I skipped work on Friday. I would have been the only one at work and I had already finished every lonely job the week before when my supervisor has been sick. I made some shopping and recovered in bed from Queensday. In the evening I went out with Ulrich. In the third pub we met two friends of him and continued with them our pub tour. I finally get to know the locations. It is quite embarrasing. As Ulrich kept asking me "What have you done all the years, if you do not know these pubs?", I really asked myself how I could have missed the basics. Well, I never has been in Aachen in the weekends and during the week I studied. Two sides. The combination of both started in Sweden. But now I even have an idea what to show people who would come for a visit to Aachen (just call me).
While I've been in the Netherlands my bike has been brought to Aachen. Finally. I was planning this since the first week I got to Aachen 4 years ago, but I always wanted to keep the bike at my parents place, for I could use it better there. But now, since I am rarely at home, I wanted to have it here. This area is so interesting for tours. Eifel, Belgium and Netherlands start all right next behind the last houses of Aachen.
Last night I came home at almost 3 in the morning. Somehow I was absolutely awake after walking home, so I watched some Scrubs episodes. After the 10th I decided to try sleeping. 4 hours later I got up, had some breakfast and decided that the beautiful blue sky is a perfect reason for cycling. First I wanted to Vaals at the Dutch border. There are Vaalserquartier and Vaals. Acutally, it is one city, but the first one belongs to Germany and the second one to Netherlands. Although I took some small streets crossing the border was easy to recognise. Although the street has been very small, the Dutch side was in perfect condition (the Germans do not care about not-used streets). An old border house and thise fancy red pavement indicated immediately: I entered the land of Rosè beer, Kroketten, Stroopwafels, and - the German's favorite - Vla. Once I reached Vaals, I did not want to stop and cycled on not really knowing where I should go. I followed the main road knowing that the temptation of getting forward pretty fast was dangerous. Aachen is the highest point if you go to the Netherlands. Leaving into this directions means, that you will have more work on your way back. But it was so damn easy. After a while, I decided to look in the villages for a legend I heard about a few weeks ago: Stroopwafel-icecream. But the villages were small and I felt so well, I did not want to spend time searching for a icecream-shop. So I decided to set a big goal: eating icecream in Maastricht. I wanted to cycle there since Maarten from Maastricht visited me by bike in Aachen in my first semester.
In between, there was even one ascent. A small preview for what would wait for me on my way back. It was not steep, but long. Really long, I thought. But it went well and after a long ride downhill I reached Maastricht. And by accident I found immediately the part of the city where Maarten lived. That meant I knew how to get into the center. And it was so great. After today, I cannot decide if Utrecht or Maastricht is prettier. Well, I guess, Utrecht, but Maastricht was amazing. People laying in the grass next to the river, crowds in the center, but if you just switched to a smaller street right next to the main squares you were almost alone. I walked around, visited the university I had tried twice to study. The first time I failed at my on courage and the second time at my home university's bureaucracy. But I like this city so much. I tried to imagine, how it would be, if this would have become my city instead of Sundsvall.
I could not find an icecream shop with Stroopwafel iceream. So I ordered some usual sorts. Hint: try the Dutch stracciatella. It's awesome. I ordered in some-kind-of-Dutch. After Sweden I try the same strategy in Netherlands, too. At least ordering something in the language I try to learn. Like I did in Subways in Sundsvall. By then I always failed at the eager cashier that was so happy to speak English to somebody. But in the Netherlands I still cannot get Swedish out of my head. Do I pronounce every letter like in German or do I skip some like in Swedish? And once I started I forget about the pronounciation. "Was the word right?" - "Was that Swedish or Dutch?" - "Was it possible to understand what I mean?". Because I had so many things in my head, I do not know, if the cashier answered in Dutch or English, since "drie euro" and "three euro" sound so similar on a crowded market. Very embarrassing. Dutchs seem to speak German naturally well. You always can understand so well what they are saying. On the other side they only look confused when I try to say something. I better keep on practicing.
