A Friday Afternoon in Maastricht

Every town in the Netherlands has what they call 'market day', where traditional market is held in front of the city's town hall. In Maastricht, market days fall on Wednesday and Friday. 

Fitri loves the market, while I --mostly buy my groceries in Albert Heijn or Aldi--- have never gone there. So when she told she loves spending time buying fresh ingredients at the market, I asked if I could come with her. Fitri said yes, and we later set up the date on Friday. Fitri doesn't have classes on Friday and I could really use a short break from my thesis.

The market is full with fresh ingredients including fresh beautiful flowers. The sellers there are nice and friendly, I enjoyed our little chat with them. 

Afterward, I met Cumaziye and Denitsa at a cafe in front of Selexyz bookstore. We were laughing all the time. It was a Friday well-spent.

Paris, First Timer

First time in Paris! So of course I did lots of mistakes commonly do by Paris first-timers...

I haven't done enough research before my departure, partly because I was too busy preparing thesis proposal, party because it's not a well-planned trip. I booked cheap Eurolines ticket (55 Eur two-ways) in between breaks while sitting at the university library.

To take the bus, I needed to go to Eindhoven first. Then boarded six hours ride to Paris via Brussels. Spent most of the journey sleeping. I was too tired because the day before we --Indonesian students in Maastricht-- had Karma's farewell dinner at Athene until late night.

For me, Eurolines should be the last option for cross-countries travel. I found out later that there are better options than Eurolines which is dirty and has extremely uncomfortable seats...my back was hurt when I woke up.

I did mistake in choosing a hotel too. Having been inexperienced and spoiled by auntie Mir's first class accommodation. I booked for the cheapest motel online without carefully checking its reviews on Tripadvisor (and even Tripadvisor could not always be a guarantee).

As a first timer in Paris, of course I could not missed the city's most cliche' tourist places:

• Signed up for the Hop On-Off bus, I think it's the best way to visit touristy places for a first timer.
• Waiting in super long lines for Eiffel Tower and could not help myself to buy cute souvenirs in its shop. I'm a sucker for souvenir shops.
• Went to the Louvre and took a snap in front of Monalisa...so small, so ordinary!! There are many other magnificent paintings in Louvre, Monalisa however, is valued for its enigmatic codes.
• Took a stroll through Seine and visited Notre Dame.
• I once went to food court at Carrousel du Louvre for lunch...should have bought Parisian street vendor crepes instead.

Things I found out in Paris:

• Paris has great supermarkets...I done it the Dutch way and bought supplies for simple breakfast and dinner. 
• Paris is no different than any other big cities in the world. There are many parts of the cities that are beautiful and magnificent, but there also seedy neighborhoods around. My theory is the bigger the city, the more 'dark spots' can be found. 
• It's better to go to Paris with train than Eurolines! I could not stand to take another Eurolines back home so I went to Paris du Nord station and bought a one way ticket to Maastricht. It only took three hours and so much better ride. Plus side, Thalys train is super comfy, I wouldn't mind spending the night in it.
• Contrary to what people say, I found many quite helpful Parisians who are willing to speak English clearly. They even given me advises voluntary. When I bought my Thalys ticket at Paris Gare du Nord's ticket counter, the man behind the locket said, "You should buy your ticket long before, the earlier you buy the cheaper you get." 

A Day in Antwerp

When we met during Ayam Taliwang dinner party at Suksma's place, I asked Rini if she wanted to travel to Antwerp with me. She didn't sound too eager at the time, so I was surprised when on a Saturday morning she wrote on my Facebook wall confirming to come. Later in the afternoon, Yanti also wrote that she wanted to joint us. 

