Ineke and Ruud's Weekend in Maastricht

Maastricht August 17, 2008

First there was a High Mass outside on the top of "mountain" Slavante. This is where a lot of fans have visited the pavillion and the Zonneberg grotto's, not far from Andre's castle. After the Mass the procession went on the boats. André had given the flower decorations from his stage in Maastricht to use for decorating the boats. Do you recognize the pink flowers? You can see Frank playing the carillon on a boat too.

I counted 18 big boats (with music bands and church choirs) and 12 more small (rowing, or skiffs?) boats to accompany the procession. Ruud was on the big pontoon boat! I was taking pictures from the Kennedy bridge. You can see a big statue of Saint Peter with the Maastricht city key in his hands. He was carried by men in red. You also see a bust of Saint Servaas (from the Saint Servaas basilica) and the statue of Mary, Star of the Sea (from the Our Dear Lady Basilica).
This was the first time Maastricht had a "water procession". The boats sailed from Slavante to the Stiphout landing stage near the Servaas bridge, just like the tourist boats do. I know a lot of fans did that trip by boat and visited the caves. From the landing stage the procession continued through the Maastricht streets to end up into the Our Dear Lady Basilica .......... It was all very impressive. Frank played church music on the carillon and it was very impressive to hear it fade away over the River Maas.

Andre was not at home we were told, but we did see Tanja and Roos and some friends among the audience. ~ Ineke