American Reacts to EXPLORING THE OLDEST CITY IN THE NETHERLANDS (what to do in nijmegen)

[@arnoldbreuer]

Actually The Americans bombed the city killing 800 and thousands wounded and it destroyed a large part of the historic city of Nijmegen (nai·may·gn).

[@maartenwitpaard1737]

And it was intentional (not a mistake). The targets were the railway lines to disrupt German supplies. They missed, perhaps due to the wind, and hit the city centre instead.

[@linda3482]

Indeed, they first went to bomb a town and military targets in Germany, but due to bad weather turned around and thought, well lets hit the railway lines in Nijmegen, actualy bombing the city center. It was sweeped under the rug for many decades after the war so the whole country acted like nothing happend here. Every city got the chance to mourn their deaths publicly but Nijmegen kept quiet, not wanting to open this wound. After all, it was done by the same people who gave is freedom. When I first moved here 30 years ago it was like a public secret, only talked about when someone mentioned how ungly some parts of the center was compaired to the beautyfull old building a street further. Only in the last decade the city started to publicly remember what happend, not to point fingers at our liberators or to downplay all the good things the US did for us, but to also give a voice to the people who losed loved ones during the bombing and the effect it had on the city.

[@linda3482]

Nijmegen is a really nice city. Big enough to have everything you need but small enough to still stay "gezellig". It Northern enough to really be in The Netherlands but Soutern enough to still have that softer soutern vibe. And that is one part that I really miss in all those Netherland video's. The difference in culture, language ect between the country above the rivers and below the rivers. No hard G in the south, it's soft like butter, carnaval which is only in the south and takes over the whole public life for at least three days, the Dutch directness you see getting lesser and lesser traveling south. Above the rivers where you get one cookie with your coffee and the south where every event is cellibrated with loads of food and drinks, or what is commonly know as the Bourgondisch lifestyle" . The catholics in the south, the protestants and reformed above the rivers. The Roman empire stopped when they hit the rivers comming from south and that had. Maybe a nice topic one day for a video one day, if you can at least find any info on it, because I never heard anyone who just moved here ever mention about it, but mostlikely because they only get out of the Randstad for one day visits and that is to short to understand it.

[@sherubijntje]

Nijmegen resident here. Great to see my city here on this channel. It only has way more to offer than just shops and high tea. If you are a history lover, like me, there's plenty to see. But also many cultural activities and events. The city welcomes a lot of German tourists because it's right next to the border. But usually every day you'll find a decent amount of American/English tourists because of the many river cruises that dock here. Nijmegen is also the host of the biggest free outdoor festival in The Netherlands (De Nijmeegse vierdaagse), that is absolutely worth a visit. People fly from all over the world to visit our city in that week. I can't even begin summing up all the other great stuff that goes on here. So feel free to come and visit one day :).

[@patriesennino]

Nijmegen, My home town 😍My Canadian cousin stayed with me and she was very surprised that no cars are allowed in the city/shopping streets except for loading and unloading

[@pietergreveling]

04:00 No it's not the Rijksmuseum, it probably says Rijksmonument (National Monument)! This is from Dutch Wikipedia; In the Netherlands, a national monument (Rijksmonument) is a thing (a building or object, or the remainder thereof) that is of general interest because of its beauty, its significance for science or its cultural-historical value. A more formally correct designation is: 'protected monument as referred to in the Heritage Act'.

[@Rudi_Wolff]

+ The Rijksmuseum is in Amsterdam.

[@gertstraatenvander4684]

I live near where she is standing at 2 minutes in, my brother has a houseboat to the left of that crane. Arsenaal means arsenal, it was used to store gunpowder. That mall in two storeys: top storey is level with the ground on one side, other storey level on the other side.

