this little town of maastricht

Let me introduce Maastricht, my second home for the past two months! Maastricht is a city located at the southern-most tip of The Netherlands, and it is the capital of the Dutch province Limburg. It has 120,000 residents and is considered a pretty international city, due to its very close proximity to Belgium and Germany.

Maastricht has numerous low, square brick buildings such as these; with black sloping roofs and white window facades. Taking the train through Holland numerous times, I notice that the Dutch seem to like square architecture very much! Anyway, this is an excellent change from Singapore with its high-rise modern buildings; here, roads are cobblestoned, and necks need not be craned. The one similarity is the abundance of greenery, old trees and flowers; although right now it is autumn and the trees are rapidly losing their golden foliage.

The weather in Maastricht is extremely dreary (as it is in most parts of Holland); the Dutch have a saying: if it isn't rainy weather, then it's bad weather! Gray skies are common and whenever there is sun, people start sitting on benches faces upturned (what a far cry from Singapore), hopefully trying to soak up any warmth they can.

The river Maas separates Maastricht into two main areas on either side of the river. On nice days, you can stand at the edges of the bridge, admiring boats in a hurry, and ducks swimming idly by.


Like most other European cities, shops in Maastricht close early, at 5pm in the evening. Supermarkets hang on a little longer, to 8pm. They also close for the full-day on Sundays; and late-night shopping (till 8pm) only extends on Thursdays. Initially this proved to be very annoying, coming from Singapore where I can start shopping at 4pm in the afternoon and enjoy myself till 9pm! After a while it got acceptable, and now that it is turning winter and 5pms are absolutely dark and cold, it is understandable.

We also managed to chance upon a Maastricht parade on a cold Sunday morning! Roads were closed, and a long procession of people paraded down the streets, in costumes. Some sang hymns from little books, some played drums and marched, and some (the little children) were very cute.


Europeans love their pets and Maastricht is no exception! There are so many people walking little dogs and so many windows with cats sitting in them, I am beginning to long for a cuddly furry pet to call my own. Here especially they like small dogs, and the downside is the amount of dog-poop in streets. Personally though, I like bigger dogs, like this huge white one that I fell in love with outside a shop. It was a huge maomao carpet. Absolutely adorable, I want one like that too.

maastricht at night

The city likes to pride itself on being a "rich person's town" and encourages wealthy old tourists. Because of that, Maastricht is really very clean and well-maintained. There are regular garbage trucks and road-cleaning cars, window-wipers, painters, and gardeners.

bijenkorf, a departmental store

big church i pass by on my way to school

Oooh and drivers in Maastricht are REALLY nice! From 10 metres away they start slowing down even when you are only reaching the edge of the kerb at a zebra crossing; then they politely wait for you to pass even when you move at a snail's pace. All the drivers are like that! And I've never heard any loud horns blaring or impatient drivers; everyone gives way courteously.