July 30, 2011
My friend Mike and I drove to the Netherlands for the day, so great I can say that! Because he was an american expat he had to show off driving his mercedes on the autobahn over 100 mph. Cars were still passing us by so it wasnt that fast in the scheme of things.
Maastricht is on the southern part of the netherlands near the border of germany, only an hour drive from dudo. We started with a visit to the St.Peter's caves which was really a limestone quarry. Mike used his GPS to get us there and without realizing it it led us off the road which ended about half mile from our destination and onto a walking path! I made a comment that it was awefully narrow and we kept hoping that it would eventually widen up. Well, the opposite happened and without an obvious turnaround point. We had a steep dirt hill on one side and a drop off on the other and only a few inches in between. Panic set in when we reached end of the path and no way to turn around. SO I had to get out of the car and directed Mike as he SLOWLY backed up. OMG, disaster averted! There were a few walkers in the area who must have thought we were idiots, they weren't far off! When we parked the car by the church and walked back the way we drove, I could see tire marks on the side of the hill when the car was turning to much and was trying to climb a vertical dirt hill. I was laughing hysterically the rest of the day.
At the start of the cave tour when they told us that it was really a quarry for sandstone Mike started complaining about being ripped off because it wasnt a real cave. However, he got more impressed as we learned that it was a quarry that started in the 11th century and continued to be mined for centuries. In the end it was a labrynth of 200km with ceilings up to 30 feet. The stones were actually sawed away, one big block at a time, so that the cave walls were relatively smooth and neat. During wwII 50,000 people hid in the caves. The most impressive parts were the charcoal paintings on the walls (last picture on this blog).
The rest of the day we explored the medieval town. At one point we got lazy and did a trolley tour to get the feel of the town. I liked the cathedral but only got 5 minutes inside before they closed. We walked into a cool bookstore that was formerly an old church (2nd to last picture on this blog). There was even a small coffee shop in it. I didn't venture into any of the "coffeeshops" there were you can smoke some pot. Smelled it once in awhile though.
Stopped by the designer outlet on the way back. Bad luck but the stores were just closing. I fell in love with a burberry trench coat so Mike was generous enough to drive back the next day so I could get it. Too bad they did not have my size but I made up for it with a purse and an armani jacket! We budgeted 2 hours at the outlets including lunch because both of us needed to do some work in the afternoon. Good thing because I probably would have done a LOT of damage to my wallet. Would have been crazy if I had one of my shopping girlfriends with me. Fun weekend but back to work now, last week of the audit, can't wait to go home and see gary and ayla(maybe).
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