two hours.

On Tuesday, the sun came out for a short while and I ran out with my camera to take pictures and also I went inside of the big church:  Martinikerk which is practically next door and plays the bells all day.  They had very interesting displays inside including a model of the carillon.  A nice volunteer who spoke some English showed me around.  The church was blown up only one day before the liberation of Doesburg by the Canadians - how sad! There were quite a few pictures of the results.  The church was, of course, reconstructed.  There was a chapel on this site as early as the 13th century.  Visiting hours were nearly over so I did not take the time to see everything there and John did not go along since he was having a nap so he and I will have to visit another day.

We also walked over a few blocks to see the River Ijssel (don't ask me how to pronounce) - just outside of the old town where we are staying.  There are some large new condominiums/apartments there overlooking the River.  We saw ads in the real estate business windows advertising them - they were in the 400,000 Euro price range.  If you look at my pictures (link at the end of the post) - you will see them.

Yesterday morning was market day around the corner from us.  It was not much of a market compared to the ones we visited in France.  I suppose that when the large supermarket two blocks away opened - that was the beginning of the end.

On market day, the carillon is played manually and there was about a one hour concert of the bells which was lovely as we were walking around town.  We didn't know about the market until the volunteer in the church told me about it and we had already done our shopping so there wasn't anything we really needed.  Of course, I had to take a few pictures.

Cheese stall - charming goat

It is now Thursday and we are going to visit the Mustard Factory in Doesburg and who knows what else.  Nellie and Theo (our home exchangers) left us a gift of a jar of local mustard and I must say it is one of the best I have tasted and I am not a big mustard fan.  We had it on bratwurst that I cooked last night.  Yum.

Pictures:  DOESBURG WITH THE SUN OUT

               MARKET AND MUSEUM