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Maastricht - April 2007
Posted: 2007-04-04, 8:00 am

br1965Supporting Member
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Good morning!

Being awoken by a delivery truck outside of my bedroom this morning at 6:30... I've decided to get up, have a cup of coffee and update my online friends.

Maastricht is a beautiful city. Very lively on such a beautiful day as monday was. Tuesday with the temperature dropping into the low 50's and spitting some rain it was not quite the same!

I went straight to the VVV, got a hotel, bought my map and off I went. The Hotel Ducasque is 1/2 a block off the Vrijthof (which I have since found out means cemetary in old 'Limburgese' - they found a lot of bones when they built the parking garage under the Vrijthof) was nice...but I think I'm tainted by how relatively nice and cheap the hotels are in America. For about 75€, I had a very comfortable bed, a private bath with it's very own mold growing and a few of the building next door. A little more than I had budgeted...the gentleman at the VVV told me it was a very nice hotel for an incredibly cheap price (being off season) so I took it.

On monday I wandered around the city being the dutiful tourist; eventually working my way to a specific catholic church so I could light a few candles on behalf of my friend who talked me into going to Maastricht.

A beer or three and some lunch followed by more sight seeing. Dinner was VERY good at De Dikke Dragonder (Platielstraat 21). I had eaten outside at "the grand" (??) on the vrijthof in the afternoon and my waitress recommended de Dikke Dragonder to me ... just around the corner.

More wandering around the city in the evening.

I stopped in a head/smart shop (Sens - Kleine Gracht 33) to compare prices and such. Got talking to the owner. He was telling me that prices in Maastricht are getting out of control. In 's-Hertegonbosch he paid 7€/gm for Hindu Kush and pays 9,50€/gm for the very same in Maastricht.

He was also telling me how the current mayor is reeking havoc on the smartshops and the coffee shops. Where there used to be over 30 coffee shops in Maastricht there are only now 17. ...that might be 16 with the Mississippi closed again (about a week ago...he didn't know exactly why they were closed but pretty much said they did something stupid again and got busted by the city/politie).

Since I have my bag from Trenchtown (in amersfoort) and don't partake nearly as much as I used to... I didn't buy anything but I stopped in a few just to look. ...didn't need to buy either! just took a few deep breaths and I was getting a contact buzz ;-)

During my wanderings i came across five shops... but I wasn't looking very hard either:
Kosbor - Kleine Gracht 33
Maxcy's - Rechtstraat 60
Lucky Time - Hoogbrugstraat 4
Slow Motion - Bourgognestraat 10
and Smoky on the river

Tuesday morning I was up around 8a.m. and out of the hotel before 0900. Walked around watching the city come alive... it was very chilly. Most people were bundled up with their heads down just getting to where they needed to be as soon as possible. HUGE difference from the evening before when I was walking around in short sleeved shirt and carrying my jacket.

I had missed the outermost fortifications the day before, so I went to that part of the city again to see them. Then headed over the river to see the other side of town. Again, with it being chilly and spitting some rain I didn't dawdle much. I got to the Bonnafanten Museum just after it opened. Nice museum that is still building up it's collection. Until 2012 they have an agreement with the Rijksmuseum to borrow from it's collection.

No reports from Maastricht about the Prive ... sorry!

Tot ziens!
eric

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Re: Maastricht - April 2007
Posted: 2007-04-04, 9:44 am

paniked Power Kat
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I will repost my Maastricht report at some point here (it got wiped in the cull of old posts).

imo, by far the best coffeeshop is Heaven 69 on Brusselsestraat. the Mississippi boat seemed like a total rip-off to me when I went in there.

it's not suprising to me that prices and regulatory atmosphere are like that in Maastricht -- more like Amsterdam -- because they have a lot of weed tourists to contend with.

-paniked

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Re: Maastricht - April 2007
Posted: 2007-04-04, 4:40 pm

block
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Nice report from Maastricht.I try and spend a week there every year.I have 3 or 4 coffeeshops that I do business with in Maastricht and Heaven 69 is one of them.Every visit I find something else of interest in Maastricht and of course Belgium and Germany are very close by as well.

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Re: Maastricht - April 2007
Posted: 2007-04-06, 7:46 pm

br1965Supporting Member
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Of the different cities that I've visited this trip Maastricht and Groningen are definitely tops! Maybe a few windows in Maastricht would be nice. ;-)

eric

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If you ain't Dutch you ain't much.
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