Arnhem is in the Netherlands, what we sometimes refer to as Holland. (Holland is just a provence of The Netherlands, like a state.) Arnhem was the location of a very important WWII battle immortalized in "A Bridge Too Far".
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The beginnin of the morning tour was at the Liberation Museum. From the outsid it didn't look like much, but had quite a large collection and ended up being very informative. It goes thru Hitler's rise to power, the subjugation of The Netherlands, thru the liberation. The above picture touched me. We rarely hear of the civilians caught up in the war. |
One part of the museum was only in German. It's topic was Love During War. During WWII 30,000 babies were born to occupying German soldiers and 8,000 to Allied soldiers. Almost all of them were consentual. Some Americans had 25 girls. One of our guides mentioned that the English gave them food, etc. As a small child her mother told her the story of "Little Red Riding Hood". She asked if the basket of food she was taking to her grandmother had been given to her by the English. |
I think this was the Hall of Remembrance, but I...don't remember (it was two days ago). It is constructed from actual allied parachutes. |
Inside the Hall of Remembrance are the names of the soldiers killed in the battle. Click for closer picture. |
Tank outside the museum. |
Next we were taken to a nearby Canadian cemetery. Like the American cemetery farther away, the land has been given to Canada forever. |
Wall of the names of those whose bodies could not be found. |
Please click on the picture to see the engraving at the bottom of the headstone. |
This is Brenda, who is Canadian. |
The cemetery is very well tended by two gardeners who live at the cemetery and are the only people, other than the fallen soldiers, that can be buried here. |
Playing in the fountain was the only thing I couldn't get Dad to do. |
Mmmmm, Arnhem cookies, a local recipe. |
We found out that they sell licorice. Dad hasn't been able to find his favorite kind of hard licorice for years, so we tried to kinds. |
With the same results. But it was a good laugh. |
So, of course, we have to try to get Brenny (Jenny's brother) to try it. |
Same result. |
Just a funny picture and not related to licorice. No, really! |
We are watching the slide show at the front desk, which is on a small picture frame. OK, it was a setup. |
Stairs up to the lounge. |
Just some great people from the ship. From left to right: Mac and Linda (I think) (from DC); Jim and Carolyn (he's got the loudest laugh!); Mike and Audrey (she's so much fun. We talked with them a lot). |
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Harvey and Linda, both elementary teachers and good walkers. |
