And the backwardness goes on...
There are fifty churches with in 2 miles of the city center. (think I'm kidding? Try me) No one here goes to church though. However, every single shop and public place is closed all day on Sunday to respect "The Lord's Day" . . .
To get to Amsterdam airport from Maastricht it took me exactly one single train and 2.5 hours. To get back to Maastricht from Amsterdam took a train (1), then a bus, then a train (2), then another train (3), a last train (4), and a taxi - 4.5 hours.
When walking down the street you may see someone chuck a coffee cup etc. out their car window. The policeman in his idling car will also see this. He will, however, instead of chasing down the actual litterer or picking up the piece of trash (or for goodness sake, eating bloody donuts) get out of his idling car (which he will leave turned on) and chase YOU down the street then proceed to yell at YOU for not chasing after and yelling at the dude in the car who actually threw the litter as 'any concerned citizen surely would have done' (the chasing and yelling is the concerned citizen, not the littering dude) . . .
Even small back roads have paved bicycle lanes. Nothing else may touch that sacred lane. God him self will strike you down if you, your dog, or your child chasing his lost soccer ball even considered breathing into that lane. Bicyclists, however, though they have a sacred reserved lane, have no qualms about riding on the sidewalk instead (which is generally full while the bike lane is empty) and bowling over old grandmothers in walkers. Seriously - I see it at least 3 times EVERY day.
One thing I will really miss when I get back to the good ol' US of A is walking into a supermarket or post office and meeting 6 other people inside who have their (non-service) dogs with them in the pasta aisle or stamp machine line.
One thing I will really be glad to get back to in the good ol' US of A is the nice kid at the end of my grocery check out lane who bags up all my stuff for me. Don't think I ever appreciated him enough before...
To get to Amsterdam airport from Maastricht it took me exactly one single train and 2.5 hours. To get back to Maastricht from Amsterdam took a train (1), then a bus, then a train (2), then another train (3), a last train (4), and a taxi - 4.5 hours.
When walking down the street you may see someone chuck a coffee cup etc. out their car window. The policeman in his idling car will also see this. He will, however, instead of chasing down the actual litterer or picking up the piece of trash (or for goodness sake, eating bloody donuts) get out of his idling car (which he will leave turned on) and chase YOU down the street then proceed to yell at YOU for not chasing after and yelling at the dude in the car who actually threw the litter as 'any concerned citizen surely would have done' (the chasing and yelling is the concerned citizen, not the littering dude) . . .
Even small back roads have paved bicycle lanes. Nothing else may touch that sacred lane. God him self will strike you down if you, your dog, or your child chasing his lost soccer ball even considered breathing into that lane. Bicyclists, however, though they have a sacred reserved lane, have no qualms about riding on the sidewalk instead (which is generally full while the bike lane is empty) and bowling over old grandmothers in walkers. Seriously - I see it at least 3 times EVERY day.
One thing I will really miss when I get back to the good ol' US of A is walking into a supermarket or post office and meeting 6 other people inside who have their (non-service) dogs with them in the pasta aisle or stamp machine line.
One thing I will really be glad to get back to in the good ol' US of A is the nice kid at the end of my grocery check out lane who bags up all my stuff for me. Don't think I ever appreciated him enough before...