With bubbly to start, our stay in Maastricht was off to a promising reintroduction.
We were lucky enough to stay in what is likely the most interesting hotel in the city, such that it filled me with anticipation after first finding out. Not only have I been wanting to visit this hotel, a converted monastery from the 1400s, for a while now, incredibly I was actually going to stay there and for the most appropriate of reasons – to see the Christmas markets in the area. With thanks to a couple of longtime friends visiting from my former haunt, Washington DC, Jose and Brad, who had enough airline miles for a one-night stay, our five-star weekend was off to a memorable start. The sunny weather was only icing on the Limburger cake.

Our room on the ground floor was great – thankfully there was a bath for Teko – with plenty of space and enough character to fill it. The fact we were in a monastery was belied by the modern furniture and treatment, the bed was comfortable, the pillows better than most other hotel pillows I’ve had, and despite being street-side was quiet as can be. Maastricht’s Christmas market, which opened just this weekend, was small but decent, but being this close to the German border, the neighboring cities and towns would be easy enough to reach and if memory serves could easily outdo the ones in the Netherlands by a mile. The season is finally here.