Remember when we were in Leuven, Belgium, this past December and I shared all those posts on this, that, and the other: the two abbeys, the two Christmas markets, the two basilicas. Yup. THAT trip.
We had a great B&B hostess, Greet, who gave us all kinds of ideas for what we might want to see, one of which was the clock tower in nearby Lier, 45 km away. Lier. Hmmm. That suddenly sounded familiar. So I went to my search bar above (and to the tags on the left) to see if we had been there before. Another YUP.
Back in 2011, 6 years ago, we had stopped in Dendermonde, Mechelen and Lier on another trip home, hitting some highlights in those 3 Belgium cities. But somehow we totally missed the Zimmer Tower in Lier...the one thing Greet told us to see.
So, on our way home this time, we went specifically to see the tower!
First of all, we had to walk a bit through town before finding the tower.
You know me and architecture...and weathervanes!
Then there it was.
This is the Zimmer Tower, also known as the Cornelius Tower, from the 14th century,
as part of the city's fortification.
The Jubilee Clock on the front was built by astronomer and clockmaker, Louis Zimmer, in 1930.
Here are some enlargements of the separate dials on the clock.
And from Wiki, below, are the descriptions of what the dials mean.
(image from Wiki)
Who knew you could put so much information on a clock!
If we had stayed longer, we would have seen some bell ringing from the side panels.
Actually, we did hear them but weren't fast enough on the draw to get what was happening.
Next time.
But we DID have enough time for a koffie break (think potty break),
where we got into the Christmas spirit again with Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet Belgium chocolates.
Sometimes these quickie trips are the best, you know. Short and sweet!
