Unless you are a fan of Andre Rieu, you may never have even heard of Maastricht !
The city is located in the extreme southern tip of the Netherlands, squeezed between Belgium and Germany.
And if you have heard of it, maybe it was from this – for those with long memories (or those in the “you learn something new everyday!” category) – 25 years ago, in February 1992, the Maastricht Treaty was signed which bought into existence the “European Union” and the single currency, the “Euro”.
We are staying at Haas op het Vrijthof, a hotel just off the main square.
It has been a busy day today ! The reason for our visit to Bullecourt today is that exactly 100 years ago, 3 May 1917, my Dad’s cousin – Thomas Henry Brown – was killed in the fields around Bullecourt fighting for the 17th Battalion of the AIF as the Allied Forces commenced the “Second Battle of Bullecourt” and attacked the German defenders entrenched in the Hindenburg Line. His day would have started very early, probably well before the commencement of the attack at 4.45am – if he had even slept at all. We set out in his footsteps today – not at 4.45am but around 6.00am as the sky started to brighten – but fittingly a misty and sombre sky.
If you would like to read about this “pilgrimage” of mine in detail, see my post about Thomas here. I warn you – it is very long !
As well as visiting the battlefield, we stopped at the “Bullecourt Digger” – the slouch hatted statue memorial to the many Australians who came and did not return home.
We returned to Clos Saint Georges where our lovely hosts had our breakfast waiting – another big spread which would have easily fed 4 – and after packing up we headed east to start our day.
On the road again, we then travelled through time from WWI to WWII. If you have read my blog about our Europe 2011 Tour, the theme of that tour came from our interest in the HBO Series “Band of Brothers”, about the US Army 101st Airborne. And it just happens that another episode of their heroics took place not far away from us into Belgium at Bastogne during the “Battle of the Bulge” at the end of 1944. We visited the impressive Bastogne War Museum which takes you through the seige of the town over Christmas 1944 /New Year 1945 as the Germans had one last futile attempt for victory.
My military tour over, the soundtrack turned to violins, orchestras and waltz as Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra prepared us for our assault on Maastricht ! 😉
Now I have no problem in admitting I’m a bit of an Andre fan. It’s all a bit cheesy but they definitely put on a good show. My Mum and Dad introduced us to him many years ago as they were great fans. We booked tickets a long time in advance to take them to his concert when he first toured Australia in 2008, but sadly Dad passed away just a week before the concert. We went anyway and shed a few tears knowing how much he would have enjoyed it.
From the time we left Baralle, the rain pretty much followed us all day, although when the sun did manage to peak out we were driving and as soon as we stopped the rain came again ! We arrived in Maastricht about 4 pm and checked into our hotel, overlooking the main square. With the drizzle continuing, we decided to take the opportunity to look for a new bag to replace our damaged one from the plane. The guy at reception was able to direct us to a nearby “Myer like” department store where we were able to find a good replacement at a pretty good price. And the girl at the counter – whose best friend has just moved to Manly ! – gave us a couple of good suggestions for restaurants for dinner.
Tonight we had dinner in one of the cafes right on the Vrijthof, Il Bacaro (one of the suggestions we were given), where Andre holds his famed annual Maastricht concerts and we raised a glass to Mum, Dad and Andre ! (and had a lovely meal as well !!)
Tomorrow, its off to Amsterdam to meet up with the “crew” for our cruise !
Today’s Trivia – Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband was born in Maastricht. He starred at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, beating our own Ian Thorpe in the 200m freestyle and Alexander Popov in the 100m freestyle.