Mom’s Visit to Roermond! Pt 1

My mom came to visit me in Roermond! I haven’t seen her in person since early last year when she came to visit me in Amsterdam, and it’s only her second visit to Europe ever, so it was nice to see her and show her around. She stayed in town for a few days to recover from the jetlag, then we went together to Aachen and Strasbourg. She is traveling on her own this week, and will come back next week for a few days before flying back out of Amsterdam.

While she was here, we did a bunch of the stuff that’s been on my own list of things to do in Roermond, and I thought I would share.

Roermond Lodging:

She stayed at the Hotel Roermond Next Door. It was a little odd, because you check in and have breakfast in the big new building in front of the train station, but her room was actually across the street on Stationsplein itself, but maybe that’s because she was in a small, affordable room. The room was nice: small, but clean and comfortable, with a good shower and very modern interior and fixtures in an older building. I didn’t spend any time there myself, but here are some thoughts:

• She loved the breakfast and loved hanging out at the Brasserie De Lobby in the morning and people-watching.
• There was a weird little bright LED light next to the bed that couldn’t be turned off.
• There was construction/road repair happening on Knevelsgraafstraat, just below her window. The workmen were playing the radio and talking and working before 8am, and could easily be heard in her room. This didn’t bother her much, because she was up early due to the time change, but it would annoy me personally.
• She could easily hear people out very late/early in the morning drinking at Stationsplein on Friday night, and it kept her up.

All in all, it was a nice hotel and she enjoyed her time there, and will be coming back to stay for a few days next week, but she wishes (and I wish) for some more sound separation from the outside.

Roermond Dining:

Burgers Enzo. On Marktplein, Burgers Enzo has some of the best burgers in town. We loved the square and the bells on the hour, and the service was excellent. She had a lovely bacon cheeseburger and I had an incredible trio of little sliders, because I love sampling little foods. The lamb slider was the most delicious of the three, in my opinion; the flavors were really bright and reminiscent of a gyro in a fantastic way. I was least happy with the shrimp slider; every component of the burger was delicious, but for some reason they didn’t seem to work together very well. I don’t know if that’s true of shrimp burgers in general, or just that one – it seems like a great idea, but wasn’t the best of the three burgers on my plate. Overall, however, I highly recommend the spot, and online reviewers totally agree.

Kasteeltje Hattem. I have wanted to have lunch or brunch on the terrace at Kasteeltje Hattem since I first spotted the gorgeous little setting last year. This was actually really disappointing; we went in just at noon when they open for lunch. It was bustling with staff prepping, cleaning, and setting up the dining room(s). The space is lovely and welcoming: a big, glassed-in dining room with lovely trees all around; a spacious, comfortable bar area with bar and booth seating; and a large patio on the little moat, with a several elevated terrace tables. I spoke with the hostess who placed us outside, but then no one ever came to wait on us, despite the place being bustling with staff. Other people who came after us were greeted and served… I imagine we were a bit under/casually dressed for their ideal clientele, but it’s lunch and the Netherlands….? Eventually we just left without ever being greeted by a waiter. It was really disappointing.

Cafe De Kiosk. After being disappointed at Kasteeltje Hattem, we went back into town and were starving by the time we settled on Cafe De Kiosk. I love it there, and we had a really delicious lunch. I had the Scandinavian wrap, with a gorgeous presentation. The wrap was well-executed, but if you like smoked salmon and cream cheese, you’ll be familiar with the flavors; it wasn’t exceptional in that sense, but it came beautifully presented on a bed of lightly-dressed greens and garnished with fruit and melon slices, so it was a more complete meal than I was expecting. I don’t remember what Mom had, but we also shared the obligatory apple strudel at the end of the meal, because I love their apple strudel. It was a sunny day, not too warm, and the terrace was gorgeous and peaceful as always.

Mr. Sammi. Located in the same complex as ECI Cultuurfabriek, Mr. Sammi has also been on my list of places I have wanted to eat for a while (as you can see, Mom’s visit was a good excuse for all the dining out I have been missing). It’s a really gorgeous space, with an industrial feel that is true to the building, and also a long outdoor terrace just on the small canal there. Mom wasn’t really hungry, so she just had the escargot (which she liked very much) and I had a fantastic tuna poke bowl. I know, those are both slightly odd choices for local cuisine, but they were delicious and exactly right for our respective moods that day.

We also paused here and there for coffee or a glass of wine or whatever. I don’t recall all of these, but we hit did Markt 10 and Coffee Lovers, which are always great choices.

Roermond Attractions:

ECI Cultuurfabriek. I’m a huge fan of ECI Cultuurfabriek, and my mom is an artist, so we went over to the building during the day time and wandered around. They had an exhibition, so we looked at the pieces (some of which were pretty interesting, but I don’t remember the names of the artists), and admired the space. Then lunch at Mr. Sammi.

Cuypershuis. Of course we went to Cuypershuis, the living and workspace of the legendary Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers. It was really interesting, particularly if you are interested in design, architecture, or the craftsman movement. The music room is exceptional, and apparently they periodically have performances there, which I didn’t know about.

de Bibliotheek Bibliorura. The library has a little exhibition of local history, including a model of the old city of Roermond, and a number of archaeological and cultural artifacts from the long history of Roermond. It’s a good introduction to the history of the city, although my mom wished that there had been more signage and labels in English. My Dutch is rudimentary at best, but it’s still an interesting experience. They also have a temporary exhibition right now of a famous stained glass artist, and it’s a cool building in general. It’s free and well worth prowling around if you are visiting the city.

Munsterkerk. Of course we wandered around the Munsterkerk, my favorite local cathedral, and admired the art and architecture.

Kapel in t’Zand and Het Oude Kerkhof. I’ve written before about this little walk out Kapellarlaan and how gorgeous it is, so of course I made my mom do it too.

One thing I loved about these few days was how, every where we went, we met people who were not only willing to answer questions, but who wanted to help us have the best experience and most information. At the Munsterkerk, a volunteer brought us a pamphlet in English and pointed out details we may have missed. At Cuypershuis, another volunteer came and showed us around and explained some of the exhibits to us. I haven’t really done a lot of touristy stuff here, but it was lovely to feel so welcomed and have people reach out to share their knowledge and warmth. It’s one of the things I really love about this city, and it made my mom feel very welcomed.

She comes back next week and we will do more stuff; stay tuned for Part 2.