I’m baaaacckkk!!! …from a “flash” visit to Maastricht. I went over there to visit a girlfriend, who was born and raised in the city. Due to circumstances (my divorce and being without a place to live for 1.5 years and her husband having a stroke) we had not seen eachother for a few years so we had a lot to catch up on. I arrived in Maastricht at about 4 p.m. and she assisted me in “illegally” parking my car at the University parking. Like me she also works as a secretary at a University faculty (us University Secretaries are a wonderful and great breed: I work at a University Medical Center). She was kind enough to arrange this for me to make sure that I would not have to pay an astronomical amount of money to park my car for 1.5 day. Isn’t she a doll? Just 10 minutes within the city walls and we have already I have committed a semi-illegal act, hahaha! Phew!
We went over to the hotel, to put away my stuff, and I immediately had a run in with the receptioniste… I mean, WTF! If your booking confirmation states “including taxes” and then the receptionist still has you pay “tourist tax”… well, that just sucks!!! Capital “S”… And I just can’t shut up about that, even if it is only a mere 1.85 euro! I am sure they will welcome me back another time ;-)
Granted, the view from my hotelroom was great!
We went up to the room so I could change out of those “wring them out for a bucket load of sweat” clothes that I had been wearing while driving up to Maastricht. The room was at the top floor of the hotel, it was fucking hot, had no a/c and the fan that was in there was blowing hot air! Back to the reception… They fixed the fan… after some “encouragement”… Then I changed and we were off!
We had a drink and she showed me around Maastricht. I had been there before but there is something about being shown around town by someone who knows all the history of this city by heart. There is apparently a story at every street corner and my friend is a great tourguide!
It has quite a history and there is still loads of it around, like parts of the old citywall, the old Plague House (situated just outside the city walls for obvious reasons) and one of the old city wall gates (the one leading to the Plague House) called “Gate To Hell“. Walking thru that gate I think I actually walked right into my future Maastricht residence… (I wish!)…
Only 10 minutes into our walk we ran into the first guy attempting to pick us up… He was a Belgian guy who started his attempt by asking us about nice places to have dinner, then told us he wanted to experience “the genuine Maastricht experience”… and THEN he asked us to have a drink with him!!! Just to be clear about it: looking flushed, with beedy eyes, saying you are looking for the full Maastricht experience and then inviting some girls for a drink… Not a great strategy… And for that matter: if he was interested in the genuine Maastricht experience… well, I don’t qualify for it as I am not from there. Technically my friend does, but she found him as creepy as I did and besides, she was “mine” for that night, so he was outta luck, hahahahaha!
After some walking around we sat down and had another drink. I almost fainted from the look the waiter gave me… I think his eyes pierced right into my soul and I think my friend had to translate for me when he asked me what I would like to drink. Somehow the “Diet Coke” did not come out right… I am not sure what it was I said…
Last but not least we had dinner at a nice little restaurant terrace which is usually only frequented by residents from Maastricht and hardly by any tourists. My friend made me swear to never tell a soul where it is situated so I think I was introduced into some sort of secret club… Wine was great, food was great, flirting was wonderful, waiter was nice. Well, that is until he put his wallet on our table and walked away for a minute. Just for fun we hid it from him. He was not that amused. Still, we were and that’s what is most important… Right?
Then I walked around town a little bit and finally went to bed. I was a really good girl. Did not pick up any guy(s). But who needs them when I have the Useless Men staying with me?
Woke up the next morning and had a nice shower. The room has these nice authentic beams all over the room but would you believe it also has one running straight thru the shower? I almost hit my head twice! The shower was great, drying off felt less comfortable as instead of towels they accidently gave me a few pieces of sanding paper… I think…
Oh well, I had a guh-reat time! Especially for you I made some pics of my (ultra)short trip! You can click the various links in the post for them and to see all 19 of them please check my new photobucket account for all of you to see!
