Maastricht is probably not a place that I would have thought to stop had my parents not told me to go visit their friend Herman. But I'm never one to turn down a place to stay and meal with a local, so Herman-bound I was.
Herman is a guy about my parents' age who runs bike tours across Europe. My folks met him on their Spain bike tour just before we all went to Ukraine, and my mom in her lovably pushy way got him to offer his house when I'm in the area. Definitely glad I did. Being a tour professional, he knew all the sweet places to take me. We drove and walked around, one of the most moving sites being the WWII US soldier cemetery.
After a lovely dinner and drinks with Herman and his kids Amber and Otis, his older daughter Zoë and her friend Nike came over to take me out as those young people do. Maastricht is no exception to the "more bikes in the Netherlands than people" rule (which makes you wonder, who rides the rest of the bikes?) and I don't think anywhere else in the world could it be considered fashionable to cruise up to the club on a 10-speed. Though if anyone were to give us guff, Zoë is the national taekwondo champion or something. Great night, only problem arose when I couldn't remember which bike was mine among the dozens locked up and had to play Cinderella for a while before I identified the one that fit.
Unfortunately, I had to leave the next morning in order to have some time in Paris before my deadline to get to Rome to catch a soccer game with Jenny. Warm goodbyes to the whole bunch, who treated me so well and were absolute sweethearts, and off I was again! Moral of the story: Most of the coolest places we've never even heard of beforehand. More thumbnails ...
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Maastricht Hotels
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