[@rinynewton8297]

It's an old roman city. That's my city...I grew up there. All my family still lives there. I live a 30 min drive from Nijmegen. It's Nìǰmegen.The emphasis on Nij. It's a beautiful city very old. Nice in summer

[@opoxious1592]

The Romans Founded "Nijmegen" The Romans named in in latin "NovioMagum" meaning "NewTown" And now it is called "Nijmegen" It's founded in around 5bc Infact Nijmegen was bombed by the Americans due to a navigation error. They already thought they were above Germany, due to Nijmegen's close proximity with the German border. Unfortunally a huge part of historical places and other very interesting sites in the Nijmegen city center are not in this video One of the highlights should have been the "Valkhof Park" On this hill along the river "Waal" a castle named "Valkhof Castle"dominated the skyline for over 650 years when it was build in 1155, and unfortunally demolished to sell the bricks in 1795. (Yeah it's heartbreaking indeed). But still there are some ruins left on this hill, with one of the oldest chapels in The Netherlands that is still intact altough restored troughout the century's. And yes, i'm a native Nijmegen citizen That "Tulep" at 11:30 is called "The Maze" Yes at the cat café they have places were the cats can go, so they have their own "privacy"

[@mariodriessen9740]

Geen navigatiefout, maar een gelegenheidsdoel. Het oorspronkelijke doel kon door het slechte weer niet worden bereikt en in dergelijke gevallen was het gebruikelijk om de bommen niet mee terug te nemen, maar om ze ergens anders te droppen. Het station van Nijmegen was zo’n gelegenheidsdoel om de aanvoer van Duitse goederen te frustreren. Maar zo’n beetje alles ging mis wat er mis kon gaan. De bommen werden op de verkeerde plekken gedropt, waardoor vooral de benedenstad en grote delen van het centrum werden geraakt. Vlak daarvoor was juist het sein gegeven dat alles weer veilig was, waardoor veel Nijmegenaren zich op straat bevonden. Bij het station (als ik me niet vergis) werd een volle tram geraakt. Maar veel Nijmegenaren verbrandden ook in hun kolenkelders. Ongeveer 800 doden. En dat in een stad waar in die tijd slechts ongeveer 22.000 mensen woonden. Overigens werden er ook bommen op 3 andere Nederlandse steden gegooid, maar de impact daarvan stond in geen enkele verhouding met de schaal van Nijmegen. Sowieso zijn er vrijwel nergens in Nederland zoveel oorlogsslachtoffers te betreuren geweest als in en om Nijmegen. Er zijn verhalen bekend van enkele vliegeniers die weigerden om hun bommen op Nijmegen te gooien. Helaas waren dat er niet veel.

[@opoxious1592]

@@mariodriessen9740 Dat maakt het verhaal zelfs nog dramatischer. Dus ze wisten dat ze de bommen op een Nederlandse stad zouden gooien, wetende dat daar veel Nederlandse slachtoffers bij zouden vallen. Een zeer donkere gebeurtenis, die dus niet als zodanig wordt verteld.

[@mariodriessen9740]

@ : Klopt. In de volksmond is het zelfs letterlijk decennia lang “het vergissingsbombardement” genoemd om te verbloemen wat er daadwerkelijk is gebeurd. Gelukkig is daar de laatste jaren steeds meer aandacht voor gekomen. Maar nog steeds is het verhaal bij de meeste mensen buiten Nijmegen (en zelfs de wat jongere inwoners van Nijmegen zelf) niet bekend. Er zijn inmiddels ook enkele documentaires over gemaakt. Google naar ‘het bombardement van Nijmegen’ en je komt ondermeer een 27 minuten durende documentaire tegen van het programma ‘Andere Tijden’. Maar ook op Wikipedia staat tegenwoordig het verhaal geschreven met diverse verwijzingen naar betrouwbare bronnen.

[@jacovanderschaaf3044]

You should also look into belgium city, i find that Antwerpen treinstation is amazing

[@Cthucal]

Carpaccio is an Itallian dish made of thin sliced pieces of specific parts of raw beef, a bit like the japanese sashimi but then with beef. But it's common in the Netherlands aswell, we also have Filet American wich is raw beef mixed with other stuff wich makes it look like a sort of paté.

[@nimwey7701]

That restaurant was called Arsenal 1824, The Rijks museum is in Amsterdam p.s they also made a nice video of my hometown Schiedam

[@marijkeernst1580]

11.39 its just an artwork a labyrinth, next to the river "de Waal "' children play on it , I Love it, its just on the place my grandparents long ago used to live

[@mariodriessen9740]

Nijmegen is also the city where Eddie and his brother Alex (from the band ‘Van Halen’) lived before they moved to the USA.

