Great tip. Maastricht is on the river the Maas, one of our main rivers and it sounds like you walked across the Sint Servaasbrug (bridge). It's indeed a smaller city compared to Amsterdam, but for Dutch standards it's one of the larger cities, it's the capital of the province Limburg
That said, Maastricht isn't a great place to go for stoners right now... how to keep this short... Foreigners can't buy weed there in coffeeshops, Maastricht is a controversial test case. Lots of people from France and Belgium go there to buy weed. Mayor is closing coffeeshops, which in turn sue etc. Not being able to buy from the coffeeshops isn't the issue, but because they/some are closed and aren't allowed to sell to foreigners there are a lot of street dealers that 'will' bother you. People also get searched randomly on the streets by undercover cops. Economically this is killing Maastricht (it's an ongoing issue since last year) because obviously many tourists don't go anymore. This is all exceptional and only in Maastricht, but definitely something to keep in mind (5gram max on you).
Bus rides are used primarily between small villages or inside cities, to travel from A'dam to Maastricht (or between any other city) people go by train (modern railroads 'everywhere', pricey though).
+10. As I mentioned in another topic here once, you can waste a lot of time in Amsterdam just walking back and forth. Let me put it this way, I go once every month or two to Amsterdam and whether I go by train or car, I usually still take my bike with me.
P.s. the thing you mentioned about the cab driver saying it's close, even though it was true in your case, it's a major issue with cabs in Amsterdam. Basically many of those cab spot have a waiting line of cabs, and when it's their turn they don't want to waste it on a short trip that pays too little.
Tip for a place to eat in Amsterdam:
www.rongastrobar.nl It's from one of best chefs in NL, he had a 2 star (michelin) restaurant which he closed because he wanted to sell his food to regular folks too and not just rich people buying overpriced fancy food.
As for museums, de Scheepsvaart Museum (ship's and stuff), de Rijksmuseum (Rembrandt's Nachtwacht and stuff), Stedelijk Museum (City Museum, never been there), all had a major reconstruction/upgrade recently.
Meeting locals might be a challenge in Amsterdam
Don't bother picking up some holiday Dutch on the way there either. The only response you will get to it is "I don't speak Dutch" in nearly every possible language (people from over 180 different countries).
There's one you might want to know: "
dank je"
( thank you )
If you go to the Vondelpark and go a couple of hundred yards further from the center, sort of 'behind' the Vondelpark entrance gate, you can walk through the PC Hoofdstraat. It's the most expensive shopping street in NL, where the (local) rich and famous buy their clothes.
Amsterdam is like a huge theme park, no way to take all the rides on a single day. I highly recommend planning a route throughout the city. It all seems a lot smaller on the map.