Maastricht, Netherlands

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In late May of 2006 we attended Kate's annual KBS conference -- this year it was in the historic university town of Maastricht, in the Netherlands. Maastricht is located in the very south of Holland, on the border with Belgium to the west and is bisected by the Mass (Meuse) River which is an active transportation route with canals and locks to manage the river flow and barge traffic. It's a stone's throw from Germany to the east in a narrow bit of Holland that follows the river only a short distance further south.

We stayed in the city centre in a top floor garret over looking the town square (Vrjithof Square) and the two historic churches Saint Jan's Church (Sint-Janskerk) and the Basilica of Saint Servatius (Basiliek van Sint Servaas). It's an old city with cobble stone streets, pedestrian friendly and much to explore.  The square has lots of restaurants with outdoor cafe's to idle away your time (when it's not raining).

The weather was often cool and damp but there were good days. French fries with mayonnaise on the square, sharing a bottle of cheap wine and hanging out with conference friends. A colleague was berating us for not drinking better wine but wouldn't a better wine would be wasted with French Fries? After all, what would be a good wine to go with a hot dog? Sometimes a cheap plonk is all one needs.

The Wednesday afternoon of the conference we explored "Seed Shops", "Coffee Shops" and "Smoky Barges" tethered to the shore. After which we stopped in to the Police Station to hear their opinion on legalized marijuana -- it's an odd situation where consuming and buying from licenced shops is allowed but growing and selling to licenced shops is not. It's an interesting experiment.

The Thursday night conference dinner was held at the modernistic Bonnefantenmuseum along the river which has a distinctively odd egg-shaped tower.

There's lots of history in Maastricht, old fortifications, narrow lanes, and more. It was great fun to explore -- I only wish the weather had been better. It was what I would describe as a cool wet spring.

Here's a photo album of our visit if you're interested.