[@rinynewton8297]

High tea is an English afternoon dish. Normally it consists cute little sandwiches, sweets and cakes. Scones with jam and clotted cream being the finest. The upstairs shops, when you have a good look it's inspired by the bridges in Amsterdam. The bridges connect the shops at both sides.

[@kaelon9170]

4:22 that banner actually says "Rijksmonumenten", which means it's designated a national monument. Which in turn means the building is in a state of preservation. The Rijksmuseum or "national museum" only has one location and that's in Amsterdam's city center.

[@jorisbeekvande339]

I live in Nijmegen for 25 years now!!!

[@bushwalker75]

This city is more than 2000 years old, the original Roman name is; Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum.

[@thijseijk25]

About that shopping street. Nijmegen is one of the very few hilly cities in the netherlands. What you call the upstairs level actually begins on side of the street as ground level and end up as "upstairs"level. the Downstairs level starts as basement level and end up at a ramp to walk up again. Of course both in opposite ways. Hopefully I managed to give you a clear idea of how that streets works. Nijmegen wasn't actually bombed by the germans. We were bombed by the allies. There are several stories going around on why.

[@Bartkonig]

Heey Charlie, I'm following your channel for a while and I'm from Nijmegen as well. The girl did the best pronunciation in the beginning. Furthermore I must say that they did a rather poor representation of showing our city. Ofcourse you can't show everything in one trip, but if you wanna talk about the historic sights they missed a lot in my opinion, also on activities what to do. Biggest miss was not covering the Valkhofpark where the old castle used to be, museums, local brewery De Hemel (the Heaven), De Lange Hezelstraat (oldest shopping street of the country, with all different nice boutiques and quircky shops), the watertower in Kronenburgerpark, which they sit in front at the end, remains of the old city wall, etc. Also they should have mentioned the Nijmeegse Vierdaagse (Feesten) - 4 Days March festival aka The Summer Festival which is a whole week and more than 1.5 milion people come to Nijmegen within 7 days. It's huge here, it's in summer and there are more than 40 stages throughout the Citycentre with all kinds of activities. 4 days out of those there will be the "Walk of the World" where people (and military) from all over the world walk 50km every day. Quire the feat! 😉😄

[@Stefan-85]

🥳My Hometown, come to Nijmegen and visit the famous Walk of the World 4 days walking in and around our nice city!

[@essiiiiii]

Have you seen how small the Netherlands is? Whe have to be vreative with every space we have. We still heve a lot of farmers and nature but we are in need of houses. So get creative on everything❤😂😊

[@m4x1mus2155]

The round thing at 11:55 is a sort maze you can follow to the midle of the maze. sadley they missed the 3 walls of the city and the oldest still standing house of the city and the small part of a roman settling underneat the casino

[@tillypattiasina9206]

I have been living in the UK for 5 years now but I come from Nijmegen which is and will remain my city, in 2005 Nijmegen celebrated its 2000th anniversary. The Waal bridge is the bridge of Nijmegen which is also the bridge of the war film A bridge too far a very nice film you should really watch once. And furthermore Nijmegen is a beautiful and very nice city where you have many cozy terraces pubs and a lively nightlife, also in July you have in Nijmegen the four-day international walking march, people from 74 different countries participate and 42,000 people participate of which 6400 soldiers from 34 different countries. Yes so in Nijmegen you have everything your heart desires.

[@RickFromTheNetherlands]

Nijmegen, my town. I saw my house on two different occasions in this video. Nijmegen has a lot more to offer than we just saw. I could show you some hidden gems even many people from Nijmegen are not aware of. But the take home message is: Amsterdam is not The Netherlands and vice versa. Amsterdam is fun, but it probably is as Dutch as NYC is to U.S. Your pronunciation is not bad, theirs is a little better, but that doesn’t count. They most likely have heard the correct pronunciation more often than you have and especially since there is no equivalent to our ‘ij’ in the English language, that makes it pretty tough.

[@Herzschreiber]

Raspberries are as common as strawberries in Europe. My guess was strawberry before the told it was raspberry. And "citron" is French for lemon. (Zitrone in German)

[@RealConstructor]

And citroen in Dutch. We also have limoen, which is not a lemon, but a lime.

[@Herzschreiber]

@@RealConstructor We also have limoen in German, it is "Limone". :)

[@corjp]

The Rijksmuseum is in Amsterdam.

