We started the day out, Tuesday, by dropping Jip and Jeske off at the train station because they had to go home. Jip had to say good-bye to his girlfriend who was leaving for the next three weeks, and Jeske had to go to her mom's.
Anita, Preston and I started the day with a city tour of Maastricht. We went on the English tour and were the only three in it. Our tour guide, Francis, gave us a special tour since we were the only ones.
Maastricht was founded by the Romans 2,000 years ago on the Maas River, so it is very old, has been through lots of wars, yet is still very pretty along the river.
The streets are small like all medieval cities and cars and parking bikes in the old city is band. As you can see Preston is enthralled. Maastricht has some of the best and most expensive shops in the Netherlands after Amsterdam, the princess was there just last week shopping.
There was an old water mill that was built by a knight who never came back from the crusades and it is still used today. The baker only uses spelt flour and grain and was so surprised to hear that I make spelt bread.
These are some of the old city walls. There were three different walls built around the city, each expanding as the city grew. They were used the most to try to keep the plague out of the city.
Maastricht is the home to numerous universities and technical schools, so there are lots of students. But while we were there they were all on vacation luckily. The bridge in the background is the Old Bridge .
After the tour was finished, we went outside the city, to a place where Preston and I took a tour of casements underneath the city that go for 200km. Anita was worn out from translating and driving so she took a nap, plus she has been on the tour bunches of times. The only tour we could get was in Dutch so we didn't get too much out of it, but the casements really were amazing. They were started to get limestone to build the city and then they were used for defense. Finally, in WWII they were used to store the art works from the Rijksmuseum (all the old Dutch masters including the Rembrandt's and Vermeers) and for the citizens to hide during bombing raids. Napoleon had been there and left his autograph on the wall along with hundreds of other people. Some people had drawn pictures or made carvings, and they had built a church and a bakery down there.
After our tour we went back to the city to check out a few sites we had missed on the walking tour. This is the square in the middle of the city.
Preston "thinking" on how he wishes Jip was still here and he didn't have to spend the next two days alone with just his mom and Anita.
Anita has a friend, Truus, from grade school that lives in Maastricht so we went by to see her. Her house looks just like all the others on the outside but the backyard is quite surprising.
She and her husband built a ladder and platform on the top of their roof that you can climb to the top and have a great view of the city. She said they sit there a lot and look at the stars and city lights.
Rooftop views of Maastricht.
This is Preston, Anita and Truus out on one of her three garden spots where you can sit. She and her husband are getting ready to leave for Indonesia this week for a month.
To get to this garden you have to go through her window and if you notice, they have made a climbing wall on the outside of their house.
The best part of her backyard is the tunnel that is part of the same casements that we had toured earlier in the day. It was kind of creepy going down there with all the spider webs, the tight quarters and very little light but we managed.
These casements had been used to store wine and some of their neighbors, who also have found ways down into them, still use them for storage.
They even had some artwork in their tunnels and this one is of Dionysus, of course god of wine.
We ended our last night in Ulestraten with a real Dutch meal. Tante Anny had worked all afternoon and fixed Hutspot with Rookworst, even though they usually eat in the winter, Anita wanted us to try it.
It was very good and I think Preston ate about half of it. It is just potatoes, carrots and onions cooked together with some herbs and a sausage cooked on top. We had a nice time telling Tante Anny all about our day. Oom Wim had had a meeting and didn't make it to dinner.
Preston was especially thrilled with dessert (we have dessert every night) because Tante Anny gave him a double helping of strawberries, cream and cake! We had a wonderful time staying in Ulestraten and are trying to talk Tante Anny and Oom Wim to add Phoenix to their world trip next year, so we can repay their hospitality.
Preston "thinking" on how he wishes Jip was still here and he didn't have to spend the next two days alone with just his mom and Anita.
Anita has a friend, Truus, from grade school that lives in Maastricht so we went by to see her. Her house looks just like all the others on the outside but the backyard is quite surprising.
She and her husband built a ladder and platform on the top of their roof that you can climb to the top and have a great view of the city. She said they sit there a lot and look at the stars and city lights.
Rooftop views of Maastricht.
This is Preston, Anita and Truus out on one of her three garden spots where you can sit. She and her husband are getting ready to leave for Indonesia this week for a month.
To get to this garden you have to go through her window and if you notice, they have made a climbing wall on the outside of their house.
The best part of her backyard is the tunnel that is part of the same casements that we had toured earlier in the day. It was kind of creepy going down there with all the spider webs, the tight quarters and very little light but we managed.
These casements had been used to store wine and some of their neighbors, who also have found ways down into them, still use them for storage.
They even had some artwork in their tunnels and this one is of Dionysus, of course god of wine.
We ended our last night in Ulestraten with a real Dutch meal. Tante Anny had worked all afternoon and fixed Hutspot with Rookworst, even though they usually eat in the winter, Anita wanted us to try it.
It was very good and I think Preston ate about half of it. It is just potatoes, carrots and onions cooked together with some herbs and a sausage cooked on top. We had a nice time telling Tante Anny all about our day. Oom Wim had had a meeting and didn't make it to dinner.
Preston was especially thrilled with dessert (we have dessert every night) because Tante Anny gave him a double helping of strawberries, cream and cake! We had a wonderful time staying in Ulestraten and are trying to talk Tante Anny and Oom Wim to add Phoenix to their world trip next year, so we can repay their hospitality.
3 comments:
Looks awesome, tell Preston I can identify with his problem(Lonica does the same thing to me). The only way to win is to wrestle the camera away from you and start taking all the pictures himself!
Not true. After a month in Asia, Scott and I have come to an agreement. We either have to both be in the picture, or no one at all. We've really perfected our technique of cramming into the viewfinder while Scott holds the camera at arms length. Poor Preston, having to tour Europe with just his mom. Is life sure is rough.
I love that even on blogs you two can dissagree!
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