We agreed to meet in front of Maastricht Centraal Station on a Sunday morning. Then we took a bus to Liege followed by a train that went straight from Liege train station to Antwerp. I must say I admire Rini and Yanti cleverness. They seems have been travelling together many times before, because  there are two lines at the ticket counter of Liege train station, because they clearly knew how to work together in an efficient manner (am I sounded like those management books?). For example, when we were at Liege's train station, there were two lines waiting for turn in front of the ticket's counter. Rini immediately stood in one line and Yanti on the other. When it turns Rini's line was faster and she got served first than Yanti's, we all went to Rini's to pay our tickets.

Smart eh?

After nearly two hours journey, we finally arrived at Antwerp Central Station. Antwerp Central Station is nothing like Brussel Central, it's also big and reminded me of Amsterdam Centraal Station, but much cleaner. 

As we stepped our foot outside the station, I immediately decided that I like Antwerp. The city is very different from Brussels, Liege and Bruges that I also have visited. It's definitely more crowded with a mix of modern and busy vibes all in one. No wonder, Antwerp is known as "Diamond City" with 70% diamonds of this planet earth are traded there. Also well-known as "fashion cit"y, Antwerp's the Meir, is one of the most famous shopping street in Belgium. 

First we had lunch at a Spanish restaurant not far from the train station. Considering we wear our clothes in Small size, we each ordered a large portion of ribs that came in with fat fries without hesitation. Delicioso!

Then we went ring-hunting in several diamond shops nearby. Because Rini went for a mission: to give design options for a relative that will tie the knot. Yanti was on a mission too, to give a hint for her 'other man' who had left his long-time girlfriend for her and has given hint that Yanti might be the one. To flirt with this other man (Yanti herself is not single), she asked me to take several pictures of her pointing to the rings that she'd like...talk about clear hint ;D.

We spent most of our time in Antwerp wandering the Meir and then trendy Kammenstraat. There are also ZARA stores along the Meir, but while in Antwerp we thought it's better to go shopping for brands that are not available in Maastricht.

~to a girl with a grudge

You didn't return my last email. I know you are one of those people who constantly check their messages and reply immediately. I understand. It is fine. We both have been hurt. It's just...it saddened me that you are still in the same place as the last time we spoke. Before everything changed and threw us apart.

I am no saint. I don't know if I would ever recover. From the hurtful feelings, from the betrayal, from the fact that you could judged me so wrong despite our decade of friendship. There were times when I shield myself, kept myself from other people. But reading your blog I could not stopped myself to care... and I even felt a moment of sadness...that life have not changed much for you. That you still not talking with your mother. That you made your own family an enemy. That you're the same angry bitter person full of bad thoughts toward others. That you would never stop carry grudge on your heart. That you are lonely.
Maybe we were no different after all. In the way we view the world and other people. After all we are our mother children. We were both born from women with anger. And so here we are, two broken people that would never be fully recovered.

But I just want to say this to you...we must stop this anger.
We must heal ourselves. No one can cure us from bitterness, it is the one thing that we must do alone. By ourselves. 

We cannot continue our life like this because then we could make ourselves an infectious decease...the kind of people that injects their bitterness to people. A cancer to others.

Maastricht Carnaval

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Easter is coming and Maastricht --once was a Catholic city in Holland-- was throwing the city's famous carnival last Sunday.

I picked up Agnes near Centraal Station at 2. She was coming from Utrecht because partly because I invited her to stay at my place, partly because she heard that Maastricht Carnaval is of course...one of the biggest and famous in Holland. 

From what I heard, Maastricht is not the only city throwing a Carnaval before Easter. There are several other Catholic cities in Holland throwing similar pre-Easter Carnaval. But Maastricht is the great one, people from all over the Netherlands mostly opt to go see Maastricht's other than the one in Neijmegen or Arnhem.

We was walking toward St. Servaas when I heard someone calling. It was Mone, he was with Rio and Billy. Later in the afternoon, we were joined by Kenneth, Brian and Steve. 

After standing for hours, we all agreed to have a drink in a bar & eateries around St. Servaas. Being Indonesian, most of us went for Chocomel (noted by the waitress with a roll in her eyes...), while Brian and Kenneth went for beer.

