At least take time to visit citycentre and park(s) and other Arnhem, Netherlands General Tips

Favorite Thing: When visiting Arnhem you absolutely must: Arnhem is a green town, the longue of The Netherlands, and you miss what Arnhem is about if you do not visit one of the parks. Most recommendable is Sonsbeek-park just around the corner of the centre. This romantic park lies around the Jans-creek, a little river running downhill towards the Rhine and the birthplace of the town. Fountains, waterfalls and the long green foresty lanes will give you the idea that you are not in a town at all. This park connects with park Zijpendaal, where the same named castle can be visited (classical interior). Best time to walk in the parks is April/May. The town-flower is the Rodondendron, which in this season makes the park bath in red, pink and white blossoms. Other parks: Presikhaaf, Meinerswijk (riverlands), Angerenstein, Mariëndaal, Rosendael and Immerloo.

Fondest Memory: Sitting with some good friends at a Rhinekay-terrace, drinking a good glass of wine when slowly the summersun sets, or,
Near closing time in Burgers Ocean, when most visitors are gone, standing in front of the largest window in Europe and gaze into the blue shimmering light of the aquarium-ocean.

Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Arnhem, also called "Gelders Haagje" (Gelderland Hague), is the capital of this province. It got city rights on 13 July 1233 from the abbey of Prum. In the twelfth century a toll house was established by the Count of Gelre, later moved to Lobith in 1233.

Originally it became the capital of the Veluwe quarter, but later Arnhem became the capital of province Gelderland. Historically Arnhem has been the center of government and justice in the Mid-Eastern parts of The Netherlands. In the year 1487 the city of Arnhem was granted six guilds.

During Napoleontic times, Arnhem was ruled by France (1672 -1674 and again for 18 years beginning in 1795). It was finally liberated by the Prussian army in 1813.

In the beginning of the nineteenth century Arnhem and its surroundings provided a very attractive resort area for the wealthier residents of The Netherlands. Its popularity enhanced by the new rail access (the line from Amsterdam to Köln (Germany). In 1870 the interest began to decrease. The city began reorganizing to make more attractiveness. In this time Arnhem purchased land to develop the beautiful parks and - on the other hand attracted large (chemical) industry to provide jobs (Akzo). Tourist attrcations came with the Openairmuseum and the always expanding Burgers Zoo. Today visitors can still enjoy these wonderful attractions.

On the tenth of May, 1940, Arnhem was taken by the Nazi's. For five long, destructive years Arnhem was the center of the underground resistence against the Germans. After the Battle of Arnhem, the city was evacuated for months while the fighting raged. With the residents returning to the ruins of the old city center. The Eusebius Church was destroyed and all houses in the citycentre were badly damaged. The city was rebuilt quickly however, earning the residents a fine reputation for the quality of their post-war construction.

Fondest Memory: On the picture a historical place in Arnhem for me. Here I was born and raised for the first four years. Second floor of the long appartmentcomplex near the square block, first corner appartment. The square building is the headquarters of "Rijkswaterstaat" (Governement-centre for infrastructure "roads and waterways").

Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Biggest impact on Arnhem in history was no doubt the last half year of the second worldwar. In September 1944 the allied forces tried to get the boys back home before Christmas through a bold airborne attack to capture and take the bridges over the large rivers in The Netherlands and so enter Germany directly into it's heart: the Ruhr-area (industry). All bridges were taken (except the Son-bridge that took care of delay). Only Arnhem bridge couldn't be held long enough and a dreadful massacre followed as the British soldiers did not want to give up. All can be reviewed in the museums in and around Arnhem (most comlpete is the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek, see separate page). In the churchtower there is a short explanation, while looking onto the bridge down below. That "one bridge too far".

Fondest Memory: Too many, too various ... let's just call it "home".

Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Already for centuries the nickname of Arnhem is "Het Haagje van het Oosten", referring to the governemental town in the West The Hague". This came because of the many nobility that lived in and around Arnhem as well as the governemental role it always had in the Eastern parts of The Netherlands.
Strangely enough it is also determened in the similarities that both towns have in architecture. A large variation in styles, but jumping out the "herenhuizen" (gemtlemen's houses) and patrician buildings (rich traders). This - sometimes castleshaped domestic places are still there, though now-a-days so expensive to own, that most of them are belonging to businesses or are devided in small parts and rented out to ... students.

Fondest Memory: A recent nice memory is the guiding around of VT-visitors that I met and became friends with.
Nathalie (_B), thanks for being there in this world and now even - relatively - close (Breda) so I can show you a little bit of my world.
Mimi (lunatique), so nice to meet you and for some time have you as my neighbor in Wageningen. Hope to make some bikingtours with you soon.

Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: NUON is one of the leading Dutch NUTS-companies, that is a Dutch word for gas, water and electricity producing and distributing companies. They only thing that is realy NUTS with them is the higth of the invoices as The netherlands are definately not cheap in that. Where all this money goes to ... well take a look at the picture and judge yourself. It's the headquarters of NUON in Arnhem. Clearly visible with it's huge glass roof it is built on the Northern banks of the river Rhine immediately across the street from the (modern) art-museum.

Fondest Memory: A nice thnig you can also see on this aireal picture are the houseboats on the river Rhine.

Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Bridges are of ultimate importance to any town that has a river running in between it's neighborhoods. Already more then a century the steel bow bridge connects Arnhem with the roads to Nijmegen and further South, but with building whole townparts on the other side of the Rhine (after WW 2) Arnhem needed more bridges to keep the traffic going. Therefor a new bridge was build and later on also the ringroadbridge. Now Arnhem has (not naming the railwaybridge) three riverbank connections:
* the John Frost or "Old" bridge (the famous "bridge too far")
* the Nelson Mandela bridge or "Roermondsplein" or simple "New bridge
* the Andrei Sacharov or "Pley" bridge

On the picture it's the "new" bridge that - if you look correctly has enormous letters glued on it's concrete sides. The letters state words like "Blauwe Lucht" (=blue sky), "De Zee" (the sea), "Indonesië" (= Indonesia) and "De Utopie" (= the utopia). This is a left over from one of the Sonsbeek Art-festivals, that are held every 4 years in Arnhem.


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Inviting people over to show my hometown Arnhem is definately one of my favourite things. Since VT I have had the pleasure of guiding around some members as well as friends and here I want to present them to all other VT-ers. The premiere was there for "Lunatique", when she started to study in the Arnhem neighborhood, coming all the way from Jakarta - Indonesia.


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Around the same time as the visit of Lunatique in Arnhem I met Nathalie_B in Breda. It was such good fun and a few weeks later I got a call at work from Nathalie, in which she told me that she just got a study-project about Arnhem and asking if I could start doing her homework (-: Well, of course, I could! The weekend she visited together with her schoolmate Laura and we walked through town. Hopefully next time we can throw in a bit of night-life as well, Nathalie ...


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: After my first VT-meeting in Breda, where I met Lori and Hans (Waalewiener) in person, I was just waiting impatiently until the would arrive on our appointment in Arnhem two days later. We made a "grand tour" through town and a scenic drive in the surroundings. The day after we went to Groesbeek and climbed the Eusebius-tower to ring the bell (I think I will make this a tradition on VT-meetings her. Lori and Hans ... hope to meet again and stay in touch!


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: From Essen to Japan by Arnhem, well that's an original route. Sandra, on VT known as "Hundertmorgen" visited us in Arnhem on a chilly Februari day. We talked in Breda-meeting and mailed and as it happens Sandra has this year (2004) the opportunity to go to Japan and I was immediately telling enthusiastically about my trip to this wonderful country. So, to get more closer into the Japan-travelling material we met and chatted about it. Of course only after we spend sometimes in Arnhem centre and Burgers Zoo, a place she wanted to go to already for a few years. It was a great day and ... we'll meet again. That's for sure.


Leave a Comment