Happy 2015! Although we are only 21 days into the new year I still can't believe 2015 is here. 2014 was a great year and so far 2015 may even be better! Today's post is about the Christmas Markets we went to in 2014!
I know this is alittle late, we have been pretty busy and it doesn't seem to be slowing down! We are travelling like crazy & don't worry I will share it all with you :)
Gluhwein, Bratwurst, Frites & Beer are the staples to
any Christmas Market (at least to Josh & I they are!) Every Christmas Market
we went to we got all four, they are that delicious! We visited a total of 5
Christmas markets, I wanted to see so many more but so much to do so little
time & there is always next year!
Although German
Christmas Markets are the most common the first Christmas Market we visited was
in The Netherlands.
Valkenburg
Valkenburg is a
Christmas Market in a cave! Sounds super cool right?! Well it wasn't what I was
expecting but it was a very cute town. The cave was cool but the market wasn't
really that Christmasy. There were only maybe 3 or 4 stands that had Christmas
stuff. It was a good trip though.
This is the cave and entrance to the Christmas market it was
a small crowded area so it was hard to get a good picture.
Here is the inside of
the cave where the market was.
It was a nice little town and area, I'm not sure I would put it at the top of my list to visit again but it was fun!
Dudeldorf
Dudeldorf is a cute little town right near Spangdahlem. It is a small, small town and now I understand why they only have their Christmas market Saturday & Sunday right after thanksgiving and that's it. I had been wanting to go there since my friend Whitney had said it was one of her favorites. I can now understand why she liked it so much!
This Christmas market was a little bit different with how they had everything laid out to look at and buy. Many of those who were selling things was from their garage or even their basements. I have been told that, this was the way they used to do it before Christmas market became commercialized and there were the "famous stalls" put up. I liked it and thought it added a little German charm.
Here is what I mean this was someone garage.
Here is large area of the market.
Do we look frozen? It was FREEZING!!! I'm pretty sure it took a while to thaw out after that!
Despite being FROZEN it didn't deter from us having a good time:) Our last stop before Whitney & I literally ran to the car was to this..... wait for it......
Deliciousness!!!! YUMMY! It was this hot fire and you got a stick with meat on it. Doesn't sound too appetizing but it was pretty delish. :) The whole thing w as swinging around the fire and the guy you can kind of see in the picture was rotating each one so they were evenly cooked. If I could have that right now, I would, it was so good!
Cologne
Cologne was the next Christmas market we visited and it is one of the larger markets. In 2014 there were 7 markets scattered throughout the city each with their own theme. Sadly we didn't make it to all of them we made it to 2.
The first market we went to was right next to the Cathedral. Here was the entrance to this one. SO many people!
First stop..... you guessed it Gluhwein!
Me & my Gluhwein! Waiting in line for a Bratwurst! :) After our pitstops we walked around the very crowded market.
We found lots of cute things to look at and some to buy.
We decided to walk to another market, we stumbled upon the Gnome themed market, which was my favorite and adorable. There were Gnomes everywhere...well duh!
Here are the gnomes skiing on top of a building:)
First stop was........
You guessed it some beer for Josh & some Gluhwein for me:)
We found a nice little spot right near the ice skating rink and sat there a little bit and watched other skate, while drinking our beer and Gluhwein of course.
After relaxing for a bit we decided to look around some more before we left Cologne! But we made our last stop at Dunkin Donuts for some donuts. Yummy!
Aachen
Aachen was the last Christmas market we made it to before Christmas. Here is the entrance to the market it was a small market but it was really cute & I liked it a lot.
After researching about the Aachen Christmas market I learned that Printen, its kind of like a gingerbread was exclusive to Aachen and it originated here so I wanted to get some for sure!
I got some plain Printen with a frosting on it, Josh got a mix of different ones. It is a soft gingerbread like cookie. I really liked it :)
We then of course needed to eat! I got a bratwurst.. shocker! Josh got something different we haven't had before it was called Reibekuchen, it is a potato fritter. I had some and it was pretty delicious. This is how they were cooking it and how it looked.
After eating we walked around and shopped. I liked this market the prices weren't bad and they had some really cute things.
These little German house are so adorable & I love them they are my favorite things to look at, at the Christmas markets along with Nutcrackers. We ended up getting a little Brauerei, Gluhwein stand and a Bratwurst stand, as a little German village!
Ghent
Ghent was our last Christmas market :( We went to Ghent after Christmas, some of the Christmas markets are open after Christmas. We hadn't been to a Christmas market in Belgium yet so I figured why not!
Ghent is a cute little area and we for sure want to visit again! The Christmas market was ALOT bigger than I had thought there were different areas of it if the centrum, we walked through the whole thing.
I liked the market a lot it was very big so it didn't feel congested like some of the smaller ones, I would for sure go back next year!
Before we left we stopped at this cute little pub for some drinks, because after walking around it was pretty cold!
A Prosecco and Josh's favorite Belgian beer!
Overall we had a great time at all the Christmas markets we went to! I can't wait for next years! There is just something about them that get you in the festive Christmas spirit!
xoxo Alyssa
