Parlé vous Franćais? Christmas (Noél) in France

We started our drive from Nuremberg, Germany to Strasbourg, France a little later than we would have liked. The drive was fairly uneventful except for the moment we saw a man riding his horse over an overpass bridge. Not something I would see everyday, so it really entertained me. Freeway driving is straight and fast but we had the occasional castle to see in the distance and plenty of options to turn off if we had the time.

We stayed out of central city Strasbourg. Our hotel; The Kyriad, was just 10 steps from the main transport tram Line B which took us to the doorstep of the many Christmas markets scattered around Strasbourg. For €6, both of us had unlimited transport for the next 24 hrs of sightseeing.

Our Christmas Eve feast was a little far South of our traditional feast. No baked ham or roasts, no salad or veg platters, and definitely no festive spirit. Instead, we took the tram into town at 6pm to check out the markets, only for me to open the market guide and read they closed at 6. Then when we arrived, we read in French that the last trams out of the city back to the hotel left at 7….so it was a brisk walk around and more of a test to see if we could use the transport system than any actual sightseeing. For our dinner feast, we had picked up a giant loaf of bread with salami, cheese and mayo from Aldi that morning, and that served as lunch and dinner with everything closing down for Christmas. We managed to build ourselves a mini Christmas tree using a kettle and other items to put the very few presents we had for each other underneath. It really was a sad affair, but still more than I experienced in Nepal last year.

One of my favourite parts about walking around this city was that every alley/narrow road presented a new hidden treasure. On our mini walk the first night we got off the tram knowing that there were supposed to be markets in the area but otherwise didn’t really have a clue what was around us. As we walked around the corner from the station we were faced with the focus point of the markets, the 30 metre tall real Christmas tree.

After we took this sight in we, walked around the same direction the crowd was headed. Just around the corner I turned to the left off the Main Street and was faced with this beauty.

The Cathedrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg

Throughout the next day I walked past this same street again and ended up inside the cathedral, but it was this view point that I loved the most.

Inside this gothic architectural masterpiece stands an Astonomical clock that draws crowds large enough that actually getting to view it can be difficult. But get in early before the quarter, half or full hour and wait for a sight and sounds to remember.

Christmas Day
Most of Strasbourg had shut down for the holidays to celebrate. We decided to wake up, open our presents, and then head into town and walk the streets and sights the didn’t require entry.

We started at the Barrage Vauban. This old bridge is now known as the Tombs and contains statues and pieces of stone carvings that are slowly being put back together and reconstructed to their original shape and form. Located at the edge of La Petite France, you can climb the steps to walk along the top and have an overtop view across Ponts Couverts and La Petite France. From here you can also see the branches of the River L’Ill coming together and a series of open and closed Bridges near and far.

Working on the Perfect Angle……

Walking through La Petite France was beautiful. The streets are narrow enough that car traffic was very rare today which made walking around calming. We walked without a map or clue as to where we were going, so around every corner was a surprise and hidden treasure to be found. This small part of town is full of half timbered housing that make you feel like you are walking through the streets of history. Multi storied houses (some a little crooked), with tessellated windows and moss covered roofs.

Meaghs taking a moonlit stroll around the River L’ill

Walking one of the many bridges in La Petite France, this gem sits in the middle of the River L’Ill

Being Christmas Day, market stall owners were given the option to be open today. Several opened up, but the feeling we had walking through was very different to the other markets of this week.

After several hours of wandering we walked a little out of the main tourist areas (as they were starting to get fairly busy), and went to find some food. We came across a little restaurant on a corner named Flams. As we looked through the window with numb hands, feet and ears, we saw waitresses walking around in t-shirts. If that isn’t a sign to go in and warm up, I didn’t know what was. So inside we went to receive a LAVISH three course meal with champagne, for €17 each. After an egg and bacon salad entree, all you can eat pizza and a blueberry tart for dessert we rolled out with full bellies, warm toes and big smiles thinking that felt more like Christmas.

Meaghs loving Course One of our Christmas Feast!

Strasbourg was a small magical city full of history and character.  It is surrounded by the tranquil setting of Les Berges de L’Ill – The banks of the River L’ Ill. Even with so many things closed for Christmas, we managed to see everything we wanted. It was an easy city to navigate using public transport, and small enough that you don’t feel like you’re ever lost when in the central area. Strasbourg turned out to be one of my favourite places so far.

