After Mom was here for a few days and had adjusted a bit to local time, we went to Aachen for a few days, and then Strasbourg. Both cities were fantastic, and Aachen is so close – it had been on my list to visit practically since I’ve lived here, but I had never made it. I’m glad we went.
Then Mom went to Paris alone for several days, then she came back to meet up again in Roermond for a few days before she flew back to the states. So here’s what we did for her last few days here.
Roermond Lodging:
Once again, she stayed at the Hotel Roermond Next Door. This time, her room was on the second floor, with the window facing inward into the building, so the room was much quieter. Still very nice and clean, and she loved the breakfast and sitting on Stationsplein in the mornings watching everyone go by. She also wants me to mention that she did figure out that weird light beside her bed that I mentioned in the first post, and I’m glad. I fiddled with it a bit and couldn’t get it to turn off myself.
Roermond Dining:
Munstercafe. We had a fantastic dinner at Munstercafe. I had a lovely salmon fillet, and she had steak, and the atmosphere and service was wonderful as always. It’s a charming spot.
Jill Murphy’s. One evening we were hungry and it wasn’t quite the dinner hour, so we ended up at Jill Murphy’s. I’m always excited about Jill Murphy’s because they have curly fries, which aren’t common in Europe, so I was glad to go, but it is a very American-style menu, with large portions and… it has a kind of American-franchise menu… reminiscent of an Applebees or something like that. It’s good, it just doesn’t seem very local. However, it’s a cute spot and our waitress was great, and it was tasty and we were hungry, so there’s nothing bad about that.
De Graaf. Proeflokaal de Graaf is in one of my favorite spots in the city, right behind Munsterkerk, practically under the tree. Even better, they have a great wine list and cocktails and really fantastic, flavorful food. It’s a wonderful spot. We were there for lunch/brunch, so I had the salmon benedict and she had the kip pesto broodje, along with some wine and I think we even had limoncello after. Our waiter was excellent: friendly and patient, gave excellent recommendations, chatted with my mom… we had a really great time there.
Bubbles and Bites. Bubbles and Bites has been on my list the whole time I’ve lived here, but the menu concept is small bites along with wine and cocktails, and that’s a weird thing to do by yourself. It was one of my favorite meals of the whole trip. We showed up just as the opened, and, even though we didn’t have a reservation, they sat us. They got very full very quickly, even on a Wednesday, so I would think a reservation is a good idea for the future. I can’t even remember all of the wonderful little things they brought us; we ordered the “Menu to Share”, which was a course of bread & olives and then several rounds of delicious little foods (most of them served in shot glasses, if that helps you imagine the portion size). It was more filling than you would think, and I regretted having all that bread. Everything was delicious, and most of the dishes involved unusual flavor and texture combinations. It was fun to try all the things and talk about them and try to remember what the waitress had said they were (and bless our waitress for introducing all the foods to us in English). It was a long meal, by which I mean there was a good wait between courses, but not in a way that was uncomfortable; it was enough delicious little food and wine to enjoy lingering there in the charming cafe and people-watching and chatting. It was a really wonderful experience.
Roermond Activities:
Walking. Of course we did lots of walking. Last time I took her along the Roer and out Kapelarllaan, so this time we walked along Maasnielderbeek and out to Maasniel, and fed swans and looked at the scenery and it was nice.
St. Christopher’s Cathedral. Last time we went into Munsterkerk but didn’t visit St. Christopher’s, so of course we did that this time. Sint-Christoffelkathedraal is beautiful, (I love the stained glass windows!) and of course it’s our local landmark so we couldn’t miss it.
Caroluskapel. I have been wanting to visit this local Rococo cathedral for months now. It’s off of Swalmerstraat and a little bit hard to find, and almost never open. But we were lucky enough to get a chance to go in and look around, and it was worth it. We had a wonderful volunteer greet us and take us everywhere and tell the story of the Roermond Carthusians. It was part of local history that I had no idea about. There is also a very old fresco on one of the walls that dates back to the 16th century. It is fascinating that so much of the incredible art, sculpture, stained glass, and woodwork inside the chapel were made by local craftspeople throughout the centuries, and I am glad I finally got to see it.
Mini Golf. We had some time to kill, so we went mini-golfing in the RoerCenter, which was surreal. It’s 18 holes of mini-golf (IIRC) over 3 floors, so you play a few holes then climb another set of stairs to the next level. Each level has a different theme and decor scheme, and they are all a weird combination of industrial relics and bright-plastic animal figures that the whole thing is reminiscent of a Doom level or a horror movie. Which does not mean it wasn’t awesome – it was AWESOME! But very very strange. Nobody was around, so I jumped into the ball pit. Neither of us could get the last hole, so we both cheated. It was an odd but fun way to kill a couple hours.
Roermond Shopping:
Mom meant to do more souvenir shopping in Paris, but the shops were crowded and not enjoyable, so she saved her shopping for here. I am glad; there is good stuff here.
De Woonstee. I love this store! It’s so charming, and always has unique and interesting stuff in it. My mom needed to shop for linens and whatnots for people, and it was a good choice. They don’t seem to have a website, but are just on the corner of Marktplein at Markt 9.
‘t Keesheukske. I love this store too! The Keesheukske has all kinds of local cheeses, mustards, wines, chocolates… it’s an adorable, homey gourmet shop. And they were really nice to my mom, helping her choose things and making recommendations and helping her package stuff to travel. I am glad she went home with all kinds of Dutch cheeses and treats.
Wereld Winkel. I’ve been in this shop on Neerstraat a few times; they specialize in fairly traded handcrafts, and always have some interesting things. She bought some decorative stuff there.
As before, everyone was just wonderful and welcoming and so kind to her while she was here. It was lovely to see how far everyone extended themselves to show her around and make her feel welcome, and not like a tourist. Roermond is so kind to visitors, and I got to see and learn a lot of things I had never gotten around to.
Recherche Roermond 