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<p><font color="#000000"><span class="unnamed1"><span class="unnamed1">Avis Verffabriek
Westzaan 2005 (the Netherlands)<br>
Via a message of Hans Klopper from Leiderdorp (see our guestbook), we heard
of an empty paintfactory in Westzaan.</span></span></font><font color="#000000">The
first signs of a company on the place of the current factory go all the way
back to the beginning of the 18th century. In 1702 the (probably) first director
of the bluepaintfactory was appointed. The bluepaintfactory in those days consisted
of a so called ÔsteedmillÕ (a mill wich was driven by a horse). Working in the
bluepaintfactory was filthy work, in wich lots of dust came free. Because of
that everything in the mill became blue, also the horse. Because of this the
name of the factory became suitable Òthe blue stallionÓ.</font><font color="#000000">When
you enter the factory now, about 300 years later, the blue glare is still present.
On the same spot the mill once was, now stands the factory, but the colour is
the same. The same blue colour that kept the Avis employees occupied for over
300 years.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">At some moments you think you've seen the best abandoned
places, and even to continue on your adventures can't help to equal those most
precious experiences. At that time it's the greatest when such an idea is taken
down by paying a visit to another fantastic place. Thanks to Fleur van Zuilen
from Breda we had a similar experience in the last weekend of oktober. Her tip:
the abandoned Oranjeboom brewery in Breda in the Netherlands. The adventure
in the former brewery was one of the greatest untill now. Just when we thought
we had seen it all, we discovered new spaces, new possibilities, a beer tasting
room, a recreation area including a fireplace and stage, and finally the undisputed
highlight: an area with the old copper kettles in wich they used to brew the
beer. It must have been a great deception for all 334 employees who lost their
job. On thursdaymorning the 29th of April 2004 the beerproduction once and for
all was terminated. Exactly at 10.27 p.m. the last bottle was bottled and the
filling installation 'Column 6' was shut down. This ended 376 years of brewing
tradition, formerly ended on the first of July 2004. From that moment on nine
other breweries in Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany and Great Brittain took
over the production. In Breda only the head-office for Holland (220 emplyees),
a liquor wholesaler's and a servicedepartement catering technique remained.
The bottle-filling line moved to Russia and the Ukraine. Thank you Fleur for
this magnificent discovery! </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Budapest 2005 Like a drug addict feels a rush once he
gets in touch with his dealer and his drug, the full-blooded factory-tourist
feels that same rush when he gets in touch with the greyness of the world that
surrounds him. Something has to be found to satisfy his needs, his drug, the
abandoned factoy. So that's what happened in Budapest, where we stayed during
the holidays for a week. Looking at so much lost glory in the outskirts of Budapest,
we had to meet our deepest desire. And we found what we were looking for: a
empty factory. Once found, we had to get inside. On the terrain a few men were
clearing the biggest rubble. Luckily for us, they were at the back of the old
factory most of the time, so we could climb over the fence without being noticed.
The factory wasn't as nice as other abandoned places we'd seen, but we felt
at least as much tension as we did at other forbidden places. Normally the tension
fades away after we have succesfully entered the building, this time it didn't.
We didn't know if or when the workers would enter and had to move without making
any noise. When we left the factory, we ran into one of the workers. Without
anybody saying anything we walked calmly to the fence and climbed over it, leaving
the man there in astonishment. Click here for a overview of all pictures. Do
you have a addition, question, or something else to report? Feel free to report
it in our guestbook. Soon on this website: pictures of our expedition to the
former 'Oranjeboom-brewery' in Breda in the Netherlands. Click here to view
a little movie where we, in company of Fleur (who gave us the tip), have just
left the brewery.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Zaandam Hembrug This is our first succesfull project
in the Netherlands! At first we had in mind to take photos at the old Sint Andreas
hospital in Amsterdam, but when we arrived there, most of it turned out to be
demolished already. Eventually we ended up in Zaandam, at the Hembrug-terrain.
As far as we could check, this area was never before photographied by a urban
explorer. At the moment it is almost completely abandoned, but untill recently
it was used by the ammunitionfactory Eurometaal and the Dutch Secretary of Defence.