We had a good time there, it was already dawn when we stepped out from the bar.

Medieval Spell: Bruges

"There is this movie: Lost in Bruges, you should watch it before you go there." 
That's the respond I got from at least three people when I told them that two of my friends, Cumaziye & Denitsa, and I would go for a one day visit to Bruges. 

I ended not seeing the movie (too busy writing paper for our last module), but loving the city. 


The first thing I noticed about Bruges: 

Petite town, line of old brick houses and medieval buildings. Upon strolling around the city (that can easily be done by foot), I could not help to think about Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel and Beauty & the Beast. The town looks exactly like the background setting in those bed time stories.

The things I did in Bruges: 

Sightseeing of course. There is no better way to explore Bruges than by utilizing your shoes. I enjoyed walking between Bruges' many alleys with line of old brick buildings and cute little shops. 

Three of use managed to pass the Katelijnestraat -- Steenstraat with its St. Salvator's Cathedral -   Roezenhoedkaai with its beautiful view and canal -  Dweerstraat - the Markt with its long colorful buildings and then visited Bruge's famous chocolate museum, Choco-Story, not far from the city's Royal City Theater.

I firstly imagined something like Tim Burton's Willy Wonka movie, turned out, Choco-Story is a serious museum. Despite we were fed on chocolate history and documentary (we also ended watching a documentary about chocolate), it was not all boring though, because the best part of Choco-Story lies on its ground floor. Where visitors could see statues made from chocolate and see chocolate making demonstrations. This shallow lady favorite from all was, of course, the museum's shop. All nice and warm. 

The thing about the food:

Three things cross my mind upon Belgium food are: chocolate, frites and waffle. The three of us know that to have a cheap yet fulfilling snacks in Bruges is to buy ourselves frites with mayo. But I never into big fries like Belgium type of frites, and it was a cold 2 degree winter, obviously too cold to eat outside. 

"Too cold to eat outside, it's nice if can rest our leg in a cafe and have something to drink," says Denitsa.

"We should try Belgium waffle while in here," says Cumaziye.

It was almost three when we finally settle to a place that not too expensive yet quite nice and warm with light wooden furniture. I had waffle with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup while Cumaziye ordered waffle with strawberry toppings and strawberry ice cream. We both had chocolate milk for drink. While Denitsa ordered lunch menu and had beer. 


The thing I was most impressed with:

The ancient medieval architecture of course. Bruges indeed is a very old town, started to form during the Pre-Roman Gaul era and by 19th century was one of the world's earliest tourist destination. In 1909, an association called Bruges Forward: Society to Improve Tourism was built. 

If anyone ever asks how I describe Bruges in one line, it's this: European traditional. 
  

..

Mine

Cumaziye's

)

Brussels: A Three Days Trip

DAY ONE

Got another email from auntie Mir. This time she was coming to Brussels for another international event. So I came to meet her there.The journey was a lot less drama than my trip to Vienna since Maastricht - Brussels is only an hour away by train. I didn't even need to book a ticket because there is always a train from Maastricht that goes to Brussels every forty minutes. 

Maybe because the trip would not have been too much hullaballoo...by auntie standard, I had got in late at her hotel room. She had wanted to take Brussels City Tour bus and we were forced to run catching the latest one without much success. It was valuable experience for me though, seeing my high-power auntie ran to catch a bus like an ordinary Jakartans. Oh, and she even ran faster than I did despite her age. 

Running to catch a bus, however, was not the only ordinary thing we did that day. We then went for a cup of coffee around European Quarter and than took underground metro to an area near Brussel's Historic Centre. I couldn't remember the district name but the street is wide with line of chic shops and nice restaurants. Auntie went in to one of the shops and bought herself a pair of shoes. Afterward we went for dinner in a Chinese restaurant. 

