Walking snapshot poem

Thinking I stared outside; saw the windy clouds fly over, and meant to discover the unknown passage alongside the canal.

Built by a king and digged out as a deep pocket to fill the money pit by underpaid workers.

The muddy paths were wet but  a thick lamwool overcoat sheltered my body while I fought the whistling wind the sun shined in my eyes, low as winter.

Snapshots from where I came from, behind my back towers penetrated colored clouds, and in front the valley of the yachting Jeker river with too much water between its banks; was it possible to drown in there for the cat that jumped and missed the bridge that otherwise would have crossed it over.

The other bridge in sunshine; Vroenhoven, newly built as a platform in history is where my walking journey began.

Alongside the waterway, straight forward wandered my boots the pavement; a bit insecure pressed against the marl wall that rises up high as a carved mountain of sand.

My mountains, the not more than hills ascending, descending landscape that once improved the muscles of my legs.

But now, today it is becoming harder to climb while my age is going up by itself, I have to push to tell my legs that it is not as steep as they think.

A stick might help, but not here walking the flat paveway alongside the canal.

Boats float up and down between the harbors of the rivers Meuse and Scheldt; the Belgian highways of water bringing goods and commodities.

One still has Christmas lights on board in the cabin; a proud skipper waiting for three kings to come and give him presents perhaps.

It is just what one believes: Santaclaus in a nickel and a dime, watching stupid sheep smart at me.

It looks like granite walls, the old eroded marl painted black in marvelous bright winter light.

Curves as if it forked out the earth; ancient material pressed long gone sealife, and it is funny to realize that men now has to dig for just a steady line of water.

Once I had to swim this route; I couldn't’t have lived here, or only on a boat; now I can dig holes in the soft sandstone ridge and be rich finding fossils of shells.

How happy almost no vegetation covering, some green spots of hope maybe, do I see other people walking the way; chatting, staring without seeing the landscape they cross, are part of for a while, until they are back home where they watch TV without recognizing the animal planet they were born on.

Men was here is graffitied on the wall, as if no one knew; paint in carved caves where not a soul lives, just some animals I guess.

As like the tiny hallways in the soft stone; witnesses of life...

In a distance the next bridge; the village of my destiny where the waterway broadens and backs up the caves made by men.

Digged holes for what? For whom? For why?

Storage perhaps for what one does not want to know; or hide and seek; did I ask my dog to sniff inside, but he refused telling me that he did not know what was waiting there for him.

Clouds become thicker, turn from blue to grey as promised rain that will not fall before I’m climbing the steep way up home.

But still, my coat will keep me dry and warm, or it won’t deserve its name.

Light is falling down, absorbed by the uprising cliff of Limburgian soil.

Two midgets in a garden protecting the first house boarding the waterway; an old lump of stones, built someway back in long forgotten time by long forgotten men, as we will in some future.

The village is reached, but it is Monday and too small to have a cup of coffee outside season; a woman stares desperate at me, sitting at a forgotten non-served terrace table, smoking a cigarette and no ashtray nearby…

Snapshots: Vroenhoven bridge

The Albert Canal, connecting Antwerp with Liège, has been broadened for river traffic up to 9000 tons. The new bridge has a central span of 100m, which allows for a free width of 86m for boat passage. The conditions for this intervention are highly complex since the site is historically preserved. At this very spot, the Second World War started for Belgium. The bunker next to the bridge testifies of this era.

The bridge is a stayed structure with a total length of 195 m. Its deck consists of two lanes of 3.25m width with adjacent pedestrian and cycle routes. The total width of the bridge deck is 18,5m. The main structural bridge system consists of two steel beams with variable height. The form varies according to the stresses acting of the beams, resulting in a materialised force diagram visible from the deck. These beams are used on the one hand for separation of heavy traffic and pedestrians or cyclists, on the other hand for pushing the bridge to its definitive location.

The bridge was constructed in two phases. It was firstly placed in parallel to the existing bridge by pushing and was used as a temporary passage for about 18 months. In the second phase the existing structure was demolished and the bridge was ripped laterally to substitute the previous structure. The bridge support on the Riemst side is a massive construction that combines the functions of a museum and a structural abutment for the bridge. The building is spread under the bridge and constitutes a connection that is both visual (between the bridge and the site) and temporal (referring to the site’s history).

