Maastrict

Chris and I snuck away for a night to south Holland, just outside of Maastricht. We stayed at Chateau Gerlach and got some much needed pampering and time together. With Chris' new job in the US, he had been away for 3 weeks and the girls and I were growing weary of seeing the same 3 faces every morning! Chris' presence was missed. Anyhow, the southern region of Holland reminds me of Wisconsin; rolling hills of prairies and farmland. We felt like we were in a different country, but lo and behold, everyone was still speaking Dutch and wearing wooden shoes...;) The Chateau had bikes ready for us, along with a picnic all packed sandwiches, cheese & bread, and a bottle of wine. We set out on our adventure with our goal of reaching the only American cemetery in the Netherlands. Did I mention that the area was hilly? I must say, living in Amsterdam you forget what it's like to bike up a hill-especially on a Dutch bike that has only a couple of gears and has you sitting upright-not ideal for climbing hills. Anyhow, we stopped along the way and had a relaxing picnic amongst the farm land and then pushed on to the cemetery. In true Pemantell fashion, we got a bit lost, but thanks to a good map and no worries of kiddos getting weary, we eventually found our way.

The American Cemetery at Margarten, was very moving. It is beautifully landscaped with wide open spaces, for Holland, of manicured lawns. It is the size of 50 football fields. After the war the Netherlands offered to give the US the land that it sits on, but that would be a security risk for both countries and the US would have to protect it with military. So it is run by the US military on Dutch owned land. There are 8,301 servicemen buried there. Each grave is adopted and cared for by a Dutch family. They bring flowers and attend memorial services and if they move, they pass the baton to another Dutch family. Maastricht was the first Dutch city to be liberated by the allies. We snuck in on a American school group tour where most of the kids looked like this was not the highlight of their European 'educational' trip. The stories about some of the men buried there were inspiring. We spent much of the time walking through the crosses and reading the names.

On the way back to the Chateau, I took us on a shortcut through the woods...did I mention it was hilly and we were on bikes that didn't resemble mountain bikes at all? A little off roading on Dutch bikes...

The next day we went into the town of Maastricht and walked along the city wall. Very picturesque. There is debate of it being the oldest city in the Netherlands. Maastricht is also known for being the birthplace of the European Union and the euro. 


It was a fabulous little get away...