Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Maastricht in a day

this past weekend, we made it to the historical town of maastricht


just stepping out of the train station, we walked past this (pretty nice) building and straight into a flea market - no pics of this, but lots of great bits and bobs..


and we decided to head towards the local contemporary art museum, and walked along the water side..

and this is the museum - with its rocket-ship-shape...cool yah? those eagle-eyed among you will see the cafe sign on the bottom left, and boy, did they have some good eatin' cherry pie!



after an hour plus at the Bonnenfantenmuseum, and a skip through the car park, we ended up in...



the middle of Maastricht city..being a Saturday (and the tail end of the winter sales) the crowds were out in full force..



funny little thing here...intricate street lighting - normal, open square in the middle of the city - normal, statue of someone - normal.....having a constantly burning flame on the statue - not so normal...but that's because he's Jean-Pierre Minckeleers



and this might look like a church from the outside...



but a successful book chain company in holland converted it into a (rather successful when we were there - long lines to pay!) very alternative book-shopping experience!


 
 and of course, when in Maastricht, the Vrijthof has an unmissable grouping of amazing buildings..

 
i think its quite cool that the intense red of the St Janskerk is countered with the red of the building and the lady's jacket in the photo...

so, as you can see...an excellent day out with lots to see!

(for those who don't know, Maastricht is a good 2.5 hours away from A'dam; its as far as Antwerp from A'dam- but I've been wanting to see the other bits of Holland, and we found an excellent-priced ticket for 2 for single day travel..)

Monday, January 11, 2010

day out in the new year at -5 degrees!

if you've seen the weather forecasts for this part of the world, you'd know that....



it's perfect weather for submarine-viewing!!  (we'd taken the day out to across the Ij for a little change in environment...)

here you'll see the indoor swap meet where everyone with everything possible (clothes/toys/books/dvds/ taps/etc) comes together for some good ol' fashioned rummaging.. it was held in a former industrial area no less..



and the weather outside? perfect for making big steps in the snow



as shown by how much my shoe was in the ground!!



and even icicles on red vehicles



but yes, we're well all bundled up - with barely our eyes peeking out...




it's winter time!!

(weather forecast for the day said -5 degrees; but with the winds blowing, it will feel as cold as -10....brrrrrrrr....)