Bucket list: Live Andre Rieu concert in Maastricht. Achieved July 2018

I have been watching Andre Rieu concerts of DVD's for years. There have been some very good concerts. The ones I have liked the most were the ones held in his hometown of Maastricht.
The ones that stood out were: Where mr Steins played the bells of the old church and played on the organ.
And other ones I remember were when he had some guests and also the ones where he played all the old songs from our childhood TV programs. And he had some excellent singers like Marusia and Carmen.
This concert, that I attended, if I had seen it on a DVD would have been a very average concert, with no one special as a guest and no extra ordinary pieces were played apart from maybe the clog-dance.
BUT....Because I was IN it, and was able to experience the hype, the atmosphere and being amongst it, made a difference and still will be a highlight for me.

I did a boat ride in the afternoon, and ( some of you might not know but I came here alone) 2 ladies asked if they could sit beside me. And I said " of course" and from then on, we chatted. They are a bit older than me and from the UK. The whole boat ride we chatted and it turned out that they also are going to the concert. They were in a different cafe than me so I would find them I said.

When I got to my restaurant" Aux Pays Bas" , I was allocated my seat. It was outside but at the back against the window of where it goes inside, so quite locked in. But after awhile I got to know the people. A couple from the Netherlands( 20 min drive away) and 1 couple from North Carolina, and opposite them a couple from the UK,( they knew each other) and at the end an other Dutch couple.

The view wasn't great. One sun umbrella's pole was in the way of the screen in front of us, and it was either a left or a right screen.

At the interval, I went to see my 2 UK friends( my new friends) and they had a fantastic spot. Also in a cafe but opposite the stage at the back of the big crowd. The screen was very much in front of us and you could see the stage too. So I decided to stay there with permission from the manager.
Oh, I forgot to tell you that we had dinner first( before the concert started) So I had dinner at the first cafe and then the show started and at the interval I moved to my friends cafe " Gouches"
After that it went really well. The people started to swing and dance on the streets and I ended up dancing with Kath and Hazel too, and it went from doing a waltz to hip hop to Greek dancing and then bollywood dancing. The sweat was pouring down. But lots of fun.

After the show was finished I stayed with he ladies with some more drinks. It was 1.30 am before I got in bed. My Airbnb was 2 streets walk away from the venue, yet it was a quiet street and I didn't hear the music at all the night before.
I am very happy with this weekend and I didn't needed to have worried about going there on my own.
God had it all under control and gave me friends  BEFORE THE CONCERT EVEN STARTED( DURING THE BOAT TRIP)
God is so good, he even thinks about the small things, but for me they are BIG.
I did pray that God would supply me with nice people , even friends , for the concert, and he did.
And now Kath is also my new Facebook friend.

Bucket list is ticked off. PS and I even met the man himself:

I had also had an other nice happening this weekend. My cousin, Hans Diederix, has a daughter, studying in Maastricht, Eva, she is studying Music at the conservatorium. I had not met her but wanted to, I had messaged her via Facebook and we met at a cafe. I am totally delighted to have met her. She is a wonderful and beautiful girl, who also loves the Lord Jesus, like her Dad and Mum and wants to follow His ways. We had a great time talking and I was glad I met her. An other new family member.