But most likely not tomorrow. I also bought some water and cerials for the way back and after two hours sightseeing I left Maastricht again. The way back went better than I thought. Since it was not so steep I did not slow down so much. But it was going slightly up all the time and the last 4 kilometers before Vaals were the worst. I had to make two breaks, because the legs became heavier and heavier. After approximately more than 75km, I arrived back at my home. My next goals are Eupen in Belgium and Vaalserberg where the borders of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany cross.The legs start hurting, but that's ok. I will give them some rest. All pictures of my tour are available here:
After today, I am pretty sure in my summer plans for a cycling tour to the Dutch coast in the North. That should go well. I only need new handles and a new seat, because the current equipment is rather hard and used.
Last night I came home at almost 3 in the morning. Somehow I was absolutely awake after walking home, so I watched some Scrubs episodes. After the 10th I decided to try sleeping. 4 hours later I got up, had some breakfast and decided that the beautiful blue sky is a perfect reason for cycling. First I wanted to Vaals at the Dutch border. There are Vaalserquartier and Vaals. Acutally, it is one city, but the first one belongs to Germany and the second one to Netherlands. Although I took some small streets crossing the border was easy to recognise. Although the street has been very small, the Dutch side was in perfect condition (the Germans do not care about not-used streets). An old border house and thise fancy red pavement indicated immediately: I entered the land of Rosè beer, Kroketten, Stroopwafels, and - the German's favorite - Vla. Once I reached Vaals, I did not want to stop and cycled on not really knowing where I should go. I followed the main road knowing that the temptation of getting forward pretty fast was dangerous. Aachen is the highest point if you go to the Netherlands. Leaving into this directions means, that you will have more work on your way back. But it was so damn easy. After a while, I decided to look in the villages for a legend I heard about a few weeks ago: Stroopwafel-icecream. But the villages were small and I felt so well, I did not want to spend time searching for a icecream-shop. So I decided to set a big goal: eating icecream in Maastricht. I wanted to cycle there since Maarten from Maastricht visited me by bike in Aachen in my first semester.
In between, there was even one ascent. A small preview for what would wait for me on my way back. It was not steep, but long. Really long, I thought. But it went well and after a long ride downhill I reached Maastricht. And by accident I found immediately the part of the city where Maarten lived. That meant I knew how to get into the center. And it was so great. After today, I cannot decide if Utrecht or Maastricht is prettier. Well, I guess, Utrecht, but Maastricht was amazing. People laying in the grass next to the river, crowds in the center, but if you just switched to a smaller street right next to the main squares you were almost alone. I walked around, visited the university I had tried twice to study. The first time I failed at my on courage and the second time at my home university's bureaucracy. But I like this city so much. I tried to imagine, how it would be, if this would have become my city instead of Sundsvall.
I could not find an icecream shop with Stroopwafel iceream. So I ordered some usual sorts. Hint: try the Dutch stracciatella. It's awesome. I ordered in some-kind-of-Dutch. After Sweden I try the same strategy in Netherlands, too. At least ordering something in the language I try to learn. Like I did in Subways in Sundsvall. By then I always failed at the eager cashier that was so happy to speak English to somebody. But in the Netherlands I still cannot get Swedish out of my head. Do I pronounce every letter like in German or do I skip some like in Swedish? And once I started I forget about the pronounciation. "Was the word right?" - "Was that Swedish or Dutch?" - "Was it possible to understand what I mean?". Because I had so many things in my head, I do not know, if the cashier answered in Dutch or English, since "drie euro" and "three euro" sound so similar on a crowded market. Very embarrassing. Dutchs seem to speak German naturally well. You always can understand so well what they are saying. On the other side they only look confused when I try to say something. I better keep on practicing.
But most likely not tomorrow. I also bought some water and cerials for the way back and after two hours sightseeing I left Maastricht again. The way back went better than I thought. Since it was not so steep I did not slow down so much. But it was going slightly up all the time and the last 4 kilometers before Vaals were the worst. I had to make two breaks, because the legs became heavier and heavier. After approximately more than 75km, I arrived back at my home. My next goals are Eupen in Belgium and Vaalserberg where the borders of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany cross.The legs start hurting, but that's ok. I will give them some rest. All pictures of my tour are available here: |
| Aachen - Maastricht by bike |
After today, I am pretty sure in my summer plans for a cycling tour to the Dutch coast in the North. That should go well. I only need new handles and a new seat, because the current equipment is rather hard and used.
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