I have had my share of runathons in the past but I’m not a runner anymore. Because if truth be told, when you have a toddler, running becomes part of your daily life.
Young decided he is done with 2 years of walking and doesn’t want to do it anymore (taking a deep breath…..this too shall pass). He refuses to walk more than 10 metres, wailing, screaming, squatting and all that drill that come with kids.
But ’tis Christmas time and that in Europe means Christmas Market time!
Maastricht – View from Hog Brug
We visited Christmas markets in Den Haag (The Hague), Museumplein (Amsterdam) and Haarlem in December and discovered that our child HATED these markets. But being persevering parents (which sounds a lot better than selfish, right?) we decided that we couldn’t end the year without visiting Maastricht – argued to have one of the best markets in the Netherlands.
But how to get through another city and market without an angsty child in tow? We did what any good dutch parent would do – took his little cycle along with us.
And that, my friends, is why we ran around Maastricht. The child cycled as if on steroids and we spent all our energy ensuring he didn’t ram into anything or anyone and followed the right paths in a city we hardly knew our way through.
All said, we managed to get glimpses of this beautiful city and its lovely market (stunning from atop the ferris wheel at night, I must add). We even spent a quick 30 minutes inside a beautiful Dominican church-converted-bookstore. As unselfish parents, we also decided to indulge in an overnight stay in the city thus allowing the child to go on a fietsen-rampage one more time the next morning.
Dominicanen Boekenhandel Inside the church Kids section
Birds eye view of the market at Vrijthof
Maastricht lies at the south-most region of the Netherlands and is nicely nestled between Belgium and Germany – the former a morning-walk away to the border town and the latter, a few driving miles from the centre. Someday, we hope to revisit the town with 3 cycles and discover more of this place.
Ah, wishful thinking.
Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht