One of the reasons why we chose Amsterdam for our 2 week vacation is that we both had previously been here when we studied abroad. Luckily for me, it was just a 2 1/2 hour train ride away from where I spent my adventure abroad, in Maastricht. So we woke up early (for us) yesterday and hopped a train. Luckily they had a sale for 1st class tickets and we got them 1/2 off! Kate did her usual Kate thing - take a nap, while I read a book. We did not think there would be a need to transfer trains, but lucky for us, 2 stops before we would need to tranfer, a kind old man informed us that we needed to switch trains to get there. It wasn't even someone who worked on the train either. How he knew we were going to Maastricht, we will never know.
Another thing that escaped my memory is that there were no annoucements made in English. I SWEAR I remember them being in English (as well as other languages).
When we arrived we left the train station and I began to show Kate where I had spent an amazing 4 months in college. We walked up the main road to the train station and across the main bridge. It was amazing to have all of those memories flood back. I was worried during the train ride that I wouldn't remember where to go or what to even show Kate. But as soon as I crossed the bridge I knew exaclty where to go.
We progressed up the main road and through the shopping district into the main square. I showed Kate all the great places to eat and grab a drink and we grabbed lunch at a nearby cafe (ironically one that I had never eated at before) we sat and talked about what studying abroad was like for each of us.
Our waiter was great and did his best to help us understand what we were ordering even though his english was very limited. Kate stuck with her new European favorite, a fresh mozeralla and tomato sandwich and I took a chance and ordered something I had no idea what it was (salmon sandwich) and both were excellent and we washed them down with a dark Leffe.
After a relaxing, take our time lunch, we walked toward my dorm so she could see where I spent most of my time. We also happened to walk by another place I spent a lot of my time, THE SHAMROCK! This place was amazing, I wanted to grab a beer there but for some reason they weren't open. Let's just say a lot of old memories came back .... from what I can remember. Then onward, through the two round-abouts and then onto the campus. I was shocked at how easy it was to find! It was disappointing to find that we could not go in because it was recently made into a retirement facility (at least, I think). But we made the very best of it and walked around the campus. After that, Kate and I walked around town a little more and around 6pm we caught the train home. It was so amazing to get back to Maastricht and see everything again. It was so much fun and it was great to be able to walk around and share stories with Kate.
Some pics of our day in Maastricht...
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| Shadows - Kate's idea |
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| Walkway behind the University |
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| Looking in at the main entrance |
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| Main entrance |
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| Looking out from the main entrance |
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| Old Dorm |
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| Us outside the dorm |
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| Teikyo!!! |
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| Kate - close up |
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| Fresh mozzerella, tomato and pesto sandwich |
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| The Shamrock - the old watering hole. This is a shout out to Kate's ShamRock girls too! |
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| Main Square - it's good to be back! |
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| on the train |
Off to the Heineken Brewery today ... a 35 minute walk in the sun from our apartment....
Cheers,
Erik and Kate
4/20/2011
Glad you guys fixed it so it's easier to post :) You both have been doing a great job of recording your trip, both through your writings and pics, and I'm loving feeling like I'm right there with you both. Keep the posts coming! p.s. I'm still having trouble posting so I think this is going to come up as "anonymous" but it's really me... your favorite Philly friend, Liz!
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