Day 32: Aachen to Maastricht

I have made it to the land of bicycles and tall people!

‘Twas a short jaunt today from Germany to the Netherlands. Just over 40 km from Aachen to Maastricht – and that wasn’t even taking a direct route. It’s awesome how close all these countries are!

Excitement levels are at an all time high now that I have reached the Netherlands! As I said, I haven’t been here since I was on exchange at TU Delft over two years ago. I felt a wave of joy spread over me as I cycled into the Dutch countryside.

Some differences became evident immediately upon crossing from Germany to the Netherlands. The cycling infrastructure went from great to fantastic, people seemed a degree or two more jolly and several inches taller, and there were way more motorized wheelchairs.

I took a detour to stop in Heerlen for a coffee. It is possible that this could be the world capital for motorized scooters and wheelchairs. I had to get off my bike and wade through the electric powered crowds to find a cafe.

Of course, like any good Dutch town, Herleen had a market going on. Nothing too extravagant, but I lingered by the cheese stall and admired the flower stall. Unfortunately, no stroopwafel was found.

I always forget the translations for “male” and “female” in Dutch. “Dames” or “heren” are the options. I know it seems intuitive that it would be dames for female, but I can never say for sure. Either way it is a toss up whenever I use the washroom. I make a mental note to look it up, but once the stress of a potential washroom mix-up is over I forget to do so.

As one might expect, the ride was quite easy. Though, there was one surprisingly hefty hill. It could have been nearly 1%! Kidding aside, there was one big hill. I passed a man pushing his bike up the side.

I was riding through towns and such, but everywhere in the Netherlands has excellent bike lanes or paths, generally always separated from cars. It is a dream to cycle here.

Maastricht is quite lovely and has that characteristic Dutch feel about it. It is a decently large city bisected by the Maas river. The weather was perfect today. Sunny, not too hot, a light breeze. Many people were out enjoying drinks and snacks al fresco.

In the afternoon I wandered around with not much of an agenda. I found a bookstore that was inside of an old church. It had a decent English literature section so I spent a long time there. I went to find some of the Maastricht University buildings. I saw the trendy Wyck neighbourhood.