[@VincentLuijer]

Actually, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is one of the 16 Rijksmuseums in The Netherlands.

[@aaptrooper]

I live in Nijmegen. If you vist the Netherlands and Nijmegen, let me know! There is so much more about this city. I could guide you around the city

[@thijseijk25]

Our city name in some other languages: Nijmeegs (local dialect): Nimwèège, German: Nimwegen, Latin: Noviomagus, French: Nimègue, Spanish and Italian: Nimega

[@essiiiiii]

Wr don't dubbelfry here, that is not healthy. Even fries are healthy here😅

[@essiiiiii]

Sorry doublefry😂

[@platinaatje6134]

Tak look at the "koopgoot"(buy gutter) in Rotterdam.

[@dgraveth]

The strange thing use to be the harbour the put some strange art there where I played a lot as a kid

[@MrLittle3vil]

Nigh-May-GGGGGGGGen Like Night without the T, May as the month, GGGG like scraping your throat, eN like the letter N. Emphasis on NIJ....You were close :)

[@Bruintjebeer6]

The rijks museum is in Amsterdam

[@rinynewton8297]

Arsenaal is a restaurant in Nijmegen. Very good! 😊

[@arnoldoldenburger4853]

Nice historic place. Novus is Roman and Magus is Keltic. Greets from Groningen

[@madmurd6596]

The Rijksmuseum is in Amsterdam

[@annemieke186]

I think you promounced it better. Noticed before that you have a knack for Dutch... I found their video very confusing. They hardly explained where they were going or filmed the wrong building. The Frikandel (free-khan-dehl, a as in car) is like a spicier hotdog. People like to talk about what gruesome ingredients it has. Those people often have no idea what is inside other dishes... Indeed hope that the cats can hide somewhere...they look content though. That High Tea..never seen it before like that. To me this is an extravagant lunch with some tea on the side... The saddle she was inspecting is a anti-pain in the butt saddle 😂...soft for your buttocks and lower in the middle so your pubic bone is less stressed. Like your comments

[@qualitytraders5333]

She pronounces it the right way, only the "Gelderse zachte g" is pronounced wrong. No, the Rijksmuseum is in Amsterdam. I have no idea what she's talking about. Onionsoup????? And they have been living in the country for years. So, yes, if you visit The Netherlands and want tea, just order onion soup. You don't have citron in the US? You know, the yellow limes?

[@deetgeluid]

It’s called lemon.

[@MrLittle3vil]

I think you either love or hate a Frikandel. I really like the Frikandel speciaal

[@QueenFlora-b5w]

If you drink thee on a flight it's higthee

[@remcohoman1011]

16:25 try it with tomato ketchup, as it is was and suposed to be, even better :D

[@8020erwin]

no that is a criminal offense

[@AStitchTooFar]

hey that's my town! I'm sure a lot of people explained some of your comments and questions already, we Dutch like to talk about our country:) let me know if you still have some questions.

[@JacobBax]

They live in Dordrecht, 15km east of Rotterdam.

[@pascalgeutjes8676]

Cool, i was born and raised in Nijmegen

[@FK-df2ue]

You don't wanna know what meat is inside a frikandel. It's called seperator meat and it's basically only what's left when everthing that looks like puke is left of an animal. But hey! Once deep fried and a lot op spiced added, it tasts good! Americans will love it. Sorry but yes

[@dutchman7623]

And what's in a hotdog?

[@mariadamen7886]

Charlie, the stress is on "Nij".

[@Biemb]

Thats my city! It's a beautiful place to live, can recommend.

[@dinnabrooks4025]

Ik zou me echt kapot lachen als ik ineens 2 vloggende amerikanen het koningsplein op zie lopen😂😂

[@Dutch-linux]

thea also means dinner in the uk !!!