DAY TWO

While auntie spent entire day attending conference, I took the time to sleep until 9 o'clock before having breakfast downstairs. I think nothing can beat the experience of having breakfast in five-stars hotels in Jakarta. Five-stars hotels (4 stars also) commonly offer much wider varieties from Indonesian selection to Western (sometimes Indian and Chinese) menus. From Jakarta to Medan, I usually ate multiple plates and bowls when I was staying in a five-stars hotel. Here in Europe, in a five-stars hotel in Brussels, with choices only include cereals, muesli, breads and fruit, without even a scrambled egg station, breakfast only took me around 15 minutes.  

I later spent the entire day until late afternoon exploring the city all by myself. First walk was around EU Headquarter and then lunch at a busy restaurant around the area, then I walked (yes walked!) to Saint-Gilles area. Saint-Gilles probably the busiest area in Brussels, with multiple shops, bars and eateries. 

The most interesting place I went that day is the Comic Museum. During my mom last six months, dad used to come home after a long day at St. Carolus with children books he borrowed from the hospital's library. In between thick books he brought for me  and my brothers, there would also be comics such as Tin Tin, Asterix Obelix and Smurf (my favorite). In honor of childhood days spent reading Europe-original comics, a visit to the Belgian Comic Strip Center surely could not be missed while I'm in the city that claims itself a comic-strip capital. 

Having spent that afternoon on my feet, I decided to get an early dinner so my tired legs could rest. I stopped by at one of those eateries around Grand Place-Grote Markt and ordered escargot with garlic sauce (forgot the name) when came a text from auntie. 'Where are you, let's go to dinner with people from the embassy', she wrote. 

Apparently information that former Deputy Senior Governor of Indonesia Central Bank are in town has reached the embassy people. Resulting to our ride --the embassy's black Mercedez dong ;D--- to a posh Indonesian restaurant that night. There, waiting for auntie, were a bunch of 'suite' people aka. the bureaucrats. Not all though, some of the the ladies were ordinary 'ibu-ibu pekerja', all nice and friendly. One of them is around my age and her husband is an editor for Indonesia's National Geographic magazine. Cool, eh?

Like in a Vienna trip, sometimes I feel guilty when I get to spend time with auntie, like I stole her from her daughters. But I also know that she always does equally the same to her nieces and nephews.Overall I did enjoy my time there. Watching auntie calmly tackle all cornering questions on Century case made me proud. And one bureaucrat couldn't believe his ears when I told him that we took underground metro to dinner the previous night. Well, me too... when auntie told me that Japan is the only country with super clean subway stations, I realized --with a slight surprise-- that she must have had taking public transport when she travels abroad. Which is very unlikely for a famous figure like her.  

Since it was auntie's last night in Brussels, she decided that she wanted to see a bit of Brussels on the way home. We dropped by in front of Grand Place-Grote Markt where she told me that almost every cities in Europe are designed similarly. "You can find a church, town hall, shops and market all in the center," she says.

DAY THREE

It was early morning when auntie woke me to say goodbye and catch her flight. She reminded me that a car from embassy would take me to go to Tin Tin Museum and Atomium, places that I had failed to go the day before. I have to say, going around in a Mercedez feels a bit too posh for me. But I had spent hours trying to find Tin Tin Museum without much success, while that unfriendly driver at least knows how to get there.

Of course I couldn't found the place, because there is no Tin Tin Museum...but Herge Museum! The place was in a small alley that could be easily mistaken as a regular apartment slash regular shop building. An interesting place, they even keep old stash of the comics' original in line of glasses. 

Next stop before the driver took me to Brussels Central was Atomium which I don't think I get. It supposed to be one of Brussels's icon, a mix of artwork, super modern architecture and science (atomic shape?). Then I found the place is built in demand for (pretentious) reflection, aiming visitors to question things like: what kind of future we want tomorrow? Our happiness depends on what? Huh?! Contradiction aside (it's impossible to build such an impressive figure without inviting --even the tiniest-- effect to environment), top of Atomium does overlooking a nice view...covering entire city all the way to Antwerp.