Seeing beauty in utility

What is this structure?

One of my favourite sights so far here in the city of Enschede in The Netherlands is this striking building covered in Delft-blue ceramic tiles. What is it, I wondered? There are doors but they seem to be only for the initiated, not the public. No sign identifies the building as a museum or place of worship, for example. Oh, there is a puff of steam coming from the top of the tower. It is something functional.

Individual tiles with Dutch themes cover the building and tower.

Have you ever seen a beautiful power plant? Until now I have not. A bit of research reveals this work of art to be the Stadshaard (City Hearth) heating & power station, opened in 2010. The gas-fired power plant produces electricity and the heat is distributed to homes and businesses in the Roombeek district, an area that has been extensively rebuilt since it was devastated in 2000 by a fireworks explosion that killed 23 people.

Stadshaard (City Hearth) heating & power station in Enschede, The Netherlands.

Congratulations are due to the designers of the building and to those who supported and enacted the design – people with the vision to understand that what is functional can also be an object of beauty. 

Reference

http://www.essent.eu/content/about_essent/news/archive/stadshaard_enschede_officially_opened.html

A-maze-ing myself in Enschede

Current canine companion Samba contemplates path

The Netherlands city of Enschede (population about 160,000), where I am doing  a house and dog sit, is a very green city with many foot and bicycle paths. Some paths are for bicycles and pedestrians to share but many, if not most, are for one or the other. Some are paved and some not.

This network  of paths is amazing or maybe a-maze-ing is more accurate after yesterday’s adventure on one of our dog walks. Taking a path I had not previously been shown, I thought I had in mind how to return. At least the sun was shining so I could identify the directions. However, at some point I realized I must be off the simple neighbourhood map I was carrying. 

When I could actually find a street on the map, I saw I was to the north of “home” but which of the many winding and intersecting streets and paths in the area, few of which were labelled or even present on the map, would get me back I could not determine. 

Finally I showed my map to a man trimming some shrubbery who gave me a few simple directions that put me on the right street. By then I was not very far from the house and it had been a scenic walk with many lovely gardens along the way. Maybe GPS would be useful for dog walks.

Remembering at Vimy

Remembering at Vimy

On Canada Day 2014 I had the privilege of visiting the Vimy Ridge National Historic Site of Canada. I was doubly fortunate as Virginie, my airbnb host in Arras, understanding how important it was for a Canadian to visit Vimy, offered to take me there when neither a tour nor public transit was an option for that day. 

It was not far by car, only 11 kilometres. Once off the main road we drove along a tree shaded lane and into the 107-hectare park that France gifted to the Canadian people. The monument was our first stop, where a blue sky and a slight breeze made for ideal viewing. Shortly before 10 am only two other visitors were there. We also visited the small visitor centre and museum and the trenches.

Canadian trenches at Vimy Ridge

The Vimy Memorial is magnificent. With two soaring columns and 20 allegorical figures, all in white marble, it is inscribed with the names of 11,285 Canadians who were killed on French soil and have no known graves. We found the name of a friend of my maternal grandfather. They were homesteaders and neighbours in rural Alberta; my grandfather survived WWI but his friend did not.

Some of the names of 11,285 Canadians killed on French soil with no known graves

I would wish for all Canadians the opportunity to see this moving memorial, so important in the history of our nation.