Netherlands

The moment I step through the ticket barriers in The Hague, I’m hit with the strong smell of weed. It might be the seat of the International Criminal Court (ICC) but it doesn’t stop Dutch stereotypes being in full swing.

My hostel is tucked away just off a busy square full of cafes and bars and by extension, it turns out to be the noisiest hostel I’ve stayed in yet. Thanks to a lack of foresight, my base in the Netherlands is The Hague, however my few days in the country are eaten up in other cities and unfortunately it means I don’t get the chance to see much of The Hague itself which is a bit of a shame. Given the geopolitical importance, I’d quite have liked to explore the ICC, especially as hearings are open to the public. The USA even has a piece of legislation nicknamed ‘The Hague Invasion Act’ which allows the US president to authorise the invasion of the Netherlands in order to protect and/or rescue US citizens from custody or prosecution in The Hague. That being said, I’ve got a busy few days planned and I’m very excited to explore the Netherlands a bit more!

When I hop on the train on the Saturday morning, it’s heaving. Full of people with rucksacks and camouflage trousers, making the journey to Arnhem for the annual pilgrimage that is the Airborne March. The Airborne March is an annual event that commemorates the Battle of Arnhem during the Second World War. Starting at Oosterbeek just outside of Arnhem itself, the routes lead past some of the most important wartime landmarks in the area. For now though, I bypass Oosterbeek and head directly into Arnhem where a familiar face is waiting for me.

I meet my resident Swiss expert, Flying Dutchman, and long time friend Ben at the gates of Arnhem station. He guides me round the city, pointing out important sights including John Frost bridge (quite literally the Bridge Too Far for anyone that’s seen the movie), Arnhem cathedral, and taking some detours for good book shops and record stores.

After lunch, the plan is to head out to Oosterbeek to visit the airborne museum. Ben, in an attempt to give me the quintessential Dutch experience, produces a bike for me, unfortunately failing to take into account that Dutch bikes are designed for Dutch people, who just so happen to be the tallest nation on earth, and not for short legged Scots. Seat lowered to the very lowest it’ll go, I jump (jump being the operative word here) on it, to discover that I can’t quite get my toes to reach the ground. After 10 minutes of faffing around and and a lot of laughing, we decide that there’s no way in hell I’m riding that thing anywhere but straight to A&E, and so we ditch the wheels and set off on foot.

The Airborne Museum is housed in an old hotel that was used as headquarters by the British Paratroopers in the Battle of Arnhem and as we walk into Oosterbeek we’re greeted by the sound of military marching music as we run into the thick of the Airborne March participants. There’s a cheerful atmosphere as people in military gear, civilians, military bands, and Dutchmen in Kilts with bagpipes pass by, all on their way towards the same place we’re headed. We cut through and loop down a side street to eventually reach the museum. Ben asks for two tickets in Dutch and the woman at the counter presents us with audioguides, speaks to me in fluent Dutch, quickly realises I understand nothing as I blink at her blankly and then kindly offers me an English audio guide which I accept somewhat sheepishly.

The museum itself is a wonderful albeit somber ode to both the brave airborne soldiers who played their part in the battle of Arnhem, and the local civilian population such as Kate ter Horst who was known as the ‘Angel of Arnhem’ for the role she played in helping the allied soldiers. While we’re there there’s also a temporary exhibit on Jewish Germans who left Germany and joined the allies as soldiers. It’s a serious and heavy subject but covered so well by the exhibit. It talks about British immigration policy on the eve of World War Two and the attitude towards Jewish German refugees in the run up to and during the war. The exhibit doesn’t pull punches in discussing British attitudes towards the refugees and as I walk around I notice echos in the current UK government’s immigration policies. Just before we finish up at the museum, we down to the final exhibit.

In the basement lies ‘The Airborne Experience’ and suddenly we find ourselves ushered into a room set up like the interior of a glider. We sit on the benches around the side while we’re briefed on our mission and our ‘plane’ leaves England, coming into land in the occupied Netherlands. A door opens and to shouts of ‘go go go’ we suddenly find ourselves entering a walk through that’s set up to give you an idea of what soldiers in the battle of Arnhem would have seen. It’s complete with shouting in both English and German and sounds of bullets ricocheting overhead as we pass through shells of buildings and scenes of war. It’s a somber look into what these often young soldiers would have faced, and quite a thing to have quietly hiding in the basement.

From the museum we take the Airborne approach and head for a pint before it’s time for me to hop across the country back to The Hague for a good night’s sleep (assuming there’s no US citizens up for prosecution just down the road 😉).Read more