Gerard in Arnhem

Parks In Arnhem - Immerloo Park

2008-10-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

Over the past months starting during the summer I have been visiting the many parks
Arnhem was and is known for. In centuries gone by Arnhem was called Park City or "Genoeglijkste" which is Dutch for (most) Pleasant. It's certainly a reputation that was well deserved at the time and to my pleasure it's began living up to that reputation once more.

In days long gone by wealthy industrialist from cities like The Hague and Amsterdam enjoyed their holidays to the verdant city Arnhem was in those days. And it still is a very green city which is especially noticable when entering from the highways
in the west and north of Arnhem.
The estates surrounding Arnhem, in particular those near Schaarsbergen and towards Oosterbeek and the rolling hills inside that part of the city boundaries still give great pleasure. For those who like their wildlife a little less managed and a little wilder the surrounding area gives great escape into the National Parks "De Hoge Veluwe" and "Veluwezoom" as well as the heaths and moors there I have also had the pleasure of visiting.

So where does one start in this park filled city? I'll start with the one I grew up near to and move my way around town till we have seen them all.
Immerloo Park seems a great place to start. When we first moved to Arnhem after leaving Ireland (and Katwijk aan Zee & Alkmaar here in the Netherlands)
we lived in "Het Duifje," a rather dull suburb in Arnhem-south which lived up to it's name: "the Pigeon," it was that grey there.
However about 50 metres from where our house stood Immerloo Park begins and I had the pleasure of spending some time there the other week on one of my Out & About cycling trips.

Has it changed much throughout the years? I haven't been back there in well over 15 years if not longer and it has and yet hasn't.
It has in the trees that have matured, died and been replanted, and the part of it that now has a busy motorway along its border connecting "het Duifje" to Kronenburg Shopping Mall and the changed view over the lake and 'Castle' flats in the neighbouring suburb of Vredenburg on the other side of the park
In that regard the change has become less appealing but on the whole the park is still the same. It still has the same structure it always had.
Walking lanes still bend and double back, bridges over water lanes still look very much the same as they always have and yet...you can feel the change in the park.

Part of that change is the change in me. Like the park I too have matured. Parts of me have died and been replanted. My views in life have changed, some of the change
is good, some of it less appealing.
My appreciation and understanding of the park has grown like I have. I finally understand it's a living, breathing organism that has been allowed to control it's self, to maintain itself and to find it's own balance. It seems like the days of industrious and hard pruning, preening, mowing and clipping have gone and the park has been allowed to be wilderness again, managed wilderness, that I will grant, and only in certain areas but still...the difference is hard to explain and quite subtle in many ways, but it's there and I've seen it. The park has grown and has moved out of itself bringing in other connecting areas, becoming greener by allowing diversity to be part of it's nature.

I hope I'm like that park in allowing diversity to be part of my nature as well.

A preview of tomorrow

2008-08-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Once more Arnhem is ready for the World Living Statues event. Today started with the Kids Living Statues which was fun (sorry no pics to share of this event, I didn't take any). Tomorrow the main event will be held with performers from around the world doing what they do best: sheer magic for all to enjoy. Over the years an evergrowing audience has come to Arnhem to see them work that magic. It's a day of oohs and aahs, merriment, smiles, laughter, fun, mystery, awe and for me another great opportunity to share the photos I take. To get you in the mood, here are some I took last year but never got round to posting. Share with me the beauty of amateurs and professional performers giving their best. Admire with me the effort they put into their performance, the details in the costumes and their appearance, the look in their eyes, the expressions on their face, light creating a perfect moment, some great close-ups but most of all how weird, crazy and wonderful it is: World Living Statues, Arnhem.

More Rio aan de Rijn and behind the scenes

2008-08-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

Rio again

2008-08-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

2008, another year has passed

2008-08-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

and as the Summer nears its end it's once more time for the "Rio aan de Rijn" Carnival. Here's a few of this years best.

A fine selection of fairytales...

Shades of blue in Meinerswijk

2007-12-22T16:43:00.000-08:00

As the hidden sunset approached the white and the grey of Meinerswijk turn to shades of blue. Magic of a different colour.

At the bird observatory

2007-12-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to make my way to the bird observatory in Meinerswijk for some time now but so far without any luck. Pity really as the trees surrounding it were filled with cormorants that kept flying overhead.

