This past week my parents came to visit me in Maastricht. I haven't seen them in 3 months and it was so nice to finally be reunited again! We started off our trip by spending 3 days in Amsterdam. We did what every tourist has to do and took a canal tour with the Blue Boat Canal Company. We then got lunch and went to the Heineken Brewery. This was so much fun and my second time going! Since my parents were jet-lagged, we decided to get dinner and go to bed early. The next morning, we went to the Anne Frank House. This was such an amazing exhibit to go to. I learned so much more about the history of the Holocaust and Anne Frank's story. It was an eye-opening experience, and they did such an amazing job of laying out her story. I am thankful I did this with my parents because we are also jewish so it made the experience even more emotional and impactful. After the Anne Frank House we ate at the famous Pancakes restaurant right near by and got Dutch pancakes. They were delicious but I will always have a bigger place in my heart for American pancakes! We spent the rest of the day wandering the crazy streets of Amsterdam and did lots of shopping. We visited the Bloemenflower Market which is a floating flower market with flowers that hang from the ceiling. The next day we went to the Rijksmuseum and saw the Night Watch. I definitely recommend downloading the app when going to this museum because you can look up a specific piece of artwork and the app will talk to you and tell you background information about the piece. I found this super helpful and made me view the pieces of artwork differently than I would before. Afterward we went to the MOCO Museum which had artwork by Banksy and other modern artists. I loved this museum because it was so unique and was actually in and old house. We later went to the Portuguese Synagogue which was so beautiful to see. I had an amazing time in one of my favorite cities with my parents! Next stop: Maastricht.
I had so much fun being a tourist in my home city with my parents! We stayed at Urban Residences which was the PERFECT location to stay. It was an apartment/hotel so there were two floors, a kitchen, couch, and a bedroom upstairs. I highly recommend staying here if your parents visit in Maastricht. I showed my parents all of the main spots in Maastricht like the Vrijthof Square, the Markt, the St Servaas Bridge, City Hall, and The Basilica of St Servatius. We did a tour of Fort St Peters which was so cool because I got to learn so much more about Maastricht than I did before. Of course, we did lots of shopping and I took them to Bischopsmollen which is the oldest running watermill in Maastricht that serves delicious Vlaai (a Dutch pie). We also did a day-trip to Valkenburg, a city 15 minutes outside of Maastricht which had Christmas Markets in caves. It was such a cute city and put us all in the Christmas spirit (even though Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet)!
Since my Dad's grandparents were German, I wanted to take my parents to a city in Germany. We decided to go to Cologne because it was nearby. We went to the Cologne Cathedral which was absolutely incredible. We were able to go inside and see the beautiful stain-glassed windows. We then walked to the Love Lock Bridge on the Rhine River which had millions of locks on it. We got a traditional German lunch (schnitzel, Bratwurst) and walked around the streets of Cologne. We went to the Farina Museum and learned about the history of the man who created Eau de Cologne. It was such a fun day and I am so glad I was able to take my Dad to the country his grandparents were from!
I am so thankful that my parents were able to visit. Although I am a bit more homesick now, it was such an amazing opportunity to share with them, and something we will never forget!
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