It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Happy December everyone! I'm sure you'll be surprised to know that we've been traveling over the last few weeks (ha ha). I feel like we haven't been in Amsterdam for a week straight in quite a while. Here's our latest adventures...

Greg left Sunday, November 23rd for a work trip to Hong Kong. He arrived late morning on Monday, quickly got cleaned up before joining the conference he was attending. He spoke on Tuesday morning; it went very well. He enjoyed meeting his colleagues from Asia, and even had some relaxing time with them for dinner that night. The photos below are from the car on the way to the hotel, and then the evening photo is of the Peak. His flight left Hong Kong on Wednesday late morning, and he arrived in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening, just in time for spaghetti and meatballs. Dada brought back a stuffed panda bear for Ben, who hasn't let go of the bear since!

Thursday the 27th - Happy Thanksgiving! Greg went to work, but made it home early so that we could go have our "easy" Thanksgiving dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Dinner was surprisingly great, although we realized later that they forgot our cranberry sauce. :( Ben enjoyed dinner (note that Panda came for the holiday dinner too), especially the pumpkin pie (what a fun Hard Rock presentation!). It was quite a different way to spend the holiday than we are used to, but we felt thankful and festive just the same.

We woke bright and early on Friday for our 8 a.m. train to Dusseldorf, Germany to experience the German Christmas markets. Traveling is always an adventure, good thing we have learned to go with the flow. We made it to Central Station a few minutes before 8 to learn that our train wasn't leaving from C.S. - we had to take the metro to the Bijlmer Arena stop and catch it there. So, although we hurried, there was no way we were going to make it on time. Got to Bijlmer stop, found out we missed the train, talked to customer service, had to take a train to Utrecht to change our tickets (there is no Hispeed desk at Bijlmer). Ugh! So, we get on the train to Utrecht, waited in line to change our tickets for a later train. It was now 9:30 a.m., and the next train didn't leave until 11 a.m. We found a spot to sit and have some coffee, color, read books, etc. Made our way to the platform about 10:45, the train was going to be delayed 10-15 minutes. Sheesh, we just couldn't catch a break! Finally, we got on the train about 11:15. (Note, if all had gone according to plan, we should have arrived in Dusseldorf by 10:15 a.m.). Ben made friends with the woman sitting next to us, and she was happy to share some candy with him. He really enjoyed his first sucker and was devastated when he dropped it on the floor and it had to go bye bye. He kept crying for 'sticky, sticky'!!

We arrived in Dusseldorf at 1:15 p.m. and checked into our hotel. We thought maybe Ben would be tired by now, but he was still feeling the effects of the sucker, I think. So, we got bundled up and walked down the Konigsallee (Kings Avenue - saw all the expensive shopping) in search of our first Christmas market.

Found it! The Schadowplatz market was filled with fragrant spruce trees and little wooden huts selling all kinds of food, crafts, and gifts. Ben fell asleep pretty quickly, and Greg and I were starving and ready to try all the German goodies. Started with brats, then potato pancakes. Amazing!! We also tried the Gluhwein, a hot mulled wine served in collector mugs. The wine was quite strong, we didn't really care for it too much. But, I loved checking out the mugs at each market (they all have their own special mug) - what a cute (and cheap) way to remember our market fun! We did a little shopping here too, went into the Schadow Arkaden (shopping mall nearby) to warm up a bit, then ventured on to our next market.

We came to the Heinrich-Heine-Platz market, a 'heavenly' atmosphere with lots of angels decorating the market stands.

Nearby is the Stadtbruckchen market, in the courtyard of the Wilhelm-Marx-Haus. Beautiful snowflake lights hanging from above...turned out to be one of my favorite markets. Ben woke up (see the "what are we still doing out in the cold?" face), and then see how quickly he brightens up with a cookie and some hot cocoa. A much more enjoyable beverage as far as we are concerned - and with whipped cream! We got our first snowman-shaped market mug here.

The Flinger StraBe market links the markets above to the market on the Marktplatz (wow, say that fast 5 times). The fronts of the market booths have been modelled on the style of the street's ancient town houses, so it had a very charming atmosphere.

The market on the Marktplatz was by far the biggest and most magical market in Dusseldorf. The town hall is in the background, and the equestrian statue of Jan Wellem is in the center. The 100 year old merry-go-round caught Ben's eye right away, and so he and Daddy took a few turns. We had some poffertjes and a pretzel and just enjoyed the festive scene. There was also a hard-carved life-sized nativity scene. It was getting to be dinner time, and also getting quite cold. We headed back near the Schadowplatz to find a child-friendly place to eat inside, then back to the hotel. It had been quite a long travel morning, but a fun and festive afternoon and evening. We would have loved a few more hours of daylight in Dusseldorf, but it was on to Cologne in the morning!

On Saturday, we got ready, packed up, had breakfast, and made our way to the train station. Even the train station was jolly with a big Santa relaxing on the roof! We caught a train around 10:15, should have been about 30 minutes to Cologne, but the train turned out to be more like a metro, so it made a lot of stops that slowed us down. We arrived in Cologne at 11:15 and thankfully we were able to check into our hotel already. Great location, very near the train station and the Dom!

