Maastricht Time

August 6, 2010


Extremely busy day, although as you'll see, nothing fascinating going on.


1. Woke up in Amsterdam very tired, slept poorly.


2. Mediocre breakfast in the shared area. I remember these hostel breakfasts as being better, at least based on the last time I traveled. By mistake I spilled coffee all over the tray.

3. Walked to the train station and caught the first train to Maastricht. Spent the first half of the journey sleeping, read some more of Infinite Jest (maybe 200 pages in at this point...after about 3 weeks?)


4. Arrived in Maastricht at around noon. First impressions positive. Easy walk to the hostel. Pretty old buildings. Pretty river (the Meuse) running through. City walls and fortifications. Weather good. However, as typical of almost every city I've visited, all of the tourists were a lot older than me. The college crowd skipped Maastricht it looks like.


5. Another Stayokay hostel (this would be my second of 3). On first impressions, boring like the first one. Once again, the receptionist at the front desk gave me the speech about no food, beverages, alcohol or drugs allowed in the rooms, but of course if I wanted to bring in a bottle of water it would be okay. Families, unfriendly much younger people, some very eccentric looking much older people. I charged my blackberry while reading about the available activities in Maastricht. Apparently, there were many.


6. Walked through the city (squares full of people eating), fashion stores, etc. to Bar-Bistro Pieke Potloed for lunch, recommended for having "typical" Maastricht cuisine. Ate a bowl of mussell soup (now that I think about it, it may been mustard soup, because that's what it tasted like, but I heard mussell from the waitress), a sandwich with 3 types of fish -- the only one I could identify was smoked salmon, a Maastricht beer (white beer?) and a glass of Riesling. And a coffee. I sat on the patio, read more of Infinite Jest, and planned my next activity.


7. Which was a guided tour of Kazematten, a network of bunkers on the west side of Maastricht created between 1575 and 1825. According to the guide "During times of siege, these tunels were used to approach and surprise the enemy from under the ground. Visit the cleverly constructed vaulted chambers, the powder rooms and the imposing bombproof shelters and find out more about this unique monument of military engineering." I didn't "find out [that much] more" about Kazematten because to my surprise the only tour was in Dutch. It was pretty cheap, so I took it anyway. The tunnels were super cool though. Kind of chilly, damp, about 6 feet high (when I stood straight the top brushed the top of my hair), dark. I liked it. Towards the end, the guide (an Dutch man probably in his 70s who spoke almost no English) moved away for a few minutes with half of the group and asked those remaining if they could explain some of the highlights, which they did. One girl went so far as to translate what the guide was saying towards the end, which was very nice, but a little bit awkward. All of the others on the tour with Dutch, but none from Maastricht.


8. Basilica of St. Servatius. First building there in the 4th century, and this church was started in the 11th century. So Romanesque I guess. Impressive treasury, included bits of fabric from at least a thousand years ago, crosses, and goblets, etc. I sat for a bit to relax.


9. Stopped at the tourist office for more information and ran into one of the Dutch girls from the tour, the one who was translating for me. Since she works at the tourist office. And was only taking the tour to familiarize herself with the sights of Maastricht. She told me a story about how she did a 3 month internship in Holland, Michigan where she worked at a Dutch-themed theme park and had to wear wooden shoes and traditional dresses. She didn't enjoy that, but said the Americans loved it.


9. Came back to the hostel. Still silent. Wrote on this blog. Put the sheets on my bed, not wishing to repeat the unpleasant sleeping experience of the previous night. Nothing really going on, so went out on my own.

10. Had a kebab for dinner.

11. Checked out the two bars listed for Maastricht in the Lonely Planet. The first one didn't impress me so I migrated to the second, on the other side of the river, for Take One. While touristry in a strange way, I recommend this place. As soon as I approached and heard 1) English, 2) laughter, and 3) the bartender engaging with and amusing the patrons, I knew this would be good. The place is owned and run by a husband and wife, experts in beers, who recommend beers from all over Holland and Belgium (selection of over 100 I think). The guy claims to me a master of "insult as art", and insults the guests, and then cackles like the Reef in Nothing But Trouble. Great beers, and a lively atmosphere. Most of the bar was populated by some attendees of a math conference on matroids, I mostly spoke the Canadian math professor sitting next to me. Another guy, Dutch, gave me some advice on staying in the Frisian Islands. And then I went home.

Elvis Costell0 -- Strict Time