[@Hypermill024]

Yea she pronounced it better :) (the second time she did)

[@PeetHobby]

Nijmegen is my hometown, and it's 2019 years old. The Romans were the first to settle here, building a town with theaters, many structures, and an army base where the 9th Roman legion was stationed. 10:56 No, it wasn’t Hitler bombing Nijmegen; it was the Americans. They were on a night mission to bomb German cities but couldn’t locate their intended targets. The rule was to drop bombs on any German city on the way back if they couldn't find the original targets. They mistakenly identified Nijmegen as a German city and dropped many tons of bombs on it. Half of the city center was destroyed, and many people were killed or wounded. There is a monument for this mistake bombing, dedicated to the orphanage that was destroyed, where not a single child survived. The monument features a swing with a child on it, symbolizing all the lost lives of that day. Every year, on the anniversary of the bombing, people visit the monument to pay their respects.It’s located on the street with the upstairs shops, in the middle of which there’s a small square where the orphanage was originally located. That’s where the monument stands. And the HEMA building was paid for as compensation by the USA for the mistake. There’s a lot of information, pictures, and even a few videos online about this horrible mistake, including aerial shots of the destruction, how the victims were cared for that day, and how we mourned at the mass funeral where the victims were transported on carts to the graveyard across Nijmegen, and how the city was rebuilt afterward.

[@joannewink7101]

They went to my city Deventer ❤

[@pieternoord3287]

It's always strange that they never ask a local how to pronounce the city name, buy a snack and ask the name, so simple

[@marijkeernst1580]

im sad to tell you but the american bomb it by accident, almost the whole centre burnt away, and 800people died

[@RobKlomp-w1q]

Ijj spreekt het goed uit 😊

[@DennisindeBraek]

This is a false claim that Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands. The oldest city in the Netherlands is Maastricht (or Mosa Trajectum, also Traiectum ad Mosam or Traiectum Superius). If you look at the advancing army of the Romans, they first founded the crossing point and settlement at the River Maas in the south of the Netherlands. This crossing subsequently grew into a city, because many traders also stayed here. There was also a Roman granison with a fortress located 4 kilometers from the city (in Belgium). This fortress was already there 100 years BC. Continue the road (Via Belgica) to the bathhouses in Heerlen (Coriovallum) from Boulogne-sur-Mer via Arras, Bavay, Tongeren, Maastricht and Heerlen to Jülich and Cologne.

[@8020erwin]

yea Maastricht has been trying to steal that title for a while now, but is incorrect Nijmegen is the oldest and has a living population since year 0.

[@Saarloos1960]

The USA bombed the city by accident.

[@samoverbeek4778]

At 11:00 you say "Hitler..." But we actually got bombed by the Americans. There's different theories about why this happened but I'd like to believe they miscalculated and thought they already reached Germany. Since Nijmegen is so close to the German border.

[@phoebs69]

She said Citroen, that's lemon

[@BleepingTom]

at the end your pronounced better: she & he pronounced the "G" in nijmegen almost with a soft "k" in it....Your "G" in Nijmegen is the more correct way

[@jacquelinevanderkooij4301]

Oldest known city. Roman.

[@adotte8014]

Nijgen was also one of the residences of Charlemagne

[@adotte8014]

Sorry Nijmegen

[@EdwinvanderWielen79]

Oldest city of Holland Is Dordrecht

[@MarcFromNijmegen]

it's pronounced neigh-megen with a fairly hard G, as if you're clearing your throat. neigh-may-*clear throat Ghhhhh*-'n ;-)

[@Kamisei85]

It sounds like neigh in dutch yea but not in english. In english phonetics it's more like naimaygen or even better nyemaygen.. Keep english pronunciation in mind when you tell foreign people how to pronounce words :)

[@gerbentvandeveen]

A Citroen is yellow. And a lim is green. There brothers. In the rest of the world it is. Maybe? Not in the USA?

[@ezion67]

Sorry her pronunciation I could understand yours was really err,.. not good. Usually you do much better. The ij in Dutch is one of the combination letters that form a single sound. There is no real match in English but the i in knight or knife at least is somewhat in the neighborhood. The combinations specially invented to trip you up are: oe, ui, eu, ie, ij and ei. That last one does exist in English and sound similar to the dutch version e.g. foreigner. BTW the Dutch ij and ei sounds are hard to tell apart.

[@marijkeernst1580]

So sad to tell you that it where american bombs that bombed Nijmegen by mistake, it took alot of our old center and beauty full buildings and 800 people were killed

[@dutchman7623]

Not a mistake, they wanted to destroy the railway station and its connections, used to supply German troops on the western front. The 'mistake' excuse was done because the Americans were our friends. Collateral damage is the term.

