Nijmegen: where your clothes can smell like pot for free

I was pretty bored on Sunday, April 20, and decided to accompany my friends Lauren, Katie and Strauss (last name) to Nijmegen, a city we Castle-dwellers mostly got to know as a means of getting from A-B, but which also happens to be a great city in its own right.

We took the 70-minute bus ride (our Eurails were over) and got to Nijmegen around, oh, 4 or so or something. There were a lot of people at the outdoor cafes--families, groups of couples, contented old men--just enjoying the day. It was really nice out. We went to a really great falafel place, Maoh’s, whose proprietor thoroughly enjoyed the novelty of having real live Americans in his establishment. I’m afraid of getting falafel again; I think I’d be disappointed in how it measures up to Maoh’s.

We walked around the city for a while. It’s a really neat town--the oldest in the Netherlands. A lot of the city was closed, including supermarkets and most shops. Alas, we didn’t come to shop, so we weren’t disappointed.

After that, we went to a coffee shop. In such places, coffee is, in fact, an afterthought. I didn’t smoke anything; I just sat back and enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. And I got a little sleepy. And a little headachy, so Lauren and I went outside for air for a bit.

Katie and I had never experienced doner kebap, which, in Strauss’ opinion, needed to be rectified before we went back to the castle. So we split one. Doner is pretty much a gyro. It was ok, but really quite boring. It counts as cultural, and I’m glad to say I experienced it, but meh, I wouldn’t choose to eat it again.

We went back to the bus station, and I was in the mood for some more culture, so I bought a Lion bar. “It consists of wafer, caramel and rice crispies covered in milk chocolate” (Wikipedia). They don’t have them in America. That’s what made it cultural.

We hopped on the bus--the last bus ride I would take in the Netherlands--and rode back to the castle. It was fun, and definitely more fun than staring at Facebook on my computer.