Maastricht

Today we went to a really cool city only a half-hour away from us called Maastricht in the Netherlands. You may recognize it as the city where d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers lost his life. Oh, you never read it either?

For several months now, I have been annoying the heck out of Chris, because every time I see a sign for Maastricht I say, "Do you know what happened in Maastricht?" I have him trained now. The correct answer involves the signing of the Maastricht Treaty which was a major treaty establishing all the political entities of the European Union. Wow, you might be thinking, who really cares?

Well, my Master's thesis was on European Union security policy and drew heavily on the Maastricht Treaty. As I will never probably use this information professionally, my husband is doomed to listen to my ramblings on this kind of boring academic nonsense. So, I think he was relieved that we finally visited this sacred place.

Anyways, it was a fantastic city on the Maas River. We got a fantastic parking spot, and decided to find a spot for lunch first. We started looking in the picturesque Vrijthof square, but in cafe after cafe and restaurant after restaurant, we started to realize that this was going to be more difficult than we thought. We were not finding a stroller/baby-friendly place to sit.

So, we started walking. I will say that this is not unique to this particular city. I am so envious of people who have children in the United States. How exciting it must be to encounter doors that are automatic, not to mention big enough for a stroller; high chairs; changing tables in the restrooms. Must be nice.

Anyways, our walk took us through an extensive shopping area and over the St. Servatius Bridge, which dates to the year 1289. We found a chocolatier that catered to Ronald Reagan's chocolate needs and another fun candy store that was decked out for Carnival. I bought some colorful marshmallow Carnival clowns for some lucky kids I know. Check out the chocolate Carnival masks:



At a certain point, we really needed to find a spot to park Jackson so we could feed and change him. And, we did something that we would normally never do. We stopped at a McDonald's in the Markt square. Sigh. My thought was that they would have high chairs and changing tables in the bathrooms. It's McDonald's. But, no, I was wrong on both counts. They did actually have space for the stroller, though.

And, get this. This made it worth it. They had STROOPWAFFEL McFLURRIES. For those of you who know and love stroopwaffels like we do: I KNOW!!

So, anyways, I digress. We also found this really amazing baby and children's boutique right on the riverfront. It was so fun! They had so many wonderful things to buy for baby gifts. I found some really great hooded towels with this fun fabric of traditional Dutch scenes. Sounds weird, but really cute. I used to buy people Venetian lace booties for baby gifts, but now I think I have another fun, local European gift for people back home.

And, if that wasn't enough, we found an awesome store called Oil & Vinegar that sold all kinds of great culinary finds from the Mediterranean. There were some beautiful olive wood bowl sets, gorgeous servingware, Italian wines, Italian and Greek food products, and much more. This would be an awesome place to buy gifts for people.

We walked back to Vrijthof to see the big tourist attractions. There are two really beautiful cathedrals, one Catholic (St. Servatius) dating to 1000, and the other a Dutch Reformed Protestant church right next door (St. John) that is 14th century (Protestant since 1600s). Here is a picture. The red bell tower belongs to St. John's, and the cathedral to the right is St. Servatius.



We had a lovely time in Maastricht, and can't wait for a return visit! We would just love to find a good restaurant where you can have a stroller with you.