A day in Aachen with hecubah
Last Thursday I went to Aachen with hecubah (Sanne). We'd go shopping that day and she might come along to my birthday party afterward. With only 2.5 hours of sleep (I had gotten into bed at 3, alarm was set at 0530) I went to the train station, but missed my train as I had to get a bandage for a cut I had gotten from a piece of glass. I messaged Sanne I'd be half an hour later, so she could stay in bed slightly longer, but apparently had awoken her with that message, resulting in a continuous chat through sms. After checking my new travel schedule as I missed the train I wanted to catch back in Alkmaar, I found out I was still on schedule. I simply tried to catch a train too early; which means I could've just not messaged Sanne and she could've still been sleeping. Ah well, sorry!
In Maastricht Sanne got her breakfast at another branch of AH to go, and I tried avoiding one of the regional managers present there; with success. :D We got on the bus to Aachen and were accompanied by lots of elderly people who had also taken up the plan to go shopping in Aachen for a day. Halfway, the bus broke down and we had to wait for a mechanic to fix the bus. :D With a delay of just 20 minutes we continued our way to Aachen and there we walked along the main shopping street twice, before we got around to a coffee at the local Starbucks. Sanne doesn't like the taste of coffee, but feels she should like it so much, that she agreed to try one of Starbucks' coffees. I had recommended her a Double Mocha Macchiato, to hide the coffee flavor with chocolate. It worked partially, and she had nearly finished her tall coffee. I myself finished my tall extra hot, no cream, extra shot Café Mocha without any difficulties at all and a while later we went for a stroll again, visiting Lust For Life top-to-bottom, then a big toy store, and Galeria Kaufhof top-to-bottom. To keep up with the top-to-bottom tradition we even visited the rather cheap clothing store of C&A top-to-bottom, but I don't believe we even stopped once to look at something in particular. :D
A drink at a terrace later and a walk through the higher parts of the city center later we decided to head back for Maastricht to perhaps go into some shops there, too, or at least have dinner there. As it turned out to be already around five by the time we got there, it became the latter and we sat down at a pizzeria serving very fatty pizzas. If it wasn't for the shitload of garlic on top, I think I wouldn't even have liked it. On top of that, they didn't acknowledge my student status, even though they advertised outside with a 20% discount for students. Apparently that was only valid for students from the university of Maastricht. Right. We handed them a few Welpies (miniature lions supporting the Dutch soccer team, which were given away with every 15 euros at the biggest chain of supermarkets in the country; at my branch we had thousands left so I took a few hundred along) and left after paying the bill which was way too high for what we had gotten. Lesson for next time: although Maastricht is a Dutch town, they treat people from the University of Amsterdam as if they're foreigners not applicable for student discounts. :D
We shortly went to her place to pick some stuff up, as she came along for my birthday party the next day. The day was satisfying enough to spend another one with me, and get to know cy-v. The next evening, she'd go back home.
In Maastricht Sanne got her breakfast at another branch of AH to go, and I tried avoiding one of the regional managers present there; with success. :D We got on the bus to Aachen and were accompanied by lots of elderly people who had also taken up the plan to go shopping in Aachen for a day. Halfway, the bus broke down and we had to wait for a mechanic to fix the bus. :D With a delay of just 20 minutes we continued our way to Aachen and there we walked along the main shopping street twice, before we got around to a coffee at the local Starbucks. Sanne doesn't like the taste of coffee, but feels she should like it so much, that she agreed to try one of Starbucks' coffees. I had recommended her a Double Mocha Macchiato, to hide the coffee flavor with chocolate. It worked partially, and she had nearly finished her tall coffee. I myself finished my tall extra hot, no cream, extra shot Café Mocha without any difficulties at all and a while later we went for a stroll again, visiting Lust For Life top-to-bottom, then a big toy store, and Galeria Kaufhof top-to-bottom. To keep up with the top-to-bottom tradition we even visited the rather cheap clothing store of C&A top-to-bottom, but I don't believe we even stopped once to look at something in particular. :D
A drink at a terrace later and a walk through the higher parts of the city center later we decided to head back for Maastricht to perhaps go into some shops there, too, or at least have dinner there. As it turned out to be already around five by the time we got there, it became the latter and we sat down at a pizzeria serving very fatty pizzas. If it wasn't for the shitload of garlic on top, I think I wouldn't even have liked it. On top of that, they didn't acknowledge my student status, even though they advertised outside with a 20% discount for students. Apparently that was only valid for students from the university of Maastricht. Right. We handed them a few Welpies (miniature lions supporting the Dutch soccer team, which were given away with every 15 euros at the biggest chain of supermarkets in the country; at my branch we had thousands left so I took a few hundred along) and left after paying the bill which was way too high for what we had gotten. Lesson for next time: although Maastricht is a Dutch town, they treat people from the University of Amsterdam as if they're foreigners not applicable for student discounts. :D
We shortly went to her place to pick some stuff up, as she came along for my birthday party the next day. The day was satisfying enough to spend another one with me, and get to know cy-v. The next evening, she'd go back home.