I'm finally getting the blogs from our River Cruise finished! Our last day was certainly one of our most memorable and moving days! May 5 is celebrated all over the Netherlands as being the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the occupation by Nazi Germany was ended - largely by the First Canadian Army. And do they ever love us Canadians! What a treat to be able to celebrate with them on this 70th anniversary! AND to be able to celebrate it in the "City of Liberation", Wageningen, where the German Commander-in-Chief, Johannes Blaskowitz was brought at gunpoint to sign the agreement which was reached with Canadian General Charles Foulkes the day before. It is always a celebration, but every 5 years it is an especially BIG celebration, and this was one of those years.
After a lovely morning cruise, we docked in Zaltbommel, a city that is over 1000 years old.
The gangplank was lowered, and we had a bit of time to tour the town before lunch.
And what a lovely town it is!
Paul and Barb Rusk, a new friend from Cobourg, walk into the downtown area through this old gateway. May 5 is a national holiday in the Netherlands, so there was nothing open that day. It seems we often toured towns on Sundays or holidays - didn't have a lot of shopping time. Oh well, there was no room in the suitcase anyway.
Barb posing with some McCain's "frites".
The Da Vinci proudly flying the Canadian flag!
Bevrijdingsdag - Liberation Day in Wageningen - and we were so privileged to have chairs saved for us right at the beginning of the parade! This was the first truck through!
A Canadian band with a great many walking soldiers following behind.
We were not told, but I wondered if this little guy's dad had died in action somewhere and he was marching in Dad's hat. Just wondering..... he was all by himself.
We saw a LOT of Canadian flags that day!
This Belgium flag has the same colours as the German flag, except the stripes are vertical, and the German flag's stripes are horizontal.
Paul just really liked this old vehicle.
Fort Garry Horse Regiment represented.
There had to be at least 100 kids in this band! And although it is called a teen band, there were some kids who didn't look that old! They sure represented our country well!
The parade stopped for awhile with these kids right in front of us. They were amazing!
There were several fly-bys of old planes during the parade, but unfortunately, most of them were behind the trees for us. There's a 4th plane to the left.
Because we were obviously Canadians, flying lots of flags and all, this was the sort of reception we received from everyone in the parade!
The Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band.
Canadian Veterans marching. There were quite a few veterans on the plane going home with us the next day, and they were treated with a great deal of respect by KLM Airlines as well.
Well that's it for this trip. Thanks for enjoying it with us.
....until next time....
On Monday, May 4th, we were privileged to visit the famous "Delta Works" on the man-made island of Neeltje Jans. It was an amazing feat, started after the devastating flood in 1953. This series of dikes, dams, and water-work control systems allow the Dutch to control the flow of the North Sea.
Wandering the grounds outside the museum type building, we came across some seals swimming in a tank.
Inside, there were several sculptures showcasing garbage that had been found in the sea.
On the way out to the Storm Surge structure, we came across this unusual bird which I discovered was called a Jackdaw.....
.....and this unusual duck, which I never did find a name for.
It was very difficult to get a good picture of the structure - an airplane would have been useful! When the sea surged in 1953, the water was 4.2 metres above sea level, and these are designed to be able to shut the sea out once it is at 3 metres, thus avoiding another flood such as happened in 1953, killing a great many people and animals, as well as ruining soil with salt water for many years.
A beautiful sea bird.
And a lovely pigeon.
These beautiful wild geese are called Brent Geese.
And of course, the lovely merganser!
Back on the boat for a cruise to Zierikzee.
A lovely approach to the town.
I hate backing up our boat, and the captain, with the use of the "joy-stick" had to back the Da Vinci about a mile down a canal, ........
.....and through a VERY narrow opening - barely wider than the boat! I realized later why he backed it in and not out - because we left before daylight the next morning!
Along the canal, as in almost ALL the rivers and canals, is a bike path. So many bikes in the Netherlands!
Also along the canals, we see the "lawn mowers" - the sheep. What a great idea!
And another lovely sea bird!
Another fantastic windmill - I believe it is taken care of by students.
And another Jackdaw - I love that name!
So decorative!
I believe this is the town hall in Zierikzee.
Everywhere the flowers! A beautiful park!
Who needs a truck?
.....until next time....
At 8:30 a.m., we boarded the buses in Vlissingen for a drive through the countryside to Westkapelle, then on to Middleburg, where we rejoined the Da Vinci.
We saw a little of Vlissingen from the bus windows - such as this beautiful old tower.
And this view of the beach below the dykes, with cannons pointing out to sea.
And of course the windmill - I can never resist the windmills!
I believe this was the tower on a Protestant church, judging by the rooster on the top. Lots of bells in the carillon!
Some of the fields still have the German bunkers in them.
One of our destinations in Westkapelle was this former church. You can see that there is a light on top, as in Lighthouse, which apparently often happened with churches near the sea. Our real destination at this church was to visit the cemetery behind it. The Canadians decided to breach the dyke in this town in order to drive out the Germans - the final drive to clear the Scheldt and free the dutch people. Before they did that, they dropped fliers from planes explaining what they would do, and telling people to leave for safe places, but apparently some people never got the message, and many people were drowned. This is the cemetery for those people.
Again, Jeremy laid a beautiful arrangement at the cenetaph.
This is just a small sample of the grave markers in a large semi-circle around the back of the church for the civilians who died in this tragic event. Whole families are buried here - from the very young to the very old.
You can see the area behind the white fence where the dyke was breached.
This is one of the landing boats that soldiers would have been put ashore in during a "landing".
At first I thought that maybe the tanks would be
landed in these boats, but then realized that they weren't big enough to
hold a tank.
After rejoining the Da Vinci and enjoying lunch aboard, we were offered a walking tour of Middleburg. It is the second of only 2 things I refused on this trip, and am sorry I did. I missed seeing a fascinating, historic town. At 1:30, the boat departed Middleburg to cruise to Veere, where I DID participate in a walking tour. This huge old Cathedral-turned-protestant-church has a lot of history. Napoleon took it over for his troops, and turned the whole lower level into a stable for his horses, the second level was a hospital, and the upper level was housing for the troops. He took out the huge stained glass windows and bricked it all in. It was never the same again!
The Foucault's Pendulum in the Grote Kerk in Veere, Netherlands (where Napoleon's horses lived!). This is way too complicated to tell about - if you are interested, google it! It has to do with the rotation of the earth on its axis.
The tower of the town hall in Veere. It has a gold ship on top.
Hmmm, let me think - I'll bet this might be an ice cream shop.
A very old, crumbling wall around a lovely garden - so glad they didn't tear it down!
A narrow alleyway led to a garden wall - I just liked how it looked. :-)
So very pretty!
The Veere town hall.
"Stocks"? On the town hall.
.....until next time.......
