Maastricht

Living in the Netherlands has come under serious consideration a few times in my life: after only visiting for a few hours I’m fairly sure I could live in Maastricht. The church converted to a bookshop definitely puts all other bookshops in their place. (Aside: my favourite five bookshops? Gosh Comics in London, Barter Books in Alnwick, Toppings in Edinburgh, Main Street Trading in St Boswells, Argonaut Books in Leith). Maastricht had a few cool cars (I spotted a tricked-out Alfa Romeo Giulia sedan and a lush 1970s ducktail 911 Carrera in Jade Green), lots of cool bikes and more than enough lovely old buildings. Wonderfully, the city also has a beer shop that stocks a wider selection of Vault City than you can get in the Vault City shop in Haymarket, and also has Holy Goat Crimson Curse - well done Johnny! Given we were in the city only for a handful of hours I didn’t manage much exploration outside of the central area/old town on the hunt of graffiti so we’ll have to make do with this happy guy.