Intermission

Just some random pictures from our recent roadtrip.

 

Begijnhof Monastery in Leuven. A beautiful place of serenity. Nowadays the monastery buildings house students and university lecture halls, suggesting that the serenity may be broken after the belgian monastery beer has been sampled by its residents..

 

My significant other found Diorama filter from our camera settings. Brings out the detail nicely.

 

Old meets the new in Leuven.

 

A tiny piece of magic can be found in surprising places. This fountain or basin was tilted and overgrown in the yard of Sint-Gertruiabdijin in Leuven. The Abbey has been transformed into Scout an Guide museum and apartments, while preserving the feel of history.

 

 

A rustle in a thick bush of larch startled us and got us peering into the gloom. The culprit was a young tomcat thad had taken a residence in the hollow of the ancient tree.

Maastricht has a weekly antiques market near the railway station. Although we did not leave with a bag full of impromptu finds, it was nice to walk around and appreciate all the knicknacks on display.

 

Maastricht city fortifications with the pond ”De Vijf Koppen” and a fountain. 

 

View from the Sint Servaas Brug (bridge) to the new city and Hoge Brug, which is an elegant pedestrian/bicycle bridge over Meuse river.

 

Evening meal at the terrace.

 

Along the City fortification walk in Maastricht

The Maastricht Fortifications walk took us through some nice and quite unexpected places. As an example this mill was tucked away in the middle of a city block where we would have not ever gone without the map.

 

Old mill which was still happily churning water is kept prim and proper by it’s owners. Unlike typical Dutch city, Maastricht has a lot of whitewashed/painted brick buildings.

 

Jeker river going through Maastricht. The delta of Jeker and Meuse rivers was the original site where the romans, among others, founded the city.

 

Old meets new in Mastricht. I like street art in general and especially when it blends in to the scene with history.

 

Smell the summer air.

 

The reason why people use bicycles in the Netherlands. This is a normal traffic at 8 pm on Sunday. Documented near The Hague. This was smooth going, unlike the preceeding 50k when up to three of the four lanes were shut down due to construction work.

 

And finally, the summer is here!