Adventures with Jaap: Movies, tapas, jazz & more

Friday market

What a great weekend. Even though I couldn't celebrate Halloween in costume this year, the weekend was full of good times! Friday morning I went exploring around the market and bought some fruit and a yummy cheese spread. The market is beautiful and there is so much besides food....clothes, flowers, handbags, fabric, linens....the list goes on. I was tempted to buy so many things, but resisted. I was also nervous about buying meat and cheese because I'm still not used to grams and kilos and I'm not really sure how to go about ordering these things in Dutch yet. There's a goal to work on! Afterwards I had lunch with Céline, someone I met through the International Women's Club of Limburg. It was a nice way to spend the day in Maastricht. Here are some pics from the market. I starred at the pies for about three minutes before walking away. Yummy.

Friday night we went to go see The Social Network. Good flick. I insisted we go to the theater at least 20 minutes in advance. (I hate getting bad seats at a movie). I thought there would be a crowd but we were the only ones there early. I'm used to crowded NYC theaters and being sold out of shows. I remember when Jaap and I went to go see Avatar we got to the theater an hour ahead of time thinking we would definitely get a ticket. The show was sold out for three days! Hahaha. Jaap said there are probably a million people who could potentially see a movie in the theater we used to go to, as opposed to Maastricht where there's probably only a few thousand. Good point babe!

Afterwards we walked back towards Céramique for some Thai food at a restaurant in our neighborhood. It was packed and instead of being told a wait time of 10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc. we were told, 'Sorry' and gestured to leave. Hmmm. Then we walked across the street to a Spanish tapas restaurant (which was delicious by the way) and before I could take my coat off, the waitress wanted to know what I wanted to drink. I said I didn't know yet. Then she didn't return for 10 minutes. Hmmm. You gotta love this customer service. However, dinner was great and I'm lucky that we have so many nice restaurants in our neighborhood.

Excited for tapas

Jaap's friend Joost came to visit on Saturday for MECC Jazz Maastricht. What an incredible night! We heard some amazing music. The Roy Hargrove Quintet was by far my favorite. I'm a fan.(Although Pee Wee Ellis played St. Thomas, which just made my night). I'm by no means a jazz expert or even slightly knowledgeable, but I think we heard some phenomenal performances. It was a great night! Here are some pics of the festival.

Roy Hargrove Quintet

Count Basie Orchestra

Wayne Shorter Quartet

Jaap & Joost enjoying some friets

Trijntje Oosterhuis

Yesterday's weather was warm and sunny so we had to make sure we got out of the house. Maastricht was gorgeous! The bridge that has been closed for construction the past two months recently reopened, so we walked over and took some nice pictures of the city.

View from de Hoge Brug

He's so handsome

Hellport, 13th century

Stroll through City Park

Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek

We stopped at the Onze Lieve Vrouweplein for some drinks and a slice of vlaai for lunch. (It's like a fruit pie). We both got strawberry and mine came with a little too much slagroom. Oh well. Had to eat it. It was the perfect day to sit at an outdoor café. A women that I met at the International Women's Club said that she loves living in Maastricht because of its southern Europe 'feel' and luxurious café culture. Ahhhh. It reminds me of Vienna. I could get used to this.

And one more thing...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Shannon! I wish I was there to celebrate with you. Love you!