Walking Ivan in Park Den Brandt

Jan and I thought it would be a wonderful idea to take Ivan for a nice, long walk today; seeing as the weather is quite nice in Antwerp at the moment. There is a park not far from us in the district of Wilrijk (pronounced Will-rick) named Den Brandt. The size of this park makes it an enjoyable place to take the dog for a long two-hour walk. As a bonus, the history of the park is rather interesting.

There is a castle in the park, Castle Den Brandt, that was built in the French Château style around 1790. The whole park was, at one point in time, the grounds for the castle. Must of been nice.

Additionally, there are some remnants of the Atlantic Wall built by the Germans prior to & during WWII.

Please enjoy the pictures, and feel free to comment. Enjoy.

B & J

Remnants of the Atlantic Wall & German Fortifications

The sign says the following:

The remnants of the Atlantic Wall

Barracks & Wounded

The Germans chose during the WWII Park De Brandt as headquarters for the 89th Corps. This corps commanded the Atlantic Wall, a belt of bunkers built on the Belgian coast and Scheldt estuary in the Netherlands. Van de Panne to Walcheren and North and South Beveland Netherlands.

The headquarters of the corps were 5 bombproof bunkers with a wall thickness of 2 m of reinforced concrete with a concrete SK1 including two volumes of 1920 m3 each. These bunkers were completed in 1943. There were 6 of these types of bunkers built: 2 in Utrecht (broken), 1 in Tourcoing (museum), 1 in Roubaix & 2 in this park.

The park has 5 staff Vf bunkers of the type 52a & wounded a collection of type Vf 57a. On the day of the landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944 functioned the staff from these bunkers. On August 20, 1944 the General Staff withdrew under the command of General of the Infantry. A few days later, Antwerp was liberated by the Allies.

Castle Den Brandt

Around the Grounds of the Park
180 Year-Old Beech Tree

The sign says:

Dear Park Visitor

This monumental weeping beech (Fagus sylvatica Pendula) deserves special protection, care and attention.

Since 1920, when the city purchased the domain Den Brandt, is the weeping beech tree listed as special. He is currently about 180 years old!

The nave has a shallow root system, making it extremely sensitive. The bark is very thin and can easily be damaged.

With a fence around the tree roots are protected and we want to prevent the branches or trunk damage. Please respect this and not damage the fence.

Facts about the weeping beeches:

• Beech are 200-300 years old.
• A mature beech drink between 150 and 300 liters of water per day.
• Beechwood was the advent of the printing press possible. It served as material for letters and woodcuts. The words 'beech' and 'book' are related to each other.

Thanks for your understanding and your cooperation to deal respectfully with our trees!

ABS T5 Graduation Dinner

From the graduation dinner for Jan's school.

The Tour de France Comes to Antwerp

One of the problems with not speaking Dutch/Flemish is that we really don't have a clue what is happening around town. Take for example today. We decided that it would be nice to take Ivan for a long walk along the river this morning. Upon our arrival at Sint-Michielskaai we discovered that the entire street had been blocked off. It looked like there was going to be a parade or something. We managed to ask a local what was going on, and they told us that the Tour de France was going to be coming through Antwerp.

Well how about that⁉ "Eh, whatever." Was my initial response. Not being a cycling enthusiast, the Tour has never been something that I've followed. However, as the day moved on, I found myself wanting to go an observe the event. Plus they were passing a block from our flat, so it really would have been the height of laziness not to go.

Jan and I gather ourselves up, grabbed the camera and headed out. I would guess we were standing outside for a good two, two and a half hours. Not surprisingly, I managed to forget sunscreen, and am now sporting a rather annoying 'truckers tan.' Well that's neither here nor there, back to the Tour. We found a great spot to watch. There were two curves that the cyclist would have to round and pass right by us. How exciting!

Before the actual racers passed there was an endless procession of sponsorship vehicles; throwing out all manner of swag.

FINALLY, the riders approached, and then they were gone. It lasted all of 20-30 seconds. The speed with which these men propel their bicycles can only be described as machinelike. It was incredible.

All-in-all I'm quite happy we went, it's not something that we're going to see everyday. Definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Here is a video (made with my iPhone, fancy that!) and some pictures. I have also included a link to a news article about the Tour passing through Belgium. Enjoy, and as always, please leave us come comments on the blog.

B & J

(Center picture) Right foreground is Lance Armstrong

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Brussels hosts the Tour de France

Brussels plays host to the world's biggest cycling event, the Tour de France, today. The first stage enters Flanders in the north and next passes through the city of Antwerp before finishing in Brussels. The Tour is to pay tribute to Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx, who has just turned 65.