How to Get to Ikea from Maastricht by Train/Bus

These days most people know about Ikea and its cute, flat-packed furniture priced for the budget hound in all of us. Expats in Maastricht may be disappointed that there isn’t an Ikea in the city. Fortunately, there is one in nearby Heerlen surrounded by a variety of other big box house and furniture stores. Ikea delivers and, with a little patience, you can get there via public transportation.

Getting There:
The Heerleen Ikea is located at In de Cramer 142, 6412 Heerlen, Heerlen (Limburg), Netherlands and if you were driving it would take you about 25 minutes to get there. By train, you’re looking at about an hour plus a short bus ride.

1) Head down to the Maastricht Central Station and buy a round trip ticket for Heerlen Station. You should also make sure you have a bus strippenkaart to make the next leg of the journey easier. A round-trip train ticket should run you 8.10 euro.
2) Jump off the train at the Heerlen Station stop and grab Bus 42. This bus only runs every half hour (every hour on Saturday), so you’ll want to try and time it. It will be 2 strippen per trip (so 4 round-trip).
3) Get off at the IKEA, Heerlen stop (ask the bus driver if you aren’t sure) and get shopping!
or alternatively 4) You can walk or bike from the Heerlen train station to Ikea. It will take you about 30 minutes and follows the bus path (bring a map to be on the safe side). The train is a local one and will allow you to bring your bike onboard during off-peak hours.

Ikea Delivery:
The Heerlen location will deliver, but not for free. Up to 50 kg will run you 29 euros, 50-100 kg is 39 euros, 100-300 kg is 59 euros, and 300-500 kg is 79 euros. If you live above the ground floor, you can expect to pay between 10 and 40 euros extra for the stairs. The cost does go up quickly, so it pays to do a little research before you take the train out there. If you need to outfit a lot of rooms it may be cost effective to rent a truck or van for the day.

Episode 5 of Maastricht Minutiae

Episode 5 of Maastricht Minutiae is now ready for download at TalkShoe. Listen to it here.

This week we talked about:
- The new Star Trek movie & seeing movies in Maastricht
- Visiting Tongeren, Belgium
- The 10th annual KunstTour

KunstTour 2009 Maastricht: our wandering path

This weekend the 10th Maastricht KunstTour has filled the streets with tiny flags and mapped out art routes to encourage the exploration of Dutch contemporary visual and media art. The theme this year is Best Before… and the website assures attendees that the ArtTour comes in powdered form and is “before 2018, if kept in dark and dry place.” Of course, its only running May 21 through the 24th, so if you want to check it out you better hurry.

Since the website above didn’t have many details in English, we headed to the VVV hoping to get more information there. On our way, we spied a little “KunstTour” flag outside a U of Maastricht building. Along with big numbers which indicate stop along the pre-created routes, these flags are the tip off that there is an installation. The VOC (Vibrant Offkey Cabinets) installation turned on suddenly when it sensed us entering the room and played rather disturbing music with vacuum air, rubber hose, and plastic pipes. You can see a short video we made here.

At our second stop we picked up a map and meandered our way through a series of other installations and showrooms. We spent about three hours. Some things were fun, others were a little to avant-garde for our tastes. I got lazy with the camera though, so the only other image I have for you is of this dragon ‘car’ created by Project X. It was one of a half dozen strange vehicles like those you’d expect to see at Burning Man.

I personally loved the Printing Museum (free open house today!) which is a tiny museum of various kinds of printing presses; some still working. The docent didn’t speak English, but still gave us an extensive explanation and demonstration of the various machines in Dutch. I was able to follow the gist since I know some about printing already. I’ll definately be going back when I have a better grasp of the language and can understand the details. The machines were beautiful and they had a few books there that were larger than side tables.

As always, I enjoyed seeing what the local artists were up to. People are capable of creating so much and it is really inspirational. I’m looking forward to this event next year. Hopefully we’ll be able to check out more of it then.

A Night at the Movies

If you haven’t seen the new Star Trek movie, what are you waiting for? We caught it on Saturday here in Maastricht at one of the two cinemas in the city and for me, the reboot of the series was just right. You’ll want to bring sunglasses though; the lens flares in the first 10 minutes of the movie were over the top.

Going to the movies in the Netherlands is a bit different than in the States, but easy for US expats and visitors. Here’s a few tips to get you up to speed.
1) Since the Netherlands is such a small country, American live-action movies are mostly in English with Dutch subtitles. Animations and kids’ films are typically translated.
2) In addition to the usual concession items, you can also get beer and coffees. Concession prices are similar to those in the States, although the beer was cheaper than I expected.
3) Halfway through the movie, there will be a 10 minute intermission for snacks and bathroom breaks. The intermission is even for short movies. It ends abruptly, so watch the clock.

That’s about it. Enjoy your film!

Welcome to Our Flat

Our apartment is finally mostly put together, so its time to for a virtual tour. Don’t worry, I just vacuumed.

When you walk in the front door, you will set into our living room with the kitchenette in the back under the stairs. The futon and coffee table came with us from the US and I’m pretty glad they did. Because of our space, the lift-up top on the coffee table allows it to double as a dining table when its just to two of us.

Behind the futon is our kitchenette. We’ve added a combination microwave/oven and a bar level counter top. We also purchased a flap table for when we have guests.

In the kitchen we also have our Societe Ceramaique plates hanging on the wall. Societe Ceramique was located in Maastricht and made decorative and practical earthenware from 1836-1969. The plates depict important buildings in Maastricht, Amsterdam, and Delft.

Turning around you’ll see our new television, HD of course. There is a Girl Genius print hanging over the TV right now, but we’d like to find a large piece of art for that space. We also have some original Evil Inc art, but I need to mat it before it can be photographed.

Along the right wall of the living room you’ll find our office (still mostly under construction) and the bathroom.

Up the stairs you’ll see our bedroom has already been taken over by the cats. We’re using some of the eve space for storage, but mostly we’re just sleeping up here. Hopefully we’ll get some blinds on the windows soon since it can be a little bright for sleeping.

Also on the stairs, we’ve hung up a Girls with Slingshots sketch.

Finally, back at the front door you can step out onto our balcony. Its fairly spacious and the view is very nice.

And that’s about it. After all the hard work that’s gone into our apartment, I’m very happy to be able to share these pictures with you. I’d love to hear your comments and questions.

Thanks for stopping by!

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