New Adventures in Belgium: Girls outing to Maastricht, Holland (Feb 5)

During the week a few of us Deloitte wives (Stephanie, Leah and I) decided we wanted to venture out for a short excursion to the Dutch town of Maastricht, Holland (aka The Netherlands). We began our adventure a bit shaken up because we were stopped by The Netherland police just after we crossed the Belgium border. I guess they were only doing random checks, and luckily two out of the three of us had our Belgian identity cards, so they didn't harass us too much. We were only in Maastricht for a few hours, but while we were there we managed to do some shopping, which they have an abundance of. In particular, we all liked the store called "Vanilla" and ended up all buying something there (I'm not sure how much our husbands like us going on these girls' outings)! Otherwise, we enjoyed walking around the beautiful city. Lastly, we grabbed some lunch at a cute cafe. I think Shannon and I will go back and explore more of this city and its surroundings someday as it is suppose to have quite an old history.

The city is situated on both sides of the Meuse River in the south-eastern part of The Netherlands, near the Belgian and German borders. It is actually only 1 hour by car from Brussels. Some say Maastricht is the oldest city of the Netherlands, but there are a few other contenders. To support this fact, Paleolithic remains have been found to the west of Maastricht, between 8,000 and 25,000 years old. Celts also lived here at least 500 years before the Romans came; however the Romans determined how old a settlement was considered. Just another interesting fact: Maastricht did not escape WWII and was quickly taken by the Germans on May 10, 1940, during the Battle of Maastricht, but on September 14, 1944, Maastricht was the first Dutch city to be liberated by allied forces.

Maastricht is along the Meuse River

Stephanie and Leah in front of the City Hall

Looking down one of its many nice streets

I had to take this picture because I had a high school classmate with the last name of Ramaekers, who would have known that some of his distant relatives are flower growers! I always get a kick out of seeing names that I recognize and end up snapping a photo.