OK, class. You may thank Grandpa for today's history lesson. (He pointed out that I was severely slacking in my blogging lately.) The skies are blue and there is a little nip in the air, so Brandon and I headed out this fine morning to enjoy a walk around
Bocholt.
Bocholt's original name was "
Bucolt", which means beech, and dates back to the later 12
th century. As in all towns in Belgium, the church is in the
centrum (center). The church here is called St.-
Laurentiuschurch. Loosely translated, St. Lawrence Church. This church became famous in 1910. It seems that due to the huge population growth in this area,
Bocholt decided that they needed a larger church. They hired an American engineer named Weiss and an Italian constructor named
Morglia to resolve this problem, and the best solution involved moving the church tower 9.4 meters. This had never been done before, so it was quite the feat. It also earned the nickname of "De
Torenkruiers" ( the Tower-porters) for the inhabitants of
Bocholt. Needless to say,
Bocholt is very proud of this achievement, and you will find a statute and museum commemorating the event in the
Gemeentehuis, which is the local government building or courthouse.
This is
Bocholt's Bibliotheek De
Prisol, which is the local library. It's a beautiful building, and I will probably go in and pretend that I can read Dutch, just so I can check out the architecture. I'm sure that they will be suitable impressed with my vast Dutch vocabulary of approximately 5 words.
This statute is beside the library, and commemorates a military event in
Bocholt. I'm afraid I don't have any information on it yet, but I hope to find out more about it soon. In any event, it's a beautiful statue, and I just thought that I would share it with you.
As a reward for our strenuous physical and intellectual exercise this morning, Brandon and I stopped at the local bakery before heading home. I'm sure that you will agree that this treat was well deserved. (I wish computers had smell-o-vision so that you could truly appreciate the experience.) A kind gentleman helped us order our fresh baked goodies, and for that we will be forever grateful. There were so many things to choose from, so we just picked out a few basics for today. I arranged them neatly on this cake plate just to take this tempting photo to share with you, then the kids and I devoured most of them. If Russ asks, we had a healthy, well balanced and
nutritious breakfast. Yea, right. Like he would believe that!
I go to Hamont a lot. Well, one place in Hamont, to be exact...Slegers-Heise Antiques. In fact, I just made a quick run over there to check out an amazing bench. Not just any bench, mind you. THE bench. The very one I've been looking for all last year! I saw it on their website under "new arrivals" and Russ told me to just go and get it. I won't bore you with the details, but once I got there, I found out that it was already sold. *sadness*. I spent a little time in the store anyway, wandering around and telling myself that maybe the bench wasn't as amazing as it looked after all. Maybe it had a big crack somewhere, or maybe it smelled like an old man's stinky feet. Maybe. Anyhoo, after my great disappointment, I decided to make the most of the beautiful day and actually check out the town. I had no idea that Hamont was home to this beautiful windmill called Napoleansmolen. It was built in 1804. 
You know that I have a thing for windmills, so this made me feel a lot better. How could you possibly feel sad when you live in a place with such beautiful things to see and explore? 
This plaque on the side of the windmill gives you a brief history of the building. If your Nederlands is a little rusty (like mine), then check out their website. It has some great pictures, and really has some interesting information about the windmill and the town of Hamont. 
I have a thing about European churches, too, and this is the one in the centrum of Hamont. Very pretty! Things were a little busy when I was there, but I plan on heading back on a quiet morning some time soon to take more pics of this beautiful building called St. Laurentiuskerk (St. Lawrence Church). It's a Gothic Revival church and it was built between 1903 and 1904. Enough exploring for the day. It was time to get back home and start searching the internet for that perfect antique bench... One that's even more amazing than the one that "got away". *snif*
