Bonnefantenmuseum Because of a promotion from Holiday Inn back in the summer, we got a free night to spend at one of their (participating) hotels. Because it was just one night, we had to find somewhere that was close enough to get to within a couple of hours and where the travel and entertainment would not be too expensive. In the end we chose to go to Maastricht for two days, which, while it is still in The Netherlands, is about as far as we could go from Hoorn and still be in The Netherlands.
The “weekend” didn’t start out too well, with us being stuck for three hours in a broken down train about twenty minutes from home. After they finally got the train moving again we travelled on to Maastricht where we arrived around three on friday. After checking in the hotel, and checking out the lovely room, we quickly went in to town. Our first stop was the Natuurhistorisch Museum where I had never been, but where Henk had been when he was younger. It was a lovely small museum, so we checked it out and where out again in about 30 minutes. We walked into the shopping center because I had decided that since I had finished my book in the beginning of the train journey, I absolutely needed a new book. Or more than one :).
So, we went to the bookstore, which has been descibed as the most beautiful in the world. It is housed in an old Dominican church, and it was very beautiful. It is from a big chain in The Netherlands called Selexyz. I like the design of their bookstores, but their selection and pricing isn’t quite for me. Not that many English books, and when they are available, they can be very expensive. But, of course I managed to pick up a few books, and even get one free because they are promoting the English book this week.
After walking through town a bit the stores were all closing and we were getting hungry so we found a nice restaurant where we had a lovely dinner. We were thinking of catching a movie afterwards, but as there were no movies we both wanted to see at a time we could see it, we just went back to our room to relax.

The follow day we checked out of the hotel, got ourselves breakfast at the bakery around the corner and walked to the Bonnefantenmuseum. We ate our breakfast sitting on the river’s edge. The museum was nice, but we only saw the Medieval collection and the old masters, as modern art doesn’t really interest either of us. That’s where we saw the funny little man in the picture. After our visit to the museum, we went back into town where we visited some antique shops, some more bookstores and the rest. We picked up some more books (you can never have enough!) and other knick knacks. We were pretty tired, so after a quick dinner at KFC, we headed back to the station. Luckily we didn’t have any problems on the return journey.