Trip to Maastricht

(The pictures above are of the Roman Wall, one of the Watch towers and the bookstore that is inside what use to be a church)

Yesterday I had the opportunity to explore Maastricht, NL a little more in depth. Maastricht is the capital city of the southern most province in the Netherlands, called Limburg. This is the part of the Netherlands that is situtated between Belgium and Germany. It is a very old city and it has been debated on whether Nijmegen or Maastricht is the oldest city in the Netherlands. I have been to both cities and find them both charming with their old medieval essence with a bit of modern conveniences blended into the atmosphere. Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Maas River. As most European cities( or so I have found)the Romans have left their mark in Maastricht as well. The Romans have had quite an amazing history and built some magnificent structures that still after hunderds and thousands of years still remain intact. There is a beautiful Roman wall built around the city of Maastricht along with a bridge that connects over the Maas River, these date back to around 1200 if not earlier. Maastricht actually received their city rights in 1204. It is definitely a place to visit when here in the Netherlands.

I went to Maastricht by train yesterday with a friend that has been living in the Netherlands for almost 11 years now. He is from California and originally when he moved here had only planned on staying for a few years, but now over a decade has gone by and he is still loving it. We walked around the city center, the university area, along the Roman wall, along the Maas and went to one of my favorite bookstores that use to be a church. We had the opportunity to take a delicious Belgian style waffle along our walk and finally end up at a Sushi Restaurant for dinner. It has been a long time since I have eaten Sushi, but I have to say it tasted really good after so long. I find it funny the things that I miss from the States now that I don't have them so readily available to me. I have included some pictures from our trip.

Today is what they call koopzondag. What that literally means is "buying sunday". Once a month the towns and most cities open up the shops on a Sunday. Usually the shops are closed on Sundays, except for the bigger cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam. So I must go see what is happening in the market today and go mingle around. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Till Next time

In love and gratitude

Asha