Maastricht And Sinterklaas

Some lovely ladies and I decided to head over to Maastricht today, to check out their Christmas Market. Maastricht is one of my favorite cities, so it doesn't take much to convince me to go there. First we wandered around the local market, and then we strolled down the streets and window shopped for a bit.

Then we spied what we had come to see... the Christmas Market! We were so excited, but something just didn't seem right. Why were there no people walking around the stalls? Why weren't the stalls open? We asked a local and were told that the dates on their website were incorrect, and the market doesn't actually start until Friday. Foiled. Oh, well. Who can be sad in the beautiful city of Maastricht when you are there on such a gorgeous day with friends? Not us.

So we walked around a little bit and enjoyed the sights.

And planned another visit to the city. Very, very soon.

And then paid a visit to my favorite book store. It's the one in the old church. Don't you just love it?

And then we went next door for a delicious lunch. I am really going to miss all of this when we have to leave Europe.

It was getting late, and the kids would soon be home from school, so we walked back to the Town Hall and to our vehicle.

Imagine my surprise when I spied this familiar group stopping by the local pizza joint. Could it be? Why yes! It's...

Sinterklass and his trusty sidekicks Zwarte Pieten! Back home we have Santa and his elves, but in The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, they have Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet. And they have two Christmas celebrations, too. Why have just one, if you can get away with two? On December 5, the good little girls and boys put their shoes out in the hopes that Sinterklaas will send Zwarte Piet down that dirty chimney and fill their shoes with all kind of goodies.

If the children are good, then they get lovely surprises. If they have been bad, then Zwarte Piet bundles the naughty children into a burlap sack and ships them off to Spain to be disciplined. I'm told that this hardly ever happens, but it's still enough to give the little ones nightmares. We assured Sinterklaas that we have been very good this year, so hopefully there won't be any nasty surprises when I wake up on December 6. Then again, I haven't been to Spain yet...

Sadly, we said good bye to Maastricht. We promise to return very soon. We still have to check out that Christmas Market!

I did pick up one little thing from Maastricht. It's a T-Rex tea infuser. So essentially, it's a Tea Rex. Don't you just love it? I couldn't resist.

If you're like Russ, you're rolling your eyes right now, but you'll be jealous later on when Rex and I are enjoying a nice hot cup of tea. You know it's true.