Silly me, I asked Eddy if our trip today would be 30 minutes? About that? I was wanting to alleviate the girls worry about how long they would have to ride in the car. “No!” he replied, “No! Ten minutes, maybe fifteen.” Well, we really are close to the border of the Netherlands!
Our day trip was into Maastricht, Netherlands. It worked out well, because Gaby wanted some fresh vegetables, and the open air market is there.
As we arrived, we first came upon the seafood vendors. Lots of them. Lined up with big table tops of ice keeping their supply cool, tents blocking the sun. But then there were the vegetable stands. And fabric sellers, and leather goods, and flower stands, and… everything. Sunglasses, jewelry, tops, bottoms, everything you could imagine covering the entire square in Maastricht! It was a LOT.
We browsed for a bit while Gaby got her vegetables, KatieRose picking out a nice leather purse. But the real fun started as we settled into a table on the outskirts, and ordered ourselves some authentic frites. These are basically homemade, salted fries, but with a sweet mayo to dip instead of Ketchup. The girls were a bit cautious to start, but then easily polished it off. Yummy!
Eddy, Gaby and I also decided to do a walk of the town, and went in search of a little bakery with a still-functional mill, De Bisshopsmolen, grinding their grains. We twisted and turned through town, relying on memory to find it, but we did – and it is adorable. We cut through the bakery to see the interior mechanism of the mill, then out onto the back of the building where the wheel is attached, powered by the flowing canal. When we were they they had the wheel turned off and not grinding, we could still see that it did still work and how it did so. Plus, it was just pretty, with flowers planted along the wheel. We also picked up several treats from the bakery section, being sure to bring back something for Scott and the girls.
After making our way back to the town square, we just sat and relaxed with a beverage, watching the activity in the square and taking pictures of the birds drinking from the ornate fountain. Lovely, relaxing time, before gathering our goodies and heading back to Eddy & Gaby’s house.