Shades of grey in Meinerswijk

2007-12-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

Temptation got the better of me and despite the freezing cold I couldn't resist cycling to Meinerswijk, the largest nature reserve within city limits in the world, where scenes of winter unfolded.

More scenes...

2007-12-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

The land between the rivers and the dikes are known as "uiterwaarden". Copious rains of the past weeks have meant the water level in the Rhine has risen and these uiterwaarden have flooded. A perfect place to go skating!

Scenes from Winter Wonderland

2007-12-22T15:08:00.000-08:00

Thick, dense fog, freezing cold and the tiniest of snow crystals created scenes of winter magic during the night. After weeks of being cooped up inside, freedom began at the start of the holidays. In love with the world again.

Unexpected little gem

2007-10-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

Walstreet, Arnhem. Not a street I venture into very often but I did last week when I was shopping. While I was passing one of the restored town houses I noticed the tiles on this building. I love the tiles with the little acorn motif!

The Writing's on the Wall

2007-10-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

In this case the comment beneath the tag says it all.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

2007-09-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

or so they say...

Cupida's arrows

2007-09-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

Never miss their target.

Enchanted forest

2007-09-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

Going for Gold

2007-09-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

What came first?

2007-09-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

The bird or the egg? What I loved abot this entry was the synchronicity of the poses and how just a few simple props added to the performance.

Silver Statuesque

2007-09-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

Does Madonna have what Marilyn had?

2007-09-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

Another great entry in the Kids World Living Statues 2007

Cast in copper

2007-08-25T16:20:00.001-07:00

Today the World Living Statues started off with the kids event. These are some of todays pics.

World Living Statues

2007-08-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

This is what I'm looking forward to this weekend. The 11th World Living Statues Event. This event is held every year here in Arnhem during the last weekend of august. These are some of last years impressions. More info here

Here´s hoping...

2007-08-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Next year will be just as good and the "Rio aan de Rijn" festival will be another great, fun succes. It has to be if over a 1000 people take part in it and 100.000 people line the streets, look out their windows and stand on their balconies enjoying the spectacle roam through the streets of Arnhem. More info about the festival can be found here

Local Colour

2007-08-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

Some local colour from Arnhem. A carnaval group in the form of sunflowers.

...and the deep blue sea

2007-08-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Between the devil............

2007-08-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Birds of Paradise

2007-08-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

Here´s another great group, the Birds of Paradise. It funny the way you can pick up on people who are having fun. It´s infectious, like it was with this group. The smiles are real, the fun is tangible and they were more than happy and willing to pose for the camera.

Aruba Uni.........

2007-08-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

My personal favourite Summer carnaval group in the parade and winner of the Public Award, Aruba Uni. I had great fun with the lady in the last pic when we were moving and bobbing our heads from side-to-side in the parade, she even recognised me later on at the end ceremony.

City colour..........

2007-08-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

More Rio...

2007-08-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a group...

2007-08-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

Before I post more of the other pics I took at the "Rio at the Rhine Festival" here's a carnaval group the sent shivers down my spine. It shows just how inclusive this festival is and is another reason why I love it.

Rio aan de Rijn

2007-08-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

I suppose the way to go about this blog would be to post nice, neat, orderly blogs, sorted by date. However that would mean a lot of back-blogging, trying to go through the thousands of photo's I have of Arnhem. A different approach seems in order, so I'll start with last Saturday and move back and forth, depending on my mood.

I guess one of the reasons I love where I live is the energy the city has. It's not a huge city, only 120.000 or so people living here. Nijmegen which is 15-20 minutes away by train has more. But the past few years have seen a change in attitude here. It feels different somehow. I wonder if the festivals and events that take place here are a contributing factor. I think they are. The Arnhem Fashion Biennale, the World Living Statues, the Harley Davidson Day, Free Your Mind Festival and Rio aan de Rijn are just of few of many events that take place in town. It adds more to what makes it fun to live here. And offers the perfect opportunity to take a few snaps with my camera.

Last saturday we had the Rio aan de Rijn Festival (Rio at the Rhine). Three whole days of Summer Carnaval, Latin American exhuberence and salsa beats with a parade through town on the last day. Bright, brash and colourful. Groups from all over the Netherlands taking part in a spectacle of colour and fun. And it just gets better and better with every year.

