Maastricht, NL - First Impressions

Welcome to Maastricht!!!

Maastricht is a beautiful old town sitting along the River Maas between Belgium and Germany. On one side you find the old town and other the other the train station and Ceramique (the area where I live). Maastricht finally now feels like my home away from home. After traveling this weekend, it was so nice to come back to a place I can call my home-base in Europe.

Here are a few shots of my temporary home town.

Avenue Ceramique


The Pedestrian Bridge


Views from the Pedestrian Bridge



The Old Gate


The Old Wall


The Bakery
(The paddle wheel actually turns and is used to grind the grain for baked goods in this bakery.)


The Shopping District


Typical Outdoor Cafe
(A great place for a glass of wine or beer and people watching for as long as you like.)

Brussels, Belgium

Brussels was a nice city. I only had one day to explore so I made a beeline from the train station to the Grand Place. On my way I met Don Quixote and his side-kick. The square at the Grand Place was surrounded by very neat, ornate buildings from long long ago. Notice the one pictured below. See how is it not symmetrical? They say that the architect flung himself from the tower when he realized his error. (Whether that's true or not I don't know. It's just something that they say.)





















There was a lot of great shopping in Brussels. So many chocolate stores! I was in chocolate heaven. Most of the stores gave free samples to entice you into buying. I also found my way to the chocolate museum. What an amazing process they go through to create the delicious treat. I can't imagine how they ever discovered it so long ago.

Then of course, one must make sure that they do not miss the Manequein Pi's if they visit Brussels. He was not dressed for any occasion one they day I visited, but on holidays they dress him in the proper wardrobe for the season.

Paris in a Nutshell

Paris is a beautiful and bustling city. The cars go zipping through the streets and the people walk determinedly from destination to destination. The metro was my choice mode of transportation. It was a fabulous way to get around the city. As I hopped a ride from my hotel to Notre Dame and then to the Eiffel Tower, I found myself wishing that we had something comparable back home in Minnesota. I didn't even think about renting a car, you might imagine why just by looking at the picture above. This was a common sight on the Parisian streets.

My time was too short in Paris... There was so much more that I would have loved to do. But I was able to squeeze in a number of the typical tourist attractions: Luxembourg Gardens, the Louvre Museum, side trip to Versailles, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Jewish Deportation Memorial, the Conciregerie and Marie-Antionette's cell, Sacre Couer, Arch of Triumph, Eiffel Tower, Orsay Museum, Rodin Museum and Napoleon's Tomb. I hopped from sight to sight beginning early in the morning until late in the evening. Walking almost everywhere, I am surprised that I was fotunate to leave with only a couple of blisters.


Versailles












The palace and gardens of Versailles were stunning. I found myself walking through the palace imaging what it would have been like to be Marie-Antoinette living there so long ago... but I snapped back to reality when I remembered that had I been her, I would be without a head right now.

Fountain in the Gardens of Versailles












I have never seen such beautifully manicured gardens. All of the bushes and flowers were green and blooming. The fountains were intriguing and so pretty when they were turned on in the afternoon. Even though the sky was threatening rain, I bopped from fountain to fountain taking pictures because I know that I would not be able to describe the originality and beauty in words.

The Louvre Museum












Many people told me that the Louvre Museum was neat but that it would be okay to spend just a few hours there one day. I guess I am a little different because I just couldn't get enough. It seems I am a statue fanatic because I honed in on the marble statue gallery and had a blast. Highlights were seeing the Dying Slave by Michelangelo, the Venus de Milo, and Cupid. Of course, I also made my way to see Mona Lisa's smile.


The Eiffel Tower












Eiffel Tower at night... What a sight! I thought it was beautiful as the sun began to fall. The falling sun lit the beams making them seem a shade of gold, rather than blue/gray as it appeared from a distance. It was amazing at dusk when the lights turned on. The tower shimmered and twinkled.



Parisian Food
Unfortunately for me, I found myself trying to squeeze a little too much into each of my days. So much that several days, I missed lunch entirely. This is not something that I would recommend. Little did I know (at first) what I was really missing out on. Which brings me to the topic of Parisian food. Yum!!! It's probably a good thing that I had a limited amount of time in Paris because once I discovered the food and learned how to order using my limited French vocabulary, it was always on my mind. The bread is fabulous! Well everything is fabulous, but the bread and breakfast pastries really stood out to me. Often when I walked past a bakery, I would stop and buy a small loaf of bread that I could carry around with me as a snack.