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To live in the Maastricht Region

Putting Your Best Eyes Forward

01-09-2010 om 10:34 by Amanda Potter

139No matter who you are, good vision (assisted or otherwise) is important. After all, you wouldn't want to miss out on seeing all the interesting places you read about here on Maastricht Region. Fortunately for most people with a vision impairment, the Netherlands is an easy place to get new glasses or contacts.

My eyeglass adventure began in Maastricht at Het Huis Opticiens, where they were taking walk-ins on a quiet Saturday morning. Unlike in the United States, the opticians are licensed to provide you with a prescription for glasses and contacts. This squashes the lines, and makes the turn around times much quicker. The walk-in appointments are basically eye chart checks, a test for astigmatism and measuring the curvature of your eyeballs (for contacts). Joyfully no dilation or air puffing... read more

Preuvenemint 2010: A Taste of the World

25-08-2010 om 09:07 by Amanda Potter

026Normally if you wanted to taste your way through the restaurants in Maastricht in just one weekend, you’d have to bring a big doggy bag. But this weekend the restaurants are coming to you. Or at least they are congregating on the Vrijthof under the auspices of this year’s Preuvenemint where you can pick and chose flavors from the city in one location for 4 days.

A cultural mainstay of Maastricht, Preuvenemint is an annual culinary event intended to bring together people who love food and the cooks that love to feed them. Dan and I attended the event last year with my in-laws and had an enjoyable evening tasting various local Dutch foods including herring, mussels, and pork sate. The food was tasty, if a little pricy, and as we were traveling in a group it was fun to share plates and enjoying... read more

Let's Go Out to the Movies

18-08-2010 om 11:03 by Amanda Potter

111 (Yes, I know this is the wrong sort of theater.)

We’re in the last few weeks of summer and now is the time I start itching to go out to the movies. The summer blockbusters are out, and the greying weather makes me want to dive into another world for awhile. Luckily for me, and other English speakers like me, many American films 1) make it abroad, and 2) are subtitled in Dutch rather than dubbed.  They don’t always get here immediately, but usually the big films are only slightly delayed.  Here are some other unique things about Dutch cinemas:

1) Many Dutch theaters sell beer and coffee in addition to the typical soda and popcorn fare of movie theaters.
2) An, often unexpected, intermission is added to the middle of films at most theaters.
3) Mainstream cinemas play films primarily... read more

Take a Hike, In the Vijlenerbos

11-08-2010 om 10:00 by Amanda Potter

119Hiking in the Vijlenerbos is both similar and dissimilar to the more casual hikes of my home state of Vermont. The hilly nature of the region, means that you can expect variations in grade and types of pathway, much like (although maybe not as steep as) Vermont hiking. But there are also a lot more hiking paths and other types of paths for enjoying the woods, resulting more traffic that the average mountain back home.

The Vijlenerbos is one of the largest wooded areas in the Netherlands and stretches into Belgium & Germany. In the old days, the forest was considered common property to the residents of nearby villages and each person had the right to cut down a portion of the forest. Today you can still see evidence of logging that occurred in the area. Trees often grown in equal height... read more

Standing in 3 Countries

04-08-2010 om 13:46 by Amanda Potter

144Last Saturday Dan & I visited three countries in 3 seconds. We stood at the highest point in the Netherlands, climbed a tower in Germany, and get lost in a labyrinth in Belgium. Where was all this? At Drielandenpunt of course.

Drielandenpunt, or 3-land point, is a well known tourist attraction marking the spot where the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium come together. Just outside the town of Vaals, it sees a lots of buses and families who visit for the hiking, playground, and (probably) outdoors atmosphere. I went because of fond memories of a similar attraction in the US (Four Corners), and was thrilled to finally make it out there after intended to visit for a year.

The first attraction to see if the observation tower. After walking up to the Drielandenpunt and taking the required... read more

 
 
Amanda Potter moved to Maastricht from Boston, Massachusetts in April, 2009 with her husband Dan for his research position at the University of Maastricht. Between exploring their adopted country and learning about a new culture, Amanda blogs about her experience and the city at www.MaastrichtMinutiae.com. Amanda works as a freelance writer and web designer at www.FallenKitten.com and webmaster for the comic www.WalkingtheLethe.com. She has two globetrotting cats that keep her company in their second floor Maastricht flat.
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