Christmas in Cologne

Say one thing about Europeans- they do know how to do Christmas. We started our first winter holiday time with a weekend in one of the most popular Christmas destinations- Cologne.  It was only around 2 hours on the train from Amsterdam, so we left early on Saturday morning and spent a single night before catching the train back again on Sunday night.

There were many Christmas markets spread throughout Cologne, from the tightly packed market at the foot of the Dom through to the more relaxed markets in the parks a few kilometers from the centre.  No matter where the market was, there was always plenty of people gathered around the stalls selling Gluhwein, keeping warm with hands cupped around mugs of the hot, frothy spiced red wine that tastes like Christmas. Each of the markets served gluhwein in their own unique mug in which the gluhwein was served, which you could return to the counter to receive back the pfund (deposit), or keep the mug as a souvenir.  So we of course left with about 8 new Christmas mugs- they will make a nice set for one day when we have people over for Christmas lunch. 

There was lots of delicious foods to enjoy along with the wine, our favourites were the deep fried reibekuchen, bratwurst with fresh bread, mustard and horseradish, and hot sugar almonds.

Aside from eating and drinking we did manage to do a few other things on our short stay, including shopping for Christmas decorations, watching the Christmas concerts, a Sunday morning walk through the empty streets and along the Rhine, and visiting the city's most well known landmark- the Dom cathedral.

As an Australian it was special to see Christmas traditions in their natural environment, because in Australia they often do not make a lot of sense- roasted chestnuts, log fires, warm spicy wine, christmas trees and snow are all very stereotypical Christmas icons but are not so great for a 35 degree summer day.

Cold start to winter

It's the first week of winter and it's already snowing!  It's very cold, down to 5 below zero, and has snowed for the last 2 or 3 days.  For me it's exciting and different to be waiting at the tram stop and walking to work in the snow, but for people here it is mostly an inconvenience as it makes things wet and slippery and causes delays in public transport.  I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually but at the moment I'm just enjoying this weather, especially knowing that back home it's been pushing 40 degrees this last week.

View from my desk at work

Footpath outside our house

View from our living room window

Outside our house the morning after a snowy night

Brussels in 4 hours

How to see Brussels in 4 hours:

• Grote Market (Grand Place)
• Belgian waffles
• Manneken Pis
• Belgian beer
• Tintin shop

OK, so I'm sure there is much more to Brussels than this, but as we were making our way home from Venice via Brussels, we only had a few hours.  It was significantly cheaper (we're talking almost 1000 euros cheaper) to fly from Venice to Brussels, and then catch the train from Brussels back to Amsterdam, compared to flying straight to Amsterdam.

Our day started with a 6am ferry trip to the Venice bus station, a bus from Venice to the airport, a flight to Brussels, an hour bus ride from the the airport to the city (the Ryan Air flight only goes to Charleroi which is on the outskirts of Brussels), a metro from the airport to the city. a quick stopover in Brussels for lunch, 3 hours on the train back to Amsterdam (2.5 was spent standing up because the train was full!) and a tram back to our house.  A very full day!

So, back to Brussels. The heritage listed main square was surrounded by some really nice old buildings, including the town hall and gold plated guildhalls with intricate, curly facades.  It was overcast when we arrived but we were lucky enough to get a few minutes of blue sky later in the afternoon.

Town Hall in the Grote Markt (Grand Place)

Belgian waffles for lunch

For some reason, the Manneken Pis statue is insanely popular.  This foot-tall statue of a little boy taking a leak seems to be nothing special, but there was a massive crowd of people around it- so of course we joined the line to take a photo. Just nearby was a busy little pub called Poechenellekelderserving.  It was full of Manneken Pis paraphernalia, but most importantly served many types of Belgian beer.  Finally it was a quick visit to the Tintin shop, due to Belgium being the home country of the comic book writer Herge.  A tiring but excellent day to finish a tiring but excellent trip to Italy (and Belgium).

Belgian beer at Poechenellekelder

Grote Markt in the sunlight

Tintin shop

Italy- Venice

We had no specific plans for Venice- just to walk around getting lost in the maze of narrow, winding alleyways.  It was a beautiful city of canals and bridges, although not a terribly practical city.  It's water-damaged, rundown buildings give it a real charm unlike any other city but you have to wonder how much longer it can continue given the lack of upkeep (partly due to its protected state) and also the fact that hardly anyone actually lives there any more- it is almost like a big theme park that exists solely for tourists.

Bridge of Sighs

Piazza San Marco

Marble pillars of St Mark's basilica

After a day of wandering, we found a popular little outdoor bar where we stopped for an aperitif and a sandwich to nibble.  The drink of choice was a spritz- a dry. sparkling prosecco wine with some aperol spirits which gives it a distinctive orange colour.

Spritz at the bar Al Merca

Then it was off to dinner where we had the best meal of our entire trip- fresh pasta, fresh seafood and a nice espresso.

Balsamic orecchiette with ham

Balsamic shrimp

Mussels and pasta

Liver and onions with toasted potato bread

The next day started with a visit to the food market which was full of fresh fruit and of course, seafood.  We went past the square which we had stopped for a drink the previous night to find it mostly underwater.  

We wandered some more, walked over the Rialto Bridge and did a bit of souvenir shopping.  Unfortunately it was quite overcast and rainy, and the wind was chilling, but it was still really nice to walk around.  We also took a ride along the Grand Canal on the vaporetto- not just a poor man's version of a gondolier ride, but also warmer, drier and sheltered from the wind.  We also had an MP3 audio guide on my iPhone so we could listen to a description of the buildings and galleries that we sailed past.

Always time for more coffee

Rialto Bridge

Pizza for dinner