Sky Street in La Petite France

Challenge: How many Christmas markets can we see in Germany in Four days

The drive from Brussels to Cologne was 211km and using my ‘nerves of steel’ to follow the speed of the traffic, went fairly quickly. We found our Hostel, The Black Sheep Hostel, and managed a cheeky parking space around the corner paying only €10 for 30hrs of parking! After a slow check-in we made our beds up in our 8 bed girls dorm and got ready to hit the town. The hostel was clean and perfectly situated within walking distance from central Cologne and all major tourist spots as well as being on a street with plenty of restaurants, bars and night time spots.

Our first stop was the main Christmas market located at the base of Cologne Cathedral. This huge piece of architecture looms hight up into the sky and makes a perfect backdrop for magical Christmas setting. We wandered the market with the rest of Cologne and many more tourists, all the time aware of the giant spires looming above and the twinkling lights around us.  As it was a frosty night we indulged in a warm fruity style beverage in one of the festive mugs for this market.  Every market we have been to on the trip has its own individual mug for their Gluewhine.  As my luggage will not allow me the luxury of carrying 14 mugs home, a drink out of them and a photo was the closest I will come to keeping them. 

I managed to find one window that hadn’t been sealed off to hang out of and catch this glimpse of the Christmas markets below.

Day Two: Cologne:
Today we did all 7 of Colognes Christmas markets in one day, and had time to climb the steeple of UNESCO World Heritage Site Cologne Cathedral. We started the day by visiting the inside of the Cologne cathedral; as churches go this is magnificent. With its stained glass windows and intricate stone carvings, it is a sight to behold.  The next best thing is the fact that access to climb into its upper body is open to the public.  For three Euro you can climb in a constant right hand turn up the 533 steps up to the 100metre viewing platform for panoramic view of the city and river below.

The view from the top was pretty spectacular, but the building itself had been defaced by graffiti and visitors names plastered onto every surface. It’s sad that we have to brand places we visit in such a permanent way.

SEVEN CHRISTMAS MARKETS OF COLOGNE

1. Christmas Market at the Cathedral

2. Village of St. Nicholas at Rudolfplatz

3. Cologne Old Town “Home of the Elves” – complete with an ice rink around the village square fountain

The Elves having just as much fun prepping for Christmas, taking a much needed break finishing their present quota a little early this year.

4. Market of Angels at Neumarkt – with its sky of star lights and magical wooden stalls

5. Cologne Harbour Christmas Market – watch as a pirate takes on children in sword fights around the giant pirate ship, views of the Reine and access to the Lindt Chocolate factory and cafe

6. Christmas Avenue at SchaafenstraBe

7. Christmas Market at the Stadtgarten – the locals market, full of food and enough Gluehwein to sink a ship.

Day Three: Cologne –> Frankfurt –> Nuremberg
We took an unexpected stopover in Frankfurt today. As Rose, our navigation system laid out our route to Nuremberg we noticed how close we were going to the major city so decided to pop in and see if we could stumble upon their Christmas markets and check out what the city had to offer. Rose managed to take us all the way to the market entry without blinking an eye. So we found a park a few streets back and wandered around for an hour before hitting the road again. The feel of the market was rustic and family orientated with its large wooden booths and double decker merry-go-round.

A little girl admiring the Nativity as the crowds thinned in a rare moment.

THE DRIVE

Along the drive there are so many little villages that have amazing castles, forts, churches and large buildings I can only imagine the purpose.  None the less they were great to keep my mind in the here and now while driving.

Day Three & Four: Nuremberg

After another simple check in at the B&B hotel we got our parking sorted for 5 Euro a night in their underground carpark.  The city at first glance was historically breathtaking. I love history and this town had it all. Right across for our hotel was the City walls that surround the Old Town of Nuremberg. Again we were walking distance to all the main things we wanted to see centrally – Markets, Old Town and Hangmans Bridge.  Tonight we just took a walk around to get a short taste of the city and the markets as they were closing early.

We spent the first three hours of our second day listening to our audio guides and watching every video inside the Nazi Documentation Centre. Set up inside the planned to be Nazi Congressional Hall is a visual history of the rise, domination and fall of the Nazi Party.
Afterwards we made our way around some of the old Nazi Rally Grounds.