Cologne is Germany's fourth largest city - behind Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich (guess we are going to have to fit in a trip to Berlin since we've now been to the other 3!). The city is famous for it's beautiful cathedral (known as the Dom). Construction began in 1248 and was finally completed in 1880. We went inside, but didn't stay long because Ben was not happy and letting everyone know it. :( We sat down outside for a snack and book, and enjoyed the church facade behind the trees. We could have climbed the tower (you know I have a weakness for that), but the 509 steps each way (with no elevator) was not what our legs or arms (carrying Ben) had in mind.

Around the corner was our first Cologne market. To give you an idea of how popular these markets are, I read that they attract almost 2 million visitors each year. Despite the chilly weather, there were definitely a lot of people there! We had a brat, some hot cocoa in our new red boot-shaped mug (I've become a market mug addict), and enjoyed browsing through the 160+ market booths. The backdrop of the cathedral and the street performers playing music made it one of my favorite Cologne markets.

Next, we walked to the Alter Markt, which had a very evergreen/woodsy atmosphere. We saw lots of booths at this market with wood carvings and toys. We snacked on a cinnamon-sugar crepe and some candied almonds. We found the Town Hall nearby, decorated for the holiday.

We walked to the Neumarkt, Cologne's oldest Christmas market, in the shopping area against the backdrop of the Church St. Aposteln. We wandered through the booths, many with beautiful things. We had heard that the Christmas markets were great for the food and the atmosphere, but not to expect too much in terms of gifts or souvenirs. We didn't find that to be true at all...we found booth after booth of unique and fabulous gifts. One of my favorite food booths was the Chinese food one below. We didn't eat there, but I was just surprised by the wide array of foods to try...pizza, flatbreads, fish, brats, sweets, and lots of gluhwein stands!
Our last market of the day was the market on Rudolfplatz. This was the land of fairy tales, against the medieval Hahnentorburg, and very child-friendly. Lots of Santas, elves, reindeers, snowmen. Even the garbage cans (2nd photo below) matched the theme! We had a crepe (well, Ben ate all of it), a few amazing donuts (admittedly better than the Dutch oliebollen that we've tried), and some hot cocoa - in another new mug! From the sweets to the savory, we finished the day with a brat and a fried fish sandwich. Are you surprised that we gained weight on this trip? :) It had been another full day of traveling, eating, drinking, and being merry, and it was time for bed. Our impressions of these 4 major Cologne markets were great - bigger than the Dusseldorf ones.

Sunday turned out to be wet and cold, but we persevered! We had breakfast, packed up, and made our way to more market fun. First, we wanted to see a little more of the city, so we walked along the Rhine river. We had a great view of Great St. Martin Church before crossing the Deutzer Bridge for a view of the Cologne skyline. Very pretty, despite the gray and drizzly skies.

We walked back across the bridge and continued along the Rhine to the Chocolate Museum, which happens to be the sight of the final market that we visited - the Medieval Market. It had a very 'Robin Hood' feeling, with everyone in costume. Lots of fun! It wasn't very crowded because it was still early, so Ben loved being able to wander around and splash in the puddles. They even had a donkey that he watched eating hay. His take-away from the markets was a colorful jester with bells.

With the weather being so damp and cool, we went inside the museum to warm up. We weren't really in the museum mood (even though they had free samples), but they had a great cafe overlooking the water where we sat and enjoyed some coffee and chocolate cake.

At this point, we had seen all of the major markets, so we decided to go back to the Neumarkt for some gift shopping. Such pretty displays and the vendors were very friendly. We had some tasty bacon/onion/bread thing, and Ben took a short nap.

It was a short nap, and it was raining again, so we found a Starbucks to relax in. Normally, we feel as if we don't get enough time in the places that we travel to, but I think the weather on Sunday was giving us the "I'm ready to go home" feeling. We eventually walked back to the market near the Dom to look around and have one last helping of potato pancakes...out of this world good! We got our luggage from the hotel and walked to the train station. Our train left at 6 p.m., got home about 9 p.m. and collapsed!! We are so glad we experienced the German Christmas markets (we made it to 10 in all, with 3 collector mugs!), but it was good to be warm and home.

This last week has been spent mostly preparing and packing for our first trip to the States in 8 months! But, not a week without travel...as Greg was in London for work on Wednesday and Thursday. He took Friday off so we could finish up some Christmas shopping, pack, and spend some festive family time in Amsterdam. On Friday night, Ben left carrots in his shoes (sandals, remember?) for Sinterklaas' horse - like all of the other Dutch children were doing on this night. He was surprised and elated to find that the carrots had turned into cookies by morning! Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten must have made a visit. :)

On Sunday afternoon, all of the residents in our apartment building gathered for decorating the tree, snacks, and hot mulled wine. I think the taste of the wine is growing on me. :) It was nice getting to meet some more of our neighbors, and everyone was very friendly and welcoming to the Americans. We are so glad that we were able to celebrate Sinterklaas and some holiday time with friends before we travel to Illinois.

Speaking of which, our flight to Chicago leaves tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. We are thrilled to know that we will be spending Christmas with family!! Our schedule is already quite full for the 3 weeks that we'll be there...doctor appointments, visits with friends, finish up our shopping, and celebrating Christmas. Our packing for the trip is nearly done, and I should probably stop procrastinating and go help Greg finish it up.

Vrolijk Kerstfeest (Merry Christmas)!