After visiting Ghent and Bruges we took the train to Maastricht in the Netherlands. My sister recommended it as she loves coming here for a city break. When we first arrived we went straight to the market Square as my sister had told me that on a Friday there was a fabric sale and we just happened to be arriving on a Friday!! Well, it’s worth a visit, it’s not just fabric but there is lots of stalls selling all sorts of fabrics, linens, cotton’s, jersey, sparkly stuff, upholstery…lots!!! We were pretty restrained and just bought two lengths each, I bought a very pretty bamboo tulip design and a gorgeous soft striped cotton with a very pretty broderie anglais border. We’ve posted them home, it weighed two kilos so it’s a good job we didn’t go mad!!

We weren’t sure about Maastricht at first as there isn’t much in the way of tourist sites to visit, we went to the two cathedrals and up the tower to see the view. I think it is probably the most untouristy place I’ve been to, we didn’t even manage to buy a postcard, but I think that is the attraction. Maastricht has a lively and friendly vibe, it’s a lovely place to just meander around. We relaxed and chilled out without feeling we should be doing tourist things. We were staying on a boat which was a little cramped but we could sit on the deck in the sunshine filling in our journals. I would certainly go back to Maastricht, especially on a Friday 🙂

Today we travelled to Cologne in Germany. We’ve been to the cathedral which is pretty impressive, we’ve wandered over the bridge and headed for the old part of the city. Unfortunately this seems to be full of bars and nothing much else. Neither of us get good vibes from Cologne, we might be doing it a great injustice but we both feel we wouldn’t like to be here on our own.

We’re staying in a very comfortable art themed hotel, each bedroom is decorated in a different style. I asked the receptionist if he could recommend a German restaurant nearby. He suggested a local brewery. We would never have gone in without the recommendation, you had to push through two heavy leather curtains, at the end of a corridor there were two outdoor eating areas. The waiters wore traditional long aprons and carried a glass holder which held about 12 200ml glasses which they filled from a keg. Now I’ve never liked beer, I usually drink wine or gin, but I felt we should at least try it, I asked if they had a mild one to try, he said that was easy, they only had one beer! So I had bratwurst and a glass of beer for my tea, I still prefer wine or gin though 🙂

Tomorrow we travel to Trier on the German French border, we’ll be visiting Luxembourg from there.