St Martinuskerk in Wyck (St Martin's Church)
Ditto
When I reached Maastricht at noon, I found that it was still very cold - how they would party in the chill, I did not know. Not seeing many people around and afraid that I'd already missed all the action, I asked someone where the carnival was, and he said it'd start at 2-3 pm. I guess after 2 days of hard drinking and partying, everyone was tired and wasted, and so had to wake up late. Probably also they were running out of ways to celebrate.
Monument erected in 1952 to St Servatius, St Monulphus and friends
Entering a McDonalds to use the toilet, I was dismayed to see a sign: "Gebruik toiletten €0.30". Maybe it was levied to pay for the Dove Cream Wash in the toilet. Luckily, no one was watching so I managed to sneak in and out. There's something to be said for localising global franchises, but this is ridiculous.
Marching band clad in yellow
Many of the Carnival-goers were formed into marching bands with themed costumes. I was wondering why the music all sounded the same (though I heard one trying to play "Va pensiero" from Nabucco) - music for marching bands all sounds the same, but what I heard went beyond the normal commonalities; it seems each year there's a new Carnival song. I saw many entering pubs and playing - I bet they got free drinks. Later they congregated in the town square for a competition, and this guy on stage sang along.
I saw a cafe which proudly proclaimed: 'Cafe van het jaar 2002'. And I thought proclaiming you were founded in the 90s was bad enough.
Onze Lievevrouwebasiliek
Ditto
Ditto
Ruined wall along Faliezusterspark, opposite Openbare Basisschool Binnenstad
Tafelstraat Alley
Papier Mache figures in front of St Jan's. Note also all the confetti on the ground after 2 days of partying
St Jan's
Ditto
I'd been dying for a Gyros ever since seeing that there were Greek snack bars around (though sadly they're vastly outnumbered by the Turkish ones). However, most of them open at around 4pm, and somehow I'd never passed by one both when it was open and I was hungry. In Maastricht, I finally got to have my Gyros, and found it far superior to the few shoarmas (essentially, the Turkish equivalent) I've had so far. It was not only the varkensvlees (pork), which additionally was seared far more lovingly than the shoarmas' meats - the pita was also thicker and toasted more lovingly, and somehow the sauce inside was tastier. Maybe it was the tzisiki in the Gyros.
At first, I wasn't sure if this was what I thought it was. Later, it turned out to be exactly that.
Town Hall
Statue of Johannes Petrus Minckelers (Jean-Pierre Minckelers) - a pioneer in gas lighting, which explains the burning torch, presumably maintained at the city's expense.
Band
Sailors' Band
One advantage of taking pictures of marching bands is that they are too busy playing to come up to you and shout that they are not public property.
I was wondering why I was kicking so many broken glasses on the streets. After seeing so many people with glasses in their hands, many of them walking about, I knew. Coupled with the confetti it must be hell for the cleaners.
The band competition
Zooming in on the band competition
"Het mooswief" - the "mascot" (as the people at the VVV [tourist office] described her) of the Carnival - an old woman with a basket of vegetables (underwhelming, I know)
Even the mannikins are celebrating Carnival!
2 people dressed up as policemen (with fake moustaches and droopy noses) and then walked up to the real police in a car to talk to them. Hurr hurr.
Medieval dressup
They sold what must be the most expensive patat met (mayonnaise) in the Netherlands at the Carnival - €3 for one cone.
Men in fur
Freaky guy
Fish family
Assorted people
I call this picture: "Orientalism"
At 330 there was a brief hail storm, though the hailstones were only slightly bigger than bean bag stuffing. My feet hurt, I was getting a bit bored and my thighs were chafing due to dryness, so I headed back. Just before reaching the station I briefly reconsidered and asked someone when the closing ceremony was. He said it was at midnight - in 8 hours' time. I sure as hell wasn't going to stay that long, especially as I figured all that would happen was that they'd drink till midnight, and I wouldn't see anything new, so I decided to return to Utrecht (besides which, the last train was at 10+pm). In any case, I wasn't the only one who decided to leave early - I saw some costumed revelers on the train.
Isildur guards the bridge across the river Maas
Condom dispenser
This is the first time I've seen a condom dispenser in the street. Putting them in toilets, I understand. Putting them in bars or clubs, I also understand. But in the street?!
I saw this African restaurant which had on its menu "N'golo" soup from Congo. The indication was that it was to be eaten with the hands. Wth?!
As an adjunct to the earlier point about multilingualism: this French girl was saying that Spanish was easier for her to learn than Dutch is, since the 2 languages are quite similar.
I had to pay €76.50 at the train station (€55 for the off-peak 40% discount card and €21.50 for a discounted ticket to Maastricht) but they refused to accept my €100 bill, so I had to pay €1 to break it at the moneychanger's next door. !@#$
There're dustbins at each pair of seats in the train. How convenient.
Quotes:
[On the Dutch adopting the next hour as a point of reference after a quarter past] Why is it like that? [Teacher: Don't ask me] It's so stupid. [Teacher: Thank you.]
What time did you get up?... Twelve o'clock? That's nice. I already had 3 lessons to teach.
[On a conversation] He doesn't understand Dutch, but he's speaking Nederlands. [Teacher: The basics] *sotto voce* "*something* vrouw" is not basic.