Nijmegen

Another cute town! How many churches can we see in each town, you ask? It turns out, quite a few. I’m making fun but most are pretty spectacular, especially the ones built before the year 1000! Obviously some restoration has taken place but the main walls and parts of the city walls we’re seeing remain intact. 

Here are today’s churches:

This is St. Stephen’s Church; 15th century. The wood ceiling is quite unique. Also unique because when the Calvinist’s took over they turned this into a Protestant church. The pipe organs in these churches are amazing.  

The infographic on this wall tells a story about finding a rich princess to marry Otto the 1st’s son Otto the 2nd…when they were 12! They had several kids and finally had a boy in 980, Otto the 3rd, but Otto 2 died 3 years after he was born. Too young to ascend to the throne, his Mom ruled as Regent Empress until she died in 991. Long story to show that Otto 3 built the chapel below in honor of his mother. This and the ruins of a smaller chapel are all that remain of the bigger palace and grounds. In 1819 it was dismantled to make way for a more “modern” society. Roman stones were used to construct the chapels so apparently those withstood the dismantling! 

(This picture only shows the first flight of stairs up to the chapel…there were several more.) A model of the original palace grounds at bottom left of the 2nd photo. 

These are called Gable Stones and were used to identify homes before there were numbered street addresses. The stone could depict a profession (this is where the baker lives, etc) or a Coat of Arms or whatever. Door on the right is an example.

Just a cute street behind the church in the town….

We went through several locks in our journey. It’s really hard to show in photos, but here is the process:

So this bridge was constructed in memory of soldiers lost in Operation Market Garden that liberated Nijmegen. Named The Crossing, every night a veteran (and whoever wants to join) walks across this bridge while 48 lanterns light up one by one. (Our guide said 48 soldiers lost…maybe 48 from Nijmegen ? because numbers look higher than that to me). In any case, it’s a nice memorial and tradition. And a pretty sunset picture!

We’re here for another day, so 🤞 that we find another old church!!