Bruis Festival
Trip Start
Unknown
1
3
Trip End
Ongoing
Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Sunday, September 12, 2010
That weekend was perfect for having a festival because the weather was beautiful. I donīt think I mentioned, but the entire time we have been in the Netherlands, itīs been raining. We were lucky in Amsterdam to only be outside on one day when it rained really hard. All of the other times, the weather seemed to hold up while we were out enjoying ourselves and let the rain fall as soon as we headed indoors. It was a different story in Arnhem. It poured all day and all night the whole time we were there. The one day that we decided to visit the Houge Veluwe National Park we were extremely lucky that it only spitted most of the day and didnīt pour. One of the days we were in Arnhem, Niels told us that their weather station was claiming that they had received the most amount of precipitation in 100 years. Steve and I have been experiencing a lot of extreme weather since we left. So, having said that, you can understand how lucky the Bruis Festival was with the beautiful sun shining all day long.
There wasnīt much to this festival: a few bands playing (for free..thank you!), ice cream and locals drinking at beer tents. But it was still a lot of fun. We really only watched one band(Absynth Minded) and they were pretty good. They had a cellist, pianist and violinist on top of the regular band components; singer, drums, lead and bass guitar. With these extra editions they had a really unique sound. They were able to mix different genres of music together to make a very interesting sound. Once they were done Marieke found a group of couch surfers from her town who had brought their guests to the festival as well. We met a nice guy from Ireland who was wearing a Newfoundland T-shirt and started chatting with him. He, obviously, told us that he traveled throughout eastern Canada a while ago and loved it. We shared stories of our own travels with him and asked him questions about his homeland. In the middle of our conversation two random young guys interrupted and asked him if he was Canadian. We all had a good laugh and explained that we were in fact the Canadians and he was not. They were very happy to see us because they too were Canadian! In fact, they were born in New Brunswick, studied in Montreal and were both (brothers by the way) working for the government in Ottawa. They took two weeks of vacation and were traveling through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Only staying 1-2 days in each city! The next day they were leaving to visit Cologne, Germany then heading back home. I loved hearing their thick French/Canadian accent, itīs so familiar.
Everyone decided to leave and go home once the festival was over but Steve and I asked Laurence and Guilloume if we could join them for dinner. They were happy to have us tag along, so we went to a local Italian restaurant and ordered delicious pizzas together. The food here is amazing! Guilloume and I both agreed that the food we eat in Canada is crap. Steve still loves it haha But I think he loves food so much that he can make room for loving any kind in his heart. These two had just finished traveling Belgium, which is where Steve and I will be heading to next. So, they were able to tell us a thing or two about what to expect. To conclude, Belgium is going to be awesome! Laurence and Guilloume say that Belgium does 4 things the right way: chocolate, beer, fries and waffles. They barely ate anything else the whole time they were there. Both even agreed that the chocolate beer was fantastic! I canīt wait to try. Chocolate....beer? Weird. After supper, we exchanged pleasantries (the good old Canadian way) and departed for a good nights rest. They needed it. Imagine traveling for two weeks straight and not staying in the same place for more than two nights. I know what it feels like...its exhausting!
