Road Trip

Gearoid and my modes of transportation here in the Netherlands include bikes, trains, buses, and recently rented car. We had been in Nijmegen for 6 weeks before I suggested we take advantage of living in Europe and visit neighboring countries.

We rented a tiny car for an affordable price (although we paid exorbitant gas prices for the tiny gas tank) and set off early on a Saturday morning. We started by driving south to Maastricht a Dutch town on the Southern border. We spent a couple of hours walking around the town which was preparing itself for Carnival by festooning the streets in banners and flags and had shops advertising adult princess costumes for the festivities. We warmed up with coffee in a café on the main square before heading off to visit the sites. I know we saw a lot of tiny European streets, old buildings, and some cannons but the most memorable stop was a book store. This book store was built in an old Dominican Church and had amazing arches and artwork. It was quiet like a church inside and Gearoid commented that is seemed unnatural that people were eating cheesecake in the café in the back of the store.

After Maastricht, we drove quickly through Belgium mostly because we had to pass through to get to other places. We do have plans to visit other parts of Belgium in the future but this time we just enjoyed a nice drive through the countryside. We did stop for a coffee to say we did do something in the country.

The next stop was Clervaux in Luxembourg where the Battle of the Bulge was fought during WW2. It was a very nice but quiet little town. We arrived 2 weeks before the tourist attractions (i.e. museum and castle) were open to the public.

We ended the night in Luxembourg City. We visited the city center to find a place for dinner and I was astounded by the many Americans I overheard as well as the chain restaurants that had made their way over the Atlantic. We saw an actual Chi-Chi’s restaurant! Haven’t most of these restaurants been closed in the States?

The next day we drove into Germany. We were pleased to see just enough snow to make the landscape idyllic but not enough to impair our driving.  Our first stop of the day was Trier, a German town with a lot of history. We walked to the Porta Nigra left by the Romans, a pink palace, a cathedral, and the house where Karl Marx grew up.  We also stopped to get (more) coffee at a café that reminded Gearoid of coffee shops in the States where he completed much of his dissertation.

Afterwards we hopped in the car and got lost on our way to the next location.  We ended up stopping in a little town and waiting over an hour for a pizza and salad at a local restaurant. After FINALLY eating (I really miss the quick and efficient service you get in the States- especially when all you have sustaining you is some European Cocoa Puffs and half a bag of rice cakes)we then got on our way and drove up a big mountain just to drive down it and enjoy the beautiful scenery of farms and vineyards.  Our destination was Bacharat, Germany, a cute town with fairy tale looking homes. It was quite nice and reminded me of my visits of Busch Gardens, Williamsburg.  (By the way- I’m sorry Europe for comparing a cheesy (yet fun) beer-run themed park with the real thing!) We then drove along the Rhine and enjoyed views of many castles dotting the river on both sides. At first we stopped at every castle to get a picture but after the 4^th or 5^th we realized there were going to be many more. After our scenic ride along the Rhine, we hopped on the interstate and headed back to Nijmegen. We originally planned on visiting Bonn, where Gearoid studied German over half a decade ago but after getting lost and waiting about half a decade for pizza it was getting late and Gearoid had to work the next morning. The view on the interstate was significantly less scenic but we did find a very ritzy McDonalds with its own coffee bar. As a person who doesn’t even eat McDonalds in the country of its origin and as a rule avoids American restaurants in foreign countries, I felt a little sinful stopping. However, I really wanted an “orange soda”- aka Hi-C orange drink-only to find out that the McDonalds in Europe actually serve orange soda- Fanta.

Overall, it was nice to get out of town and we’re excited to do it again.