On Thursday, we took it a little easy. We were pretty laid back. We slept in a little, and waited until one of our hosts came home before we headed to Maastricht, Netherlands. I guess we knew that we’d need our energy the following day for the trip to Paris. Before we headed over, the girls wanted to stop by the stores and shop a little. Honestly, I was surprised that we lasted so long before having a shopping trip. Like every other normal guy, I’m not a big fan of shopping. I like to go in, find something I like, and buy it. All under 30 seconds. We spent an hour there…the longest hour ever!
After the shopping we ended up going straight to Maastricht. Here we went ahead and started walking around and looking for a quick place to grab a snack. We passed by the Blanche Dael store, which is a coffee shop. One of the oldest around. It started in 1877, which is pretty old if you ask me. We thought about getting something here, but changed our minds and decided to go for something sweeter.
Breaking the diet! 🙂
Afterwards we went sight seeing. I don’t know if we’ve mentioned this before or not, but there are a bunch of street performers everywhere. They can be hired musicians by restaurants or hotels, or they could just be on the streets hoping to make a quick Euro. All in all, there’s great live music everywhere.
Remember how we mentioned yesterday about how bicycles are the choice of transportation for the Flemish, well people in the Netherlands are the same way. There were bikes everywhere. I think I saw barely over a handful of cars while I was there. The air was super fresh, by the way.
This was one of the most random things I’ve seen on this trip. This Panda wasn’t advertising for anyone…it was just there. I had to take a picture of it.
This is one of the coolest book stores I’ve ever seen. It was a church and it’s now converted into a three story book store with a café built in as well. A modern day Starbucks, with a ridiculously unique feel.
Of course, after a day of walking and sight seeing you get thirsty. We headed to a local pub for a local brew. It’s definitely a lot better than Heineken. Actually, the locals prefer Amstel Light over Heineken. Who would’ve thought?
Like I said, it was a very laid back day. Just one city, and a couple of beers. Not to mention the sweets. All in all, a good time.
-Rudy&Marta
P.S. Feel free to “Like” or “+1” the post right below. Sharing is caring.
P.P.S. Paris kicked our butts today. We are so exhausted. It’s sad though, we’ll be leaving on the train tomorrow to go back to Belgium. I’m going to miss this place. At first, I didn’t like it, but Paris grew on me.
P.P.P.S. Did I mention that people in the Netherlands like to go around on bicycles?
