Western Europe in 34 hours

On Monday, we set out for an adventure. Virpi, I and my mother-in-law packed into the blue Chrysler PT Cruiser (or Cruisler, for short). First stop was the historic city of Aachen. It is the city of Charlemagne (Charles the Great, Kaarle Suuri). We saw the sights, had lunch and continued over the border to the Netherlands. After reaching Maastricht and driving around the center for three or four times (most of the center streets are oneway streets and narrow enough that even overtaking a bicycle wasn't without challenge), I managed to park the car in the full underground car park. Yes, it was full and there were cars just queuing to get in. Somehow it worked.

The longest red light in a traffic light is in Maastricht, you can check the Guinness Book of Records. Without lying, it took more than ten minutes for the right turn to be green and then it stayed green for three cars or less. The cars driving straight over the crossing had green light three times in the same time as the right turners once.

We stayed overnight in an excellent hotel named after a famous Italian singer, Hotel Bocelli. Well, not exactly. The hotel was called Hotel Botticelli after the famous Italian painter. But it was excellent. Peaceful and right in the middle of the city. If you're ever in Maastricht, check it out.

Next morning, we decided to go to Belgium also. Liège, Lüttich or Luik is not far south from Maastricht. French, German and Dutch being the languages listed for the city name. Once again the city center took some navigating but what really impressed me was the steep hill under which the city was. After a sunny day in Liège, we returned back to Bochum with about 430 km driven in about 34 hours. A nice little road trip in three different countries.

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On a completely different subject, we were surprised to see that Café Zürich in Bochum had closed its doors for good, apparently. It seems that Starbucks will open its doors there soon. We had no idea where Café Zürich had moved, but after extensive search and research, our vigilant traveller Kaj found it. In Barcelona, Spain! The lengths people will go to keep a café running...