Sarah visits Maastricht

Hello! Or Hallo as we say here in the Netherlands! This past week was quite busy! Sarah came to visit on Tuesday from Vienna so I was pretty negligent towards the comptuer! We had a really awesome time exploring Maastricht and on Saturday before her flight back to Vienna we spent the day exploring Brussels. The picture above and to the left is the lovely St Servatius Bridge, which was built during the days of the Roman Empire and their hold on Maastricht! Maastricht was actually a pretty sought after city because the Maas river (as seen in the picture as well!) was an excellent "barrier" to invading armies! I have really enjoyed learning about the history of Maastricht; its a really cool town with a lot of history. The building to my right is the old city hall located on the Markt (not a misspelling). Every Wednesday and Friday mornings they set up a market where local vendors come and sell everything from food to clothes! It's really fun to walk around. If you look closely at the picture you can see the tops of the tents set up.

After her 3 days in Maastricht, it was time for Sarah to go home. However, her flight didn't leave until Saturday night out of Brussels so we decided to spend the day exploring! For those of you who don't know, Brussels is both the capital of Belgium as well as the European Union (which I visited earlier on my 6 day study trip). If you have only a day to spend in Brussels, here are the few things I would recommend doing:

• Get a Belgium Waffle. Doesn't matter where (A random van such as the one seen above will do as well!). Toppings are mandatory, however. The Haagen Daz has one topped with ice cream which probably ranks in my top 5 foods I've ever had.
  
• Go to Delerium Tremens. This large and spacious bar is located in the back alleys of Brussels but it is an awesome place to drink a beer if you can find it. In fact, this bar currently serves 2004 different types of beer! My favorites so far: Maredsous, Kwak, La Chouffe and Leffe Blonde.
• Visit the Grand Place. This is what I would consider the center of the city. The buildings are the most incredible in this main square and definitely worth a look. It's also pretty central to most everything. The train station, all the good restaurants, the museums, the St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral and the Palais Royal are all a 10 minute or less walk from here.
• For an awesome photo op I recommend going to see the Manneken Pis, the pissing mannequin. It's a cute little boy peeing into a fountain. (For the more risque crowd, there's a similar statue right outside of Delerium, just a different sex...)

Well that's my 10 cents. I plan on putting all these pictures up on facebook where I might be able to post a link. Later.