Familiar Sounds... Canals... Snow... and Trains!

We’ve been on a long sleep... the weather outside was apparently quite cold... as we heard as well, unless we were dreaming, that there was a Big Freeze all over Europe... little we knew that we were going to end up right in the middle of it, or rather its aftermath.

We were again in a comfy hand luggage... not tight, enough air for both of us to breathe... when we landed we had a feeling of déjà-vu... at least the people were talking a language we once heard long time ago... even though it hasn’t been long since we came out in public.

Well well well... to cut a long story short... we heard the sounds of unwrapping of gifts as well... people singing Christmas carols... playing mini-golf too... we were confused... it was cosy inside... at least... and that’s where we were left for a long time. But... it’s been also nice although cold whenever we peaked outside, from one bag to another, or simply to pose for a photo or two.

No wonder it felt familiar... when we gazed outside... we were back in Holland... the Netherlands... for a while we were scared that they’ll take us back to be hung in that lousy souvenir shop... but it wasn’t anything like that.

While inside, in a lovely warm and welcoming house we discovered was in a small village surrounded by greenhouses that goes by the name of De Lier, we had the time to take some photos under a real Christmas tree... and also Santa Claus too... he seemed quite a shorty compared to the rest of the world outside there... maybe he comes from our same birthplace? Or maybe the same souvenir shop we were picked up from?

Being Sunday, it was cheap to travel today as with one ticket costing not much more than €20, both of us could travel to any destination within the Netherlands... and that’s what we did! We went to Breda... did some shopping there... but before we had a look around... saw a castle surrounded by a canal, as well as the so called Grote Kerk. A student city with plenty of bars and nice shopping streets too, Breda proved to be a very cosy city with plenty to offer especially, although we didn’t stay there till late, later on in the evening and night.

From Breda we took another train that will have us change trains in Eindhoven... and off to Maastricht. A very very nice city... furthest south into the Netherlands where one can probably imagine... a bridge between Germany and Belgium... with nice cafes and restaurants, and a wonderful Christmas village... Winterland Maastricht.  People were ice-skating there. We didn’t. We just looked at them as they swooshed past us. The old town in Maastricht looked pretty historical... but unfortunately the weather and the time of the day didn’t help much in exploring much of the city. But of course, it must not be the last time that we got there.

At any restaurant though, whether Maastricht or not, make sure not to sit next to enthusiastic tourists, especially when they are old, adorning proudly some Guide to Maastricht... or even worse, a second guide book “100% Maastricht”. Yes... she was in her 50s or even early 60s... and her not-so-enthusiastic partner was pretending to listen in between a couple of doze-offs all that she had to read about Maastricht... it was... TERRIBLE. Like her pitiful partner, or husband whatever he was... we were forced to hear her talk, with this strange accent of what sounded like Dutch...

That was more or less all of this trip for us this time... but we hear we might be coming to the Netherlands again pretty soon... don’t know... maybe we just dreamt it... maybe not... we’ll just wait... and see :D