Back in my hometown

Hello y'all,

So I have returned home after an indeed very long flight, there was an hour delay and when we got back there was another hour delay with the taxi back home....We were all pretty hammered when we finally stepped into our home again, but the joy of our cats made it even nicer to be back home. Later that day there was a even lot more joy seeing my gf again :D

Always when I return to Holland I only feel back home again once I have crossed the Waalbrug, the bridge over the river de Waal on my way to Nijmegen (I live in a village near Nijmegen, but I used to live and study in Nijmegen). So I did just that today and it again was a very nice experience. I walked through some of my favourite parts of town and I took some pictures of it as I blogged already about Valencia and Malaysia but not yet about my hometown. I started at the Valkhof Park, a very historic site in Nijmegen with a great view over the river, the bridge and lower lands. Due to its strategic location it was used before as a Roman army base.



After walking down to the river I sat down for a nice lunch at Vivaldus with a view over the river and over people that were building the upcoming fair. I repeatedly wrote about food during my stay in Asia, so why not now ;) Looks rather different doesn't it?


I continued my walk through the 'Benedenstad' , lower city, where there are still some old houses left. Nijmegen was bombed during the 2nd World War by the Allies (mistake) which left a big scar in the city centre of Nijmegen, but luckily there are still some historic parts that survived. The lower city was really a poor people's place and due to money and political issues they basically were rather late in restoring the lower city after several decades of decline in that area. When they finally fixed it and tore down some parts as part of the renevation they did it very well and even received an award. 'The renovation and rebuilding of the lower town were carried out while leaving intact the historic street pattern with its beautiful alleys and cul-de-sacs and the remains of the old town were also integrated. Nijmegen received the Europa Nostra Award, an international award for architecture for the exceptional way in which this project was executed. Later on, the Waalkade was also given a face lift.'


I then ended up in the Kronenburgpark, a park that was the subject of a very big hit back in the 80s sang by a singer of Nijmegen origins. Near the park is a small red light district which was also involved in the song as it was about prostitution and family life....After ending up in the main shopping street (the Molenstraat) where I saw lots of bikes again (very Dutch, very home :D) and buying some shoes in the sales I crossed the modern part of Nijmegen (Marienburg and Marikenstraat) which won two awards. In 1999 it won an award from the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment for its intensive use of space and in 2000 the new shopping street in the Mariënburg has received the International Council of Shopping Centres award.


I skipped several parts of the centre but I might report on it somewhere later, if not, just visit the city. It is the oldest city of The Netherlands, 2000 years of history. Besides that it is a student city with a huge part of the population being students whom bring a unique vibe to town, pubs, bars, discos, terraces, etc. Furthermore it has the biggest non commercial movie theatre of Holland. There is a casino, opera, theatre, etc. It is the only city in Holland with a fully left winged coalition, they call it Havana at the Waal.....but they are not the stereotype left winged people, as they are not afraid to also stimulate economic growth of which the FiftyTwoDegrees Business Innovation Center by Philips (or now NXP) is a good example.

Anyways that was Nijmegen for now.

See you next time

Jody