The original owners were the Secretary of War, the ammunition- en weaponfactory
Artillery Institution and the Tool-and Equipmentfactory Hembrug. It was top-secret
there was ammunition made, explosive material stored and weaponry tested. At
it's peak over 7500 men worked at the Hembrug area.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">UE, urbex, Untill it closed down in 1998 Phoenix West
was the most important place for the production of steel in Dortmund. After
the production was shut down, parts of the factory were dismantled and transfered
to China, but as you can see on the photos there's still enough left. At first
we both wanted to visit Phoenix West and East, but unfortunately, by the time
we got there everything in Phoenix East was already demolished. The whole Eastern
industrial area was a bare spot, a housing estate (including a small lake) will
arise at this location. But it already took us a day to see everything we wanted
on the 110 heactare large West area. Still it's kind of tragic: this used to
be high-quality industry, but caught up by time, this is all there's left of
it...</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">UE urbex In January 2005 our friend Daniel Helwegen from
Leiden (click on photo 10 to see Daniel in action) gave us a tip about a old
flour-factory that was abandoned since 1988. It's a beautiful building, but
unfortunately we didn't succeed to take a peak on the inside. As so often in
the Netherlands when there's a abandoned place, everything was hermetically
sealed, and we should have to destroy something to get in. But offcourse, we're
neat citizens, so we left without seeing the inside. We did get on the area
(by ranging the doorbell(!), some parts were still occupied), but you will understand
we were not able to make a lot of nice pictures here. Better luck next time!</font></p>
<p><span class="unnamed1"><span class="unnamed1"><font color="#000000">Uckange
(France) 2004<br>
After a long journey through the south of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg
and the north of France we arrive in Uckange. In front of us adorns the coolingconstruction
of the blast furnaces, impressive, dominating. </font></span></span><font color="#000000">We
par our car to find a store, the long trip made us thirsty. We yearn for beer
and find a gasstation that sels it. We walk past the brick wall that separates
us from this location. A conspiscious lot of policecars patrol in the area of
the factory. After a policecar just passed us, Dimitri walks in a steady tempo
towards the brick wall and pulls himself up. Exactly at that moment another
policecar passes by and stops. My heart pounds like a hardcore beat. We have
to show our passports. Fortunately the policemen don't react like I read in
stories of colleague-explorers. We can go freely and walk back to our car. We
decide to drive to the other side of the area and try again. It's easier to
get in from here and a few minutes later we are at the terrain. In the mean
time it's getting late and two hours later it's getting dark. Sytse, a friend
who joined us on this occation saw a helmet somewehere inside the building and
wants to take it as a souvernir. On full speed he runs into a complete dark
room where the helmet was supposed to be. We hear a muffled boom and run in
his direction. Sytse comes out of the building, groggy, with a small hole in
his head, the helmet in his hand. Unfortunately we all just put away our cameras
so we couldn't record his foolish look. It appeared he walked into a iron bar.
We walk back to our car and spend the rest of our weekend as tourists in Luxemburg.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Despite the fact Hasard Cheratte Hassard already shut
down in 1977, it's still stately there. Most of the buildings go back to the
beginning of the last century. The former mine lies against a hill in the small
village of Cheratte near. The complex of passages of the mine are beneath the
neighbouring hills. Across the closed gate at the main entrance still are some
(occupide) houses. At the gate there's a sign warning for watchdogs. Is it still
hanging there since 1977?! We decide to try entering Hasard Hassard through
the hills on the back of the mine. After a heavy journey (through thick grown
bramble-bushes including nasty thorns!, up the hill and down a real sharp drop
down), we finally stand on top of Hasard's Hassard's wall which is about 6 meters
high. So trying to jump down doesn't seem very wise. The soil is definately
not even and there's a big chance of spraining something. We also heard dogs
barking. It was'n very clear if the dogs were on the domain of the old mine,
but with the warningsign at the gate still in mind, we decide to climb back
up the hill and try to get closer to the main building. Going down was relatively
easy, and a few minutes later we enter the building. On the inside a abandoned
and forgotten world shows it self. Inside the changing rooms there still hang
some rags from what once must have been some worker's garment. Shoes and boots
already stand several years, abandoned, on the same place, untouched. You get
the idea workers can come in any time, not disturbed by your presence. Hasard
Cheratte Hassard is special and lets you experience the reality of past times.
</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">The weekend of 8 and 9 Oktober we got a trip planned
to the city of Liege, a Valhalla for anyone who loves desolate architecture.
Our goal was Le Valdor, a former mental hospital. The new one was already build
right next to it. But standing in front of the old Valdor, it made a huge impression
to all of us. Now it was time to make plans how to get into the old hospital
unseen. On the outside high fences with barbed wire restrain passengers from
taking a closer look at this magnificent building. Furthermore, Le Valdor is
standing in the inner city of Liege, which makes it even harder to get inside
without being noticed. And the gendarmerie can be called in a instance. After
we took a good look around, we decided to take our chances by entering Valdor
through the hills on the backside , not knowing if we would arrive on the right
spot. After some climbing up those hills and coming down again, it appeared
this wasn't the best choice we could have made. To reach Valdor we either had
to go back, or run through people's garden, cross the active railroad, through
the thick bushes and still climb over a fence. But we decided to do so, going
back was not a option. If we made it to Valdor without being seen is not really
clear, but we doubt it. But we arrived and a open window was quickly found.
Long corridors, stairs at the end of every passage. A strange kind of silence.
This building is such a immense labyrinth of passages, stairs, halls and rooms
that it seems like the doctors wanted to make sure everyone inside was mentally
ill and would stay that way...</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">Carcokes Zeebrugge/Zwankendamme at the coast of Belgium,
our second project. Through other 'industrial heritage' websites we found this
impressive complex that dates back to 1900. What didn't know what to expect,
if there was any security, vagabonds or drug-addicts, not even if it would still
be there. Fortunately the cokesfactory was still there, but even though it's
only closed since 1996, everything has fallen into disrepair. We did meet security
by the way, but only when we were already done taking our pictures and ready
to leave again. </font></p>
<p><font color="#000000">After we got a bit lost in Germany, close to the Dutch
border, we parked our car to get something to drink and to take a look on the
map. By coincidence we parked next to a old abandoned factory. We decided to
take a look inside. It appeared to be a big complex, which excisted out of multiple
buildings. Everywhere long passages connected the several rooms, departures
and stairwells. Lots of things just stood there like they were left the day
the factory closed it's doors. You imagine how they worked there, what went
on inside the factory and how they left on the last production day, probably
with lots of insecurities for the near future, and knowing they would never
set foot inside the factory again. When you're there, thinking those things
through, somethings happens to you. The big halls, once filled with many workers,
are now undefinably empty, only disturbed by the flying (and everywhere shitting)
pigeons. This building told us a story about old glorytimes, but showed how
soon those moments of glory fade away. After this first contact with a forgotten
world our interest was definately awakened.</font></p>
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