Day one of the road trip started out pretty much how we expected. We knocked out a big chunk of the journey and arrived in Brussels for our first night away from home.

Along the way we picked up 2 passengers from Blah Blah Car, Katharina and Sebastian. Catherina rode with us from Wurzburg to Frankfurt where we picked up Sebastian who then rode with us all the way to Köln. Katharina and Sebastian were both a pleasure to be around and the conversations made the 4 hour drive to Köln a lot more fun.

Köln, Germany

We arrived in Köln just after 3pm where we wandered around the city to check out some of the sites. Köln is a beautiful city with tons of history but its mostly known for Carnival, which is held every year in the month of February.

After we spent a few hours wandering around Köln we got back on the road and headed for the second country of our journey, Holland.

Maastricht, Holland

We arrived in Maastricht shortly after 5pm. Maastricht is a beautiful city in the southern tip of Holland. Sadly I have never heard of Maastricht before but that’s partly because Holland is more commonly known for its party cities Amsterdam and Rotterdam. However, Maastricht is an incredible city with its own identity and it’s definitely something you don’t want to miss when you are in Holland.

Since we were in Holland I couldn’t help but be curious about the coffee shops. The Netherlands is famous for legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and I wanted to visit a coffee shop and see how they compared to the ones in Amsterdam. After walking around the city for about five minutes we found Cool Running Coffee Shop. Ina has never been inside a coffee shop so we decided stop in and check it out. Upon entering we were stopped immediately by the clerk who asked us for our identification. We eventually discovered that it wasn’t our age that he was checking rather it was our proof of residency. He explained that unfortunately a new law was passed a few years ago that prohibits anyone who is not a resident of Holland to visit a coffee shop in Maastricht. SORRY GUYS NO GANJA IN MAASTRICHT. So we thanked him for the information and headed out. Ironically enough as soon as we stepped foot out of the coffee shop we were confronted by a shady looking dude who was obviously aware of the “no weed for foreigners law.” He immediately offered to sell us weed and coke. “NO THANKS BRAH” Guess the prohibition is good for the black market.

Later we visited the main square in Maastricht where we found a nice café. We each ordered a coffee and shared a white chocolate stratsatella ice cream. We chilled out for a bit, peopled watched and took a couple of photos.

In front of the cafe was a rainbow painted cross walk that reminded me of the Rainbow Road course in Mario Kart so I had to snap a photo of it.

The main square in Maastricht had lots of shopping, really nice architecture and a cool gazebo right in the center. It seemed like the perfect place to spend an afternoon.

When we realized that it was getting late we made our way back to the car and headed to our final destination for the day, Belgium. Our plan was to stay with my friend Martin who lives in the city a half hour’s drive outside of Brussels called Nivelles.

Nivelles, Belgium

We arrived at Martins house shortly before sundown and he was very excited to see us. It had been almost a year since the last time I had seen Martin so he was nice enough to prepare a delicious dinner for us. Towards the end of meal Martin brought out a bunch of his favorite Belgian beers for us to sample. Needless to say the beers were delicious and very strong. After dinner Martin took us for a quick night tour of his city. Nivelles is unlike any city I have ever seen in my life and I am so happy to be warmly welcomed by such a great old friend. Today served as an incredible beginning to our 6 week long Euro Trip.

We arrived at Martins house shortly before sundown and he was very excited to see us. It had been almost a year since the last time I had seen Martin so he was nice enough to prepare a delicious dinner for us.
Towards the end of meal Martin brought out a bunch of his favorite Belgian beers for us to sample. Needless to say the beers were delicious and very strong.

After dinner Martin took us for a quick night tour of his city. Nivelles is unlike any city I have ever seen in my life and I am so happy to be warmly welcomed by such a great old friend. Today served as an incredible beginning to our 6 week long Euro Trip.