Last Thursday 3rd June, after my first day at my new temp job in telemarketing and finally finding a new apartment for August with my partner, I had to dash to London King’s Cross and catch a Eurostar train to Brussels in order to get to Maastricht, where my parents have been living for the past 3 years. I have days like that when my success relies on everything working as it should and me being really on the ball: in other words, there’s really a bit of luck in success, always. I prefer taking the chance and I find it usually works.

The reason I am posting about this trip is because this is my last trip to Maastricht before my parents move to Paris and I have come to learn that this is far from your usual city. My father is in the French navy, currently working for NATO (located in Brunssum, nearby). One thing that struck me about this city, which is southernmost in the Netherlands and the capital of the province of Limburg, is that there is always some huge event going on. Other than being a city of historical richness attracting a lot of tourism, the many shops and cafes everywhere, the beautiful setting and the current fervor of its football supporters, I find that this city is the liveliest I have ever been to.

The history of this town has its controversies: Maastricht is possibly the oldest city in the Netherlands. It has a wealth of old buildings especially from the Middle Ages, such as its fantastic 13th c. city gates called the Hell gates. The St Servaas Church and St Jan’s Cathedral are simply beautiful and though I decided to see what a mass is like there I admit I ran away after 30 minutes when I realized that the pace of the mass was a lot slower than the average and also more dramatic. To my embarrassment I had a close encounter with the fabulous and huge doors of the Church, which, once shut, are much harder to reopen than you can imagine.

Nowadays, on a hill on the outskirts lives a very rich and very loved man locally, Andr? Rieu, who plays in the beautiful Vrijthof, the town center and whose music I can hear from my parents’ house. I am not a fan of his but it certainly is nice to hear his music everywhere in town, you can hear what I heard if you look up Rieu/Maastricht on Youtube. As I write right now, out of nowhere tambourine resounds from that same place and I have no idea why. The house is really 2 minutes away from the Vrijthof so we can hear everything. During the famous carnival days in February/March everyone goes past the house in costumes and it becomes very difficult to live your daily life. Some inhabitants prefer to take time away from the city when it happens. They go on most of the night and throughout the day.

Other events such as the New year celebrations particularly are also unmissable: I was celebrating the New Year here two years ago and it was incredibly fun although also incredibly dangerous: I have never seen or heard so many firework displays anywhere, not even under the Eiffel Tower (somehow Maastricht struck me more!!). Everyone in town brings their own in huge quantities and as the weather was good that day, it went on all night. Walking through the town felt like walking through a war zone, some even take pleasure in randomly throwing the fireworks at you. It was all really beautiful but I admit I was scared.

I have been to the Winterland each year though and the amount of preparation and effort put into it is phenomenal. The city changes quite a lot and offers an impressive array of activities for all ages, cuisine of varying quality and games and shows and anything you could ask for. Another great outing is to go check the markets, but you might be surprised to see people swallowing raw fish whole so early in the morning…

Although the Maastricht calendar is confusing to its visitors, finding out what events are going on is actually achievable: Most events are advertised around the Vrijtof and are also available online at Crossroads, in English. The budding university which offers courses in English is also a great source of events and activities around the city and while it is full of older inhabitants enjoying their retirement, there is also a fair share of youth looking for parties.

Strangely though, what I will most remember is that I have also had the luck to be granted access to the NATO bases where, until recently, families of those working for NATO were allowed to use facilities and indulged in some duty free shopping of all sorts. I think I really just liked being able to do it and especially driving through the bases. The diversity of people working there is striking of course but one thing I always noticed was how no language really seems to survive this hostile multi cultural and expatriate environment. English is not English anymore and appears in barely recognizable forms, heavily impregnated with the user’s own dialect. It makes for very funny situations when, to everyone’s embarrassment perhaps, say, a French person might end up telling an Englishman that he speaks English very badly (surprisingly I didn’t do it). One thing is for sure, I would not rely on either my French or my English being understood there and I have been actively discouraged from learning Dutch by a Dutch friend because ‘I can never say it right’, which seems the common opinion. To enjoy this beautiful city and the kindness of its inhabitants you have to just let all that is alien to you rain on you, jump in and admire the sights with as little prejudice as possible. You also need to be keen to party…too bad I only ever visited when my batteries were flat. Also, by the standard of Netherlands visitors I’m no fun because I am against any form of smoking. I hope to have shown that there is much else to do in Maastricht.

Finally, during the three years my parents lived there, as I said, what marked me was how very lively and busy Maastricht always seems to be. I made it my personal quest to find a time when it is empty, and one day last winter, the 1st January when everyone is exhausted and nothing is open, rather early I finally found all streets I went to empty, allowing me the most exclusive excursion into town almost anyone can experience there. No more of all those extremely tempting shops, cafes and terraces and events around, just for an hour or so. I took this opportunity to appreciate its beauty even more and to take a few pictures: