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Maastricht (and Maastricht University) in the Netherlands

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The city of Maastricht is cute, and if you ever get a chance to see it, you should.

My son and I visited Maastricht for just one day in May 2019, during out whirlwind tour of European colleges, and I wish we had planned better and had more time, because I really liked this old city.

Take a look….

According to visitmaastricht.com “the heart of the city” is Vrijthof Square with the red spires of Sint Jans church in the background, and the oldest in the Netherlands Basilica of St. Servatius to the right of it.

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Attractions, Destinations, Europe, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Poland, Science, Travel Tips

Experiment Science Centre in Gdynia (Poland)

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If you’re traveling with kids or if you’re a grown up who likes to push, pull, touch, and spin things set some time aside to visit the Experiment Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Experyment) when you’re visiting Gdynia, Sopot, or Gdańsk in Poland.

Main entrance to Experiment Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Experyment) in Gdynia, Poland
Main entrance to Experiment Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Experyment) in Gdynia, Poland

Sadly, the Center is closed right now, but let me show you what you can see inside once they reopen.

We visited the Centre in June 2019 when we were vacationing in Gdańsk, and Gdynia is just a short train ride away.

The center covers one very large room and has 5 major exhibition areas:

General view onto the floor of the Experiment Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Experyment) in Gdynia, Poland
General view onto the floor of the Experiment Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Experyment) in Gdynia, Poland
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College Tours, Eindhoven, Europe, Nature, Netherlands, Science, Stockholm, Sweden, The Hague, Travel Tips, Universities, Where we stayed

7 universities in 2 countries in 12 days

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Can you visit 7 universities in 2 countries in 12 days? Sure, you can. We did just that in May 2019.

We visited 2 countries:

  • The Netherlands
  • Sweden

5 universities in the Netherlands:

We visited 5 universities in the Netherlands
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Attractions, Europe, Historic Sites, Museums, Poland, Science, Tours, Warszawa (Warsaw)

Warsaw from the viewing deck of the Palace of Culture and Science (PKiN)

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There are few buildings in Warsaw, Poland that are more controversial than Pałac Kultury i Nauki (Palace of Culture and Science), also known as PKiN (pronounced Peh-keen).

As it’s a symbol of Soviet Union’s communist oppression of the country, some would like to see it demolished and gone from the landscape. Others say that even though it’s part of painful history, it’s history nevertheless and should not be touched.

Until recently, it was the tallest building in Warsaw, but it has been eclipsed by the Varso Tower, which is now not only the tallest building in Warsaw but also in all of Europe. 

“The Controversial Story of Stalin’s Palace in Warsaw” by Wojciech Oleksian published in Culture.pl offers a very thorough history of “Joseph Stalin’s idea of building a skyscraper over 200 metres (650 feet) tall in the middle of Warsaw’s post-war ruins” complete with photos from the early 1950s showing how out of place this gleaming white building looked like in the middle of bombed ruins of post-WWII Warsaw.

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Art, Attractions, Destinations, Europe, Museums, Netherlands, The Hague

Soaking in Escher’s artwork

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Visiting Escher in The Palace Museum

If you love M.C. Escher and find yourself in The Netherlands, not too far from The Hague, head over to the Escher in het Paleis, or Escher in The Palace museum!

The first time I’ve heard of M.C. Escher was in “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 2009 parody video “White and Nerdy” when Weird Al sings “MC Escher that’s my favorite MC.”  I had seen reproductions of Escher’s prints here and there before, but I didn’t know the artist’s name.

Weirdly enough, my nerdy son had already knew of M.C. Escher by then, and we spent a bit of time looking at Escher’s work online together.

M.C. Escher's litograph "Hand with reflecting sphere" (self-portrait)
M.C. Escher’s litograph “Hand with reflecting sphere” (self-portrait)

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Destinations, Europe, Public Transportation, Stockholm, Sweden, Travel Tips

Stockholm from the Ferry – Route 80 – Nybroplan – Frihamnen

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NOTE: Post updated in March 2021.

If you’d like to see Stockholm from a boat, take one (or all) of Stockholm’s ferries that are part of the SL system. SL stands for Storstockholms Lokaltrafik = public transportation in Stockholm, Sweden.

All you need is a regular ticket – preferably a timed visitor SL Access smart card, but a single ticket will work as well (for an excellent guide about public transportation in Stockholm, see sweetsweden’s post “Your Guide to Public Transport in Stockholm“).

SL operates four “shuttle” ferry routes. Follow this link for the timetables for all ferries, and this link for the maps of the ferry routes (also shown below).

1) Route 80 – which, when we took it in May 2019, used to run between Stockholm Nybroplan in the Stockholm center and Frihamnen, which is close to where several large cruise ships dock when they visit the town,  and took about 50 minutes one way.

It looks like since May 2019 this route was expanded to go beyond Frihammen and includes 9 more stops now, going all the way to Frösvik! (Which means if we’re ever back in Stockholm, we’ll have to take the trip again and update the post with more photos!)

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because the world is too interesting to stay home