The museum integrates several multifunctional spaces, a café/restaurant and an amphitheatre where cultural activities are organised. The external walls of the building are 170 m long and made of textured concrete so that they can be used as climbing walls. The focus of this building is the information centre on Second World War. The tale of the war is illustrated in an artistic way using multimedia elements. The original bunker is maintained over the new building as the sole witness of the German invasion that took place 70 years ago. Particular attention was given to the road works and their implication through the different construction phases, since the project is a landmark gate to the Flanders region for visitors coming from Maastricht.

Snapshots of Tongeren (B)

* source: wikipedia

Ambiorix

Tongeren is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemisg region. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgioum, as the only Roman administrative capital within the country's borders. As a Roman city, it was inhabited by the Tungri, and known as Atuatuca Tungrorum, it was the administrative centre of the Civitas Tungrorum district. The city is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network.

The Romans referred to Tongeren as Aduatuca Tungrorum or Atuatuca Tongrorum, and it was the capital of the large Roman province of Civitas Tungrorum an area which covered modern Belgian Limburg, and at least parts of all the areas around it. Before the Roman conquests, this area was inhabited by the Eburones. The Eburones were among the group of Belgic tribes known as the Germani cisrhenani (Despite being known as the Germani, whether they spoke a Germanic language is debated, and the names of their tribes and their leaders were Celtic.)

Caesar referred to the fort of the Eburones as Aduatuca, and this has led to a widely accepted proposal that this can be equated to Tongeren. There are counter arguments that the word "Aduatuca" was probably a general word for a fort in this region, meaning that there might have been more places with the same name, and that Tongeren shows no signs of pre-Roman occupation, nor the hilly terrain described by Caesar. There was also a distinct tribe in the area known as the Aduatuci. On the other hand, it has the same name and function as a local capital, and is in generally the right area. If it is not Tongeren itself, the Aduatuca of the Eburones might be the ancient fortification of Caestert in nearby Riemst.

During Julius Ceasar’s campaigns in this part of Gaul in the 1st century BC, the Belgae revolted against the campaign of Caesar, led by the Eburones. They destroyed a legion that had demanded the right to winter among them in 54 BCE. Caesar reported that he sold the Aduatuci into slavery, and annihilated the name of the Eburones, many of whom however fled successfully, including Ambiorix the leader of the revolt. Instead of risking Roman lives to pursue them he invited tribes from over the Rhine, such as the Sigambri to come and plunder. This back-fired when Eburones pointed out to the Sigambri that the Romans had all the booty at Aduatuca, and were the more attractive target.

The Tungri came to dominate this area, and are the reason for the name of the modern name Tongeren, coming from the ancient "Tungrorum" meaning "of the Tungri". Tacitus says that Tungri was a new name for the original tribes who had previously been called the Germani. But many modern writers believe that the Gallo-Roman population of the area contained a significant amount of more recent Germanic immigrants from across the Rhine. Located on the important road linking Cologne to Bavay via the relay of Liberchies, and surrounded by the fertile lands of the Hesbaye region, Roman Tongeren quickly became one of the largest Gallo-Roman administrative and military towns in the 1st century. It suffered from a destructive fire during the Batavian siege in 70CE, which was part of the Batavian revol. In the 2nd century, it erected a defensive wall, portions of which can still be seen today. Typical Roman buildings were built in town, while villas and mound graves dotted the surrounding area.

In the 4th century, the city became the center of a Christian diocese – one of the earliest in the Low Countyries – under the influence of Saint Servatius, bishop of Tongeren, who died in 384CE. The seat of the Tungrian bishopric however eventually moved to nearby Liège, possibly with a period in Maastricht. Aduatuca Tungrorum may have been destroyed by the Huns in 451CE. Tongeren therefore lost some importance during this period.

Waves of Germanic settlers and invaders changed the area significantly. The Merovingian period between the 5th and the 8th century is not well documented. The building of a new church and the foundation of a chapter of canons took place in Carolingian times, at the very place where the old bishops’ houses stood, and where the basilica still stands today. The construction of the current basilica started at the beginning of the 13th century in the prevalent Gothic style of that period. Other buildings were added to the religious core of the city, including new commercial areas, hospitals and artisans quarters. The 13th century also saw the building of the medieval defensive wall, several new churches and cloisters, and the beguinage. The city became one of the “bonnes villes” (or principal cities) of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.

In 1677, the city was burned almost entirely by Louis XIV’s troops, a catastrophe from which Tongeren never completely recovered. The rebirth of the city dates from after 1830.

Tongeren is currently the judicial capital of the province of Belgian Limburg.