Mechelen

About Mechelen and traffic jams

On my way to Brussels I had spotted the cathedral of Mechelen from the train window and decided I wanted to see the town, especially after I read up on it. So I had chosen this day to actually do it! Because one of the Lent decisions, which is in fact a belated 65+ decision, was to do something different one day each week, travel to a town or city, go for a cycle tour weather permitting, a long walk, or just anything as long as it isn't the everyday routine. Today was the day!

It is Lent, so I am not allowed to complain. Nevertheless I need to vent my frustration about Dutch – or perhaps European - traffic.

Google told me from Oegstgeest to Mechelen would be a drive of just under two hours. Fine! Better than Maastricht in the far south, or Groningen in the far north. So I got up very early, left at 8.40 to pick up a friend at Rotterdam, expecting to be in Mechelen around 11. Traffic jams, traffic jams, traffic jams, this country is totally constipated! After 45 minutes I was back where I started, near my house. I fumed. Just imagine,  they are planning to build lots of houses, whole estates, and have actually started doing so. They haven't given the necessary infrastructure a thought though. I suppose people will have to work from home. No way to get out. I had to pass a cemetery, and lo and behold, I got caught behind a hearse on the main road. Six pall bearers walked on both sides and it took ages before they reached the gates! My patience was really tested to the limit. I could not believe it. Anyway, I arrived in Rotterdam at 10.30, a distance of some 40 kilometres, as the road through Wassenaar was also blocked. As the crow flies it is only 20 kilometres! I thought somebody was trying to tell me something, but I was determined not to listen and give up! Then on to Antwerp, where we got stuck in a traffic jam again on the road between Breda and Antwerp. In the right lane hundreds of trucks were lined up. At last, when I had almost given up hope, we got to Mechelen at 13.00 hours, two full hours late. In comparison: on the way back I hit the outskirts of Rotterdam in one hour, and the north 15 minutes later. From there to Oegstgeest took only 35 minutes. All in all a distance of just 180 kilometres.

Now the bright side! Although I started out in dense fog and low temperatures, the sun came out and we had a beautiful day with temperatures of 16 degrees Celsius. No coats needed, just a jacket. It felt like a glorious summer's day. Besides, we immediately found a free parking space right on the ring road, within walking distance of everything we wanted to see.

Mechelen was a pleasant surprise. It used to house many convents, nunneries and monasteries. They are now being beautifully restored and converted into museums, apartments, utility buildings. The town is also poor in traffic thanks to big underground car parks, e.g. under the Market Square, which make the town a joy to walk around in, in spite of the cobbled stones. Many of the narrow medieval streets are curving and so offer surprising views. The buildings are a mixture of old and new, the old and interesting gables looking very romantic and interesting in the light of the sun, which still is low in the sky at this time of the year and sheds a warm and mellow light  on the different coloured stone, plaster and bricks. The tower of the cathedral can be seen from afar and is most impressive, its sandstone scrubbed clean, pale yellow in the bright light.

From the square we enjoyed the view, while fortifying ourselves with some Belgian specialities in a café on the square. The tables outside in the sun were all taken, but the view from our brasserie was also enjoyable and it was cosy inside.

After that we leisurely explored the small town. There are eight churches of historic importance, but in winter till April 1^st they only open from 1-4 in the afternoon, so we could only see the interior of three of them and had to skip climbing the tower of the cathedral, and missed the view. The cathedral itself is very light and bright and devoid of much ornamentation.  To my surprise there is a shrine with the remains of some of the martyrs of Gorkum, and effigies of seven of them. If they were hanged naked, they must have shed lots of beautiful embroidered robes. In Brussels is another shrine with their bones, in the church of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Brussels. I wonder how many more churches and towns claim to have their bones. At least it is an excuse for a shrine. The cathedral hosts a very ornamental pulpit carved of wood, with scenes of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, entwined by a tree, no doubt picking apples, the stairs of the pulpit looking like a health hazard, very uneven and slippery. In one of the other churches we find yet another ornamental pulpit, with scenes from the Bible. In Brussels two weekends ago I saw two examples of such pulpits as well. As pulpits they don't look very practical.

The palace of Margaret from Austria is now used for the courts of justice, the French garden in the courtyard open to the public. I enjoyed the gables of the houses, so many different shapes and colours and ornaments. Another thing that struck me were the niches above the entrance doors of private houses and buildings with statues of Mary and baby Jesus. They come in all shapes and sizes. In one of them Jesus is kicking his legs wildly and Mary seems to have trouble not letting the baby slip from her arms. The street names are also worth noting; Nonnen (Nuns), Jesus Poort (Jesus Gate), and many very Biblical names. In the churches the temperature is chilling, but we left our coats in the car so we had to bear it. Outside it was summer!

Another discovery was a CD shop with just classical music. The small shop window does not betray what is inside: a very long and narrow shop with thousands of CD's and DVD's of classical music, all ordered in neat cases, custom made, against the walls. I have never seen such a collection and couldn't resist buying two CD's, one with organ music by Orlando Gibbons (1581-1625) and Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656). I sang music by both composers with the ECS choir, but never heard their organ compositions. The other one is organ music by the three Wesleys and three of their contemporaries. The owners of the shop claim that in this insignificant town (as they call it) this is the biggest CD store for classical music in the Benelux, and people from all over Europe order music through the website. Dangerous knowledge for me!

It seems as if the sun is not only warming my skin, but has also started to thaw my frozen feelings. As if it is waking me up to life again after a period in which I have felt emotionally dead.

Before going back to the car, we have a drink in the Market Square with a view of the 
Town Hall bathing in the last rays of the sun, and rest our sore feet.

Pictures