The Wilsons in Europe!

Not very long after our short trip to Amsterdam, my parents arrived for their first European adventure! They're also the first people from home to visit us in Maastricht, so we had to think back to our first little while here and figure out what to do and see. And we did and saw a ton, since they had a whole week with us.

We got to revisit our favourite parts of the city, including Helpoort, the walls along the Jeker River, and both the Vrijthof and Markt Squares.

But we also headed out of Maastricht, since both Germany and Belgium are so close by.


Our first out of town trip was to Aachen, which mom and dad really liked. We had been there once before but hadn't done a tour of the Cathedral, which we'd heard was a must-do. You have to buy a pass to take pictures on the tour, which we didn't do. I would recommend the tour for anyone who visits Aachen though.



After our tour we wandered in the area around the Cathedral, since it's an older part of town with pretty streets and buildings. We ended up having a drink at a very cool, old pub on the corner of the old town hall (seen above).



Our next outing was to Valkenburg, a very small town between Maastricht and Aachen, which Michel and I had been meaning to visit since we got here.

It is a very cute old town, definitely worth a visit. It's especially cool because it has a castle! Well, the ruins of a castle, but still very cool to see.



The castle was purposefully destroyed, in the time of the Franco-Dutch War, by those in power because they didn't want it to fall into French hands. It's also the only Dutch castle to be built on a hill, and it's got very nice views of the town below.

 

You can also visit some more caves in Valkenburg (the Velvet Caves), which we didn't do this time around. Apparently there's an entrance from the castle ruins.




Our next order of business was to go on a bike ride to Belgium, of course. We took them on the route we'd done before: heading out to Chateau Neercanne and then into Kanne, Belgium.









After stopping at the Chateau, we headed into Kanne and took a route we hadn't done before. If you ride into town and follow the main street, you'll come to a fork in the road and one direction obviously goes to a river. We headed to the river and then turned right. It was a really nice ride that direction. It's all limestone walls and trees for a very long time.









Eventually we came to the road that would lead back into Maastricht, which was great since it meant we didn't have to turn around and go back the way we came. It's also a very pretty little road.

This route back into town can take you right to the Markt Square, so we headed there for a rest and a drink at the end of the day. We also ended up riding right past the Hoge Fronten - the old fortification in the North part of the city - but didn't stop. It's good to know though, because that would be a good little end to a sight-seeing trip.









Our last big outing was the cruise along the river from Maastricht to Liege and back. I have to be honest, I did not love this cruise. I guess I had high hopes, I'd been looking forward to this for a long time, but I really wouldn't recommend it. If you're just visiting the area and want to go to Liege, I guess I could see this as a good way to do that, but the train to Liege is so easy and fast, and the cruise itself isn't worth it in my opinion. I'll try to briefly list my reasons why:

- the cruise quickly leaves the Maas River and ends up on the Albert Canal, which is not scenic at all and literally lined with factories and garbage dumps
- the outside seating is very limited and very uncomfortable, so on a summer day you're likely to get stuck inside, which was very hot and you don't feel like you're on a boat at all
- you get about an hour and a half in Liege, which includes walking to and from the boat. There are much better ways to see Liege

Anyway, seeing Liege again was fun since we'd only been the once, on a very cold and wet day in February.

We ended up seeing a bit of a courtyard at the Palace which was very cool. My dad is an adventurous guy and wandered in, which Michel and I would have been too lame to do on our own.

After that cool little stop, we wandered around the older streets, had a drink, and headed back to the boat.

There were a few days during their visit that were really low key, mostly because my foot still wasn't healed and I had to give up and rest. But dad also rented a scooter a couple of times and explored the country side around. He ended up going pretty much directly South into Belgium once, and explored around the outskirts of Valkenburg. On those days Michel worked and mom and I hung out.

It was a great visit and we had awesome sunsets every day!