Spring Break: Maastricht

The second leg of my spring break journey brought me to Maastricht, Holland. We stayed with Lucy's family friends, Trish and Chrit and they really made us feel at home. There house is behind their studio, where they sculpt and create illustrations for children's books! Their artwork is really cool and it was fun to see all of the pieces! They put us up in a Bed and Breakfast, which was right across the street from them. It was a beautiful town and is very rich in history. Trish walked us around the town and explained that it is the oldest town in Holland. We saw tons of statues and got to walk along the fort that was built during the 13th century. Maastricht is also the place where D'Artagnan, one of the three musketeers lost his life. After we toured the city, we got some delicious coffees at a small cafe and then went shopping for awhile. At around three o'clock, we headed back to Trish's and her and Chrit took us on a country drive. It was beautiful and really relaxing to get some fresh air. We went on a little hike and was able to see a castle built by Robert Garcet in the past century. It was huge and really Gothic looking! It was really weird to be driving around the country, because where Maastricht is located, we drove through Germany, Belgium, and Holland at many points!! Another interesting thing we saw was a huge fort built underground that protected the city during WWII. They almost made it through the war, but in the last year, the Germans managed to find it and infiltrate the fort. It is ginormous, but when you look around, all you see is the natural landscape because it is so well hidden!

After our country cruise, we went back to the house where they made us a delicious meal!! This is where I fell in love with Maastricht's famous pear and apple butter- one word AMAZING!! We ended up just sitting around the table talking for hours and drinking wine. We met some amazing people here and I was sad to be leaving the next day.