[@steffvalmont6828]

hahaha, this is NOT a high Tea , it´s lunch / clearly they never experienced the joy of a real High Tea ... understandable, they are pricey to say the least / but so much more enjoyable and healthier than fries and junk food which they apparently enjoy ;-)))

[@Kamisei85]

The only thing these americans know is how to eat snack food. 14:08

[@ikkedus6255]

There are 1150 museums in the Netherlands. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is far away from this museum. You put the emphasis wrong when pronouncing nijmegen. You should pronounce it as NIJmegen.

[@dyslexicLLM]

As a teenager I got the chance to do archaeology in Nijmegen. They were renovating large parts of the city, clearing out entire neighborhoods, so of course archaeologists and volunteers like me flew in like vultures to pick at the old Roman bones buried beneath. Lovely city, but Nijmegen was a Roman fortress and NOT a city. The oldest city in the netherlands is my city, Utrecht. But I might be a little biased...

[@jacquelinevanderkooij4301]

Nij ....meeeegen.

[@gerbentvandeveen]

What do a America. No's about real clean food's? Citroen and lim? Bread and Yogamats! Real foods! I'ts foods and health care. That's what the usa brings the money. I'ts ol bad! But the USA first! Greetings from Bunschoten-Spakenburg the Netherlands.

[@sqicyo_0432]

you said it okay but you are kinda rushing it. and i get it. its becouse youre trying to hard to make it one word, try cutting it up like nij-me-gen 17:06 that was pretty close

[@Rudi_Wolff]

NijMEGEN, you might as well pronounce it as NyMEGAN instead of NyMEHEN.

[@Rudi_Wolff]

2:37 She: _"... we think that it's going to be another great city that you should take some time to visit especially if you want to get outside of the touristy areas of the city"_ You: _"She's talking to you viewer"_ As most of your viewer base is Dutch I don't think she's talking to us. Only to the american viewers, as most Dutch already have been there at least once in their live and a lot of Germans _(those who have visited the Netherlands)_ probably too. As there is a major event once every year it's called the Avondvierdaagse _(in English called: International Four Days Marches Nijmegen)._ Look it up, might be good content for a new video _(if you haven't already)._

[@Rudi_Wolff]

10:56 _"... oh yeah, Hitler messing it up for everybody around the world man"_ No, you americans bombed the city, not the Germans. And he's not as big as an asshole as every american 20th century president until Trump. Do not forget the victims made by american wars worldwide. America has made more victims since the first bomb dropped on Hiroshima, than the Germans did in the holocaust.

[@cecile2387]

Hi cute american man! Bonjour! Stop making vidéo for a while and come in Europe to visit couples of countries. You are welcome in France ☺️. Great videos by the way.

[@Arjay404]

You "G" pronunciation was correct but the rest wasn't, the way she said the rest of the word was better than yours, so just take hers add your "G" to it and your good.

[@marijkeernst1580]

you pronounce it better

[@patrickhendrikskingston9303]

Where are your dreads?

[@arjenlaan4103]

It is not 100% certain that Nijmegen is the oldest city, the other contender for the "title" is Voorburg. Although of the two, only Nijmegen actually looks the part. Also, Michelle pronounces it pretty much perfectly. Also also: double fried, sunflower oil, just potatoes and salt (which, apparently, is 16 fewer ingredients than Mc Donalds fries in the USA ;-) ) )

[@RichardRenes]

There actually is debate as to which city is the oldest in the Netherlands. Nijmegen has a good claim, but so does Maastricht and Voorburg. All are founded by the Romans in the first century AD but as we do not have any official documents which state their founding dates, the claim of any of these three is valid.

[@dgraveth]

Al mot ik krupe

[@geetraveler5870]

So heurt ut!!!

[@dgraveth]

@@geetraveler5870seker hope dat enniesee t murge een bietje goed doet

[@alex4ndre216]

Pas très fan du lieu!

[@spinshade]

*If you are currently in The Netherlands are are Jewish* *Please seek shelter!* You can go to neighboring countries and they won't fail you like we did. Stay safe everyone!

[@wilco8729]

Fact is....... the name: netherlands did not exist 2000 years ago😂

[@mvdh877]

8:20 citroen is dutch word for lemon

[@mvdh877]

0:32 that clock on the wall is that an Ajax clock?

[@mvdh877]

4:12 rijksmuseum is in amsterdam not nijmegen