Arnhem.

We were expecting a lot of rain today, so kept an eye on the sky all day. Put the bikes ashore as the yacht club is a couple of km from the centre and bundled up in raingear.  

First thing on the agenda was shoe shopping for me as the sole of my only pair of rainproof shoes had fallen off and we were expecting rain, remember. If shopping is your thing then I can recommend the Arnhem town centre. Never saw so many shoe shops, amongst others, and that was ticked off the list in no time. 

We found our way to the central station and hopped a bus out to the airborne museum. It's not far out of town, but we were expecting rain, remember, so left the bikes locked up outside the ING bank. Figured they'd be safe under their security cameras.

The Airborne Museum. 

We took no photos inside. Somehow that seemed disrespectful.

The museum is housed in the old hotel Hartenstein, that the British used as their headquarters during the shortlived campaign. The allies tried, and failed, to capture the strategic bridges on the Rhine, amongst others. Although they did manage to capture the Arnhem bridge, for various reasons still debated today, after 10 days it was retaken and they had to retreat.  Like all war museums, it was a sometimes disturbing experience albeit very well presented. The photos of the destruction of the town after the battle were particularly illuminating given all the modern buildings in the town. 

The Bridge too Far.

The museum has beautiful grounds with walking trails but we expecting rain, remember. They had their commemoration recently as the campaign began on September 17 1944 and there are still wreathes and flowers on the memorials. The British seem to have a tendency to memorialise failure. Both here and Dunkirk spring to mind. I mean no disrespect, especially given the awful losses and the dreadful result of the extra 8 month of war the failure of the Arnhem campaign had on the Netherlands.

We will rewatch the film when we get home. Apparently it was actually filmed at the bridge in Deventer as that town was largely untouched by the bombing, unlike Arnhem.

This lovely woody trail is close to the centre of town.

Back in town we decided to chance the rain and took a bike ride out of town in a lovely wooded area we had passed on the bus. HUGE trees. Wonderful. On the way back to the boat, Clive just had to cycle over the bridge. I decided it was a bridge too far for me and I went straight back to the boat (actually I was dying to pee!). 

And just as I pulled up to the stern of Zoe, FINALLY it started to rain. How's that for timing.