The first three nights of our Netherlands/Belgium trip my friend Kathy and I spent in a village called Valkenburg in the little hanging down part of the Netherlands squished between Belgium and Germany.
Valkenburg sits between the Dutch towns of Maastricht and Heerlen, a ten minute train ride from both. We randomly selected it because we thought Maastricht was too big and expensive to stay in, and it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Unbeknownst to us, it is a popular local tourist destination and is blessed with at least one restaurant per resident!
Our spacious apartment (probably more square footage than my condo!) in the Hotel Valkenhof sat above the hotel restaurant called Meat@Valkenhof.
Our initial plans were to go to Heerlen, Tongeren and possibly Leige but jet-lag zapped our energy and we stayed in Valkenburg the first day, visiting some replica Roman Catacombs and walking around town.
The catacombs were dug into an old abandoned mine 100 years ago by a local man who loved the catacombs in Rome and wanted to bring them to Valkenburg. We had a tour in Dutch, with the guide throwing us a sentence or two in English every so often. Another woman on the tour, taking pity on us, starting translating for us. There was a replica statue of St. Cecilia that I recognized from the Church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome, so I was able to tell Kathy that Cecilia’s face wasn’t visible because she had been decapitated.
Day Two we only managed to get to Heerlen for a visit to the Roman Bath ruins at the Thermenmusuem.
Surprisingly there were no mosaics at the Heerlen, aka Coriovallum, baths, except for a small section of flooring. I don’t think I’ll be able to provide many moments of mosaics from this trip. Any suggestions for substitutes? Your moments of Belgium beer? chocolates? waffles? Or biking? Please send ideas.
Now here it is your one and possibly only moment of mosaic.