Hopefully we can hold onto it. It was announced that it was getting more difficult to organise. And that they need more volunteers to help out. Should I offer my services? I'd hate to see so much fun being lost to the city. At the moment it's run by volunteers and I assume with the aid of a (semi)professional event manager. And it does have a certain spontinaity and lack of slickness that is endearing. But I think it also needs to grow and become more professional. Mind you that conclusion is entirely based on the awards ceremony that took place around 16.00 hrs last Saturday. Thats where the event lost some of its cohesion. Winners weren't there to accept their prize, neither were their representatives.

The parade itself was sheer joy for onlookers and radiant participants. Smiles, great costumes, vibrant colours, entertainment for all who patiently waited for the event to start (it started half an hour later than announced). And did I mention it's really hard to not start dancing when the rhythm bands march by!

Surprisingly enough it started out as a joke here in Arnhem, if I'm not mistaken about 3-4 years ago. I think I saw there very first parade which was a few cars, a salsa band and a small group of people dressed up in carnaval costumes. A year later it had grown and carnaval groups that take part in the Summer Carnaval in Rotterdam joined the parade. I must go there next year, I'd love to see that festival! From the site I gather it has over 2000 people taking part with around a million people (give or take 100.000) people looking on!

I hope someday our Summer Carnaval will attract that number of visitors and that it will go from strength to strength adding its colours to Arnhem.

Jonas Daniël Meyer

2007-08-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Jonas Daniël Meyer

The great thing about having a church tower you can go up in is seeing the city you live in from a different angle. Knowing what the buildings you walk past almost daily look like from 80 meters up. Seeing the roof, Nowadays the Eusebius Church has an glass elevator that takes you to the top floor, but I still remember the days you had to walk up there. I used to give guided tours to children in the summer holidays and would have them count the steps as we went up, mainly because I wanted to know how many steps there were, so I could tell the next group I gave the tour to. In those days you could go all the way up and look over the walls and see out. I don't know why that has changed but you can't go out anymore, instead the lift takes you up 80 of the 95 metres to a floor that will let you look out through glass windows at the city below.

Before showing the rest of the panorama I thought I should take some time to show certain buildings and streets that are of particular historic interest to the city. Most of the immediate streets and buildings surrounding the church were demolished during WW II, when Operation Market Garden took place and later on when the Germans demolished some of the city. Thankfully in later years the ruins were restored and rebuilt.

One of those building is the synagogue, you can see its rooftop in the second photo in the previous post. I work across the street on some days for Studio Unicps when I'm not in the studio in the Koning Street.

The first stone was layed on the 13th of July 1892 or according to the Jewish calender on 26 Tammuz in the year 5612. The synagogue was designed the city architect Hendrik Jan Heuvelink in the eclectic style. He designed quite a few buildings in the part of Arnhem known as the the Spijkerkwartier and has a boulevard named after him.

There used to be a school and a bath-house next to the synagogue but it was destroyed in WW II. The synagogue was built where Jonas Daniël Meijer (1780-1834), the first Jewish lawyer in the Netherlands, was born and raised.
He was a child prodigy, left school at 10, well versed in English, French, Hebrew and Latin, went on to university where he graduated as a lawyer at 16, one of the youngest lawyers ever. He was responsible for the legalalities of the Dutch constitution and was part of the committee that drew up our constitution.

His deep concern with the way the Jewish were treated both socially and financially lead him to write a paper called "Kan de zedelijke waardering van een handeling in aanmerking komen bij de vaststelling en toepassing van een strafwet en zo ja, in hoeverre" (sorry but I'm too lazy tot translate) in which he is one of the first to question to what extent the living conditions and the mental well-being of a criminal can lead to his crime. Basically that means he understood why for instance someone who is poor might steal a loaf of bread and why those conditions should be taken into account on sentencing. His thesis has had an enormous effect on the way judges sentence criminals here in The Netherlands and the world over.

view of the church square through the gates to the synagogue
You will find streets and squares named after him throughout Holland. Most notably the Amsterdam’s Jonas Daniel Meyer Square where you will find the Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum) which I visited a few weeks ago to see the Sarah Bernhard exhibition during the Amsterdam Fashion Week. You can find more on the history of the museum and the 4 synagogues there as well as information on current exhibitions here.

The synagogue can be found in the Pastoorstraat in Arnhem with the everpresent Eusebius Church towering above everything else in the area.

2007-05-12T03:01:00.000-07:00