Day in Tilburg

We were due an easy today and the weather looked dodgy, so after a late breakfast we went out to explore Tilburg.

Right outside our hotel is the town square with a lovely old church and the entrance to the underground bike park. This is a bigger version of yesterday's travelater, and people just stand on it with their bike and are teleported to the bike parking area.

We took a walk around town casually enjoying the sights.

Then we crossed over a big canal and into a grassy area on the far side. For many years it was the sewage treatment plant, but not any more, although it did smell a tiny bit wiffy.

At the far side of it were the recently discovered remains of a 13th century manor house, but instead of trying to rebuild it, they have created the estimated outline in corten.

Finally, and back in the town we passed an absolutely massive chimney  from the Beka wool factory. It closed in 1968 and is now surrounded by quite nice looking flats.

Whilst trying to find out more about the Beka factory read in Wikipedia that the employees, and also local people, used to be known as pee pottiers or more crudely jug pissers. This is because they used to take their own urine to work in jugs and were paid a few cents for it. The ammonia was somehow used in the wool processing area. 

I think that fact will stay with me for a while, possibly even after I forget the name of the town.