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Published: November 10th 2017
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Geo: 50.8494, 5.69439
Not a whole lot to report today. Woke up early this morning, got showered dressed and packed. Had to go to the post office (which has been a bit of a challenge for me to find) but got that sorted. Back to the hotel for breakfast. They serve breakfast up to 11am here. I guess they're used to guests sleeping late. Which might explain why the shops, museums etc don't open until 10. I have no idea what regular business hours are in Europe. Its different from place to place. I toddled off down to the train station, got my ticket, found out the next train was leaving in five minutes, which gave me just enough time to get to the platform, drag my bags on board and find a seat. I do like these dutchie trains, they have wifi like the italians. Froggy's are clearly to cheap for such things.
Made it to Maastricht and the sun was shining, finally some sunshine. It was so beautiful. I walked to my hotel which is just down the road from the station. Checked in, got settled then headed on out to find some lunch...at 3 in the afternoon. I found
the main square, well one of them, there are three in Maastricht. Picked a cafe and had a nice leisurely lunch. St Servaas cathedral is just off this square, so after lunch I thought I'd pop in and take a look. Just as I was walking up to the front doors, they closed the church. How's that for a warm welcome to God's house. I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me very much.
So having been shut out I decided to go for a walk. The map showed some parkland to the west of town so I meandered down to take a look. With the sun shining it was beautiful, along the park I could see the old town fortifications. The main gate to the town is still there, and some of the walls, with cannons lined up outside. All this is surrounded with beautiful green parkland and little lakes. It was a very nice stroll. If I had a picnic blanket and some wine I would have stopped there and stocked up on my vitamin D
After that I really didn't do much. Walked along the Maas river. Stopped for a glass of wine and some desert (apple pie with
cinnamon and ice cream, nom nom nom) Got on the interweb. Did some searches for key sights to see and worked out a battle plan for tomorrow. Just relaxed and enjoyed the view. Some things I've noticed so far.
1) I think they have more bikes than cars here, maybe its the places I stopped, but there were heaps of bikes but hardly any cars. Unlike Amsterdam however I haven't been run over yet
2) no-one wears helmets, unless they're on a motorbike (vespas, not real bikes) And even then, I saw one dude jump on his Vespa, pull the helmet on, don't worry about the chin strap and take off.
3) couples can argue while riding a vespa
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