Just got back from a two week visit to Maastricht and I did a little scouting around while I was there. Someone had posted a good review on Aspasia which is located in Lemiers,just east of Maastricht. I rode the bus from Maastricht to Aachen on a couple of trips and bus #50 stops in Lemiers and Aspasia is about a 200 meter walk east of the bus stop. Ask any bus driver for a "day ticket" and for 5 euro you can ride all day on any Veolia bus. Bus 50 departs Maastricht headed for Aachen about every 30 minutes. Also someone had posted that the Maastricht Prive is closed and I can indeed confirm that although I did walk past it on my last day and the door was open and there appeared to be some activity inside but it still appeared to be closed for business at the time.

I also noticed that Take One,a little beer cafe on the station side of the river allows tobacco smoking. The owner is the only person who works there and this is a loophole in the law that has been upheld. Maxeys coffeeshop has gone thru a lot of changes inside. They now have a glassed in area for weed smokers and Heaven 69 is still going strong. I read today that these coffeeshops will soon be "members only" and will sell only to Dutch citizens. Not sure how all of that is going to play out but I suspect it will only push the drug trade underground and that is a shame. Several of my favorite cafes/bars have undergone ownership changes in the last year and I feel certain this is due to the silly no smoking law recently enacted in Holland. Most of the bars were not nearly as busy as I have seen them in the past.


I stayed on Bruselestraat just down the street from Heaven 69 and the Shamrock Pub. Shamrock is a very cool place to stop in during the day for a beer and they also have a small hostel upstairs. Also just up the street is a little grill/Kabob place called Nora's. I have been eating here for several years and the guys that run the place are always helpful and friendly.

I sampled the truffels on three occasions and got a very nice trip each time with two of the trips taking place at the racetrack at Spa-Francorchamps and the other trip was while I was in Stavelot Belgium watching the Liege-Bastogne-Liege bike race.

My wife and I made a two day side trip to Paris. I played in safe and left my smoke back in Maastricht but I did carry along a pipe. After doing a little searching I discovered that hash can be found pretty easy but the folks selling it are a bit jumpy and you have to followthem around the cornor and then they introduce you to another fellow and so on but it is worth the wait and the guys pose no threat and in fact they discovered I was from Texas and they wanted me to talk like J R Ewing of all things but I did score a nice chunk for 40 euro.

One word of warning....if you catch the train in Maastricht and head south into Belgium you are on a Belgium train. Until a few years ago the train would stop at the Belgium bordertown of Vise and change conductors but now it is considered a Belgium train. Saying that I bought myself and my bike a train ticket one morning in Maastricht and traveled down to Trois Ponts Belgium and spent the day riding. Thatr evening I hopped back on the train for my return. Since I had not bought a return ticket for myself I bought one from the conductor who was very confused about the Maastricht to Liege train being a Belgium train and he informed me I would have to purchase another ticket at the border which is not correct.But he was friendly enough and I went about on my way. Another time I made the same trip and once again boarded at Trois Ponts for my return. This conductor had no clue and eneded up taking my 20 euro for my ticket and said he would return. After returning he advised me that I owed him 27 euro which was way incorrect. He also wanted to charge me once again for my bike and the bike ticket I had purchased was clearly marked for being good all day. At this point he suddenly stopped understanding any English but I made him understand I was not buying another ticket for my bike and I tried to ask him what he had done with the 20 euro I hade already given him for my ticket. He just shook his head and pretended to not understand. At this point I knew it was my word against his so I pulled out another 20 euro and paid him for my ticket and then told him in plain English that I hoped he did not choke on the 20 he stole from me and I pretended to grab my throat. He looked at me with a startled look which indicated that he understood damn well what I had said. I later spke with a couple of Belgium conductors and they both told me that those rural train conductors pretend to not understand anything other than French but in reality they understand Dutch,German,and usually English and furthermore a few of them had been know to try and screw folks around

Thank you block for sharing your experience with us.

So have you entered the Aspasia? did you get off the bus or you did just go by? How has been your side trip to Paris?

What gets me anrgy is the despicable attitude of the Belgian train inspector. If I was you, I would never shake another 20€ bill, I just would tell him to go f... himself, no matter if he calls the police.

I did not stop at Aspasia but took note of the location. Being from Texas I am around folks everyday with a bad attitude so the Belgium conductor I did not see a bad attitude only the fact he was not proper in doing his job and stole 20 euro from me. I have been in that region many times and I have never had issue with anything so I only blame myself for not being able to speak the French language and therefor defend myself. If the 20 euro meant that much to him then bless him.