Planning your Shopping in the Netherlands

I don’t know if I’ve ever written about this before, but with recent chatter how the number of Sunday shopping days will not be increased with this new government, I thought it was a good time to revisit it. Coming from consumerism riddled America, I wasn’t prepared for the forethought you have to put into your shopping chores in the Netherlands. You can’t just shop whenever you like (well, maybe in Amsterdam) and if you don’t pick up that milk now, you might be out of luck later. Here’s what to watch for in Maastricht:

Monday

Grocery stores typically have normal hours on Mondays, but it’s quite common for other stores to simply be closed or not open until 1 pm. I never try to shop early on Mondays; it’s not worth the effort to find the one or two stores I need that might be open.

Tuesday & Wednesday

Stores are generally open from about 10 am to 5 or 6 pm. The grocery stores are a bit better; you can typically get into these until 7 or 8 pm depending on the location and time of year. Disappointingly, the Wednesday market closes early (by 3 pm).

Thursday

Once a week in Maastricht, most shops stay open until 9 pm (with a couple closing slightly earlier or later) and they are usually packed with people since anyone who works have trouble making time on other days of the week. Thursdays are also the only day per week you can get a Pinkys wafel after dinner.

Friday

On Friday shops generally go back to the Tuesday/Wednesday schedule. Like the Wednesday market, the Friday fish market generally closes a couple hours before people actually get out of work.

Saturday

Saturdays are also be shopping days, both because people have all day to go shopping and because of the one day drought coming up.  Saturdays are good days for stocking up on grocery essentials since if you don’t get it now, you won’t be able to tomorrow.

Sunday

In the Netherlands stores are only allowed to be open 12 Sundays a year (except apparently in Amsterdam where they stay open for the tourists). In Maastricht the first Sunday of each month sees many stores open for truncated hours (usually noonish to 5 pm or so). Fortunately restaurants are open on Sundays, so when we forget to grocery shop we can still eat.

Image is (cc) Michael McCarty via Flickr and is used under a Creative Commons license.

Jazz: Finding the Music in the Maastricht Region

Jazz is a big part of the music scene in the Maastricht region, with many local and nearby musicians who play live on a weekly basis. A little searching can usually turn up a least one musical event at a cafe or a concert, and regional musicians sell their work both in stores and online. As autumn settles in around us, two jazz festivals are on the horizon for lovers of this type of music: Jeker Jazz and the MECC Jazz Maastricht.

Jeker Jazz (14-17 October): The first of these two festivals, Jeker Jazz (last year called Jazz Promenade) is a four day event in Maastricht’s downtown Jeker quarter. The event focuses on admission-free jazz, blues, funk, and related music played live in various cafes and pubs, mostly from regional musicians but some do come from all over. This year is its 20th anniversary! Dan and I attended one of the concerts last year, and had an enjoyable evening. But show up early; the cafes fill quickly.

The MECC Jazz Maastricht (29-30 October): The MECC Jazz Maastricht festival is a new event this year, but its roots began in the 1990s with another event called Jazz Mecca. Located (naturally) at the MECC, attendees will be treated to a mix of international and regional musicians as well as great food and drink. You can check out the program and purchase tickets on their website. Entrance is €42,50 for one day, or €72,50 for the complete event.

Beyond the individual festivals, live music is quite easy to find in the Maastricht region. If you’re looking for live events in Maastricht, try Jazz Maastricht, where they maintain a calendar of music events and also have more information about festivals when they take place. For Limburg area events beyond Maastricht you can try JazzClub Zuid-Limburg which also has an itinerary.

In all likelihood these events and websites only scratch the surface of live music in the Maastricht Region. Do you have a favorite jazz event you’d like to share? Please add it in the comments below.

Source: This article was originally published on Maastricht Region: to Live.

Image Source: by pedrosimoes7 on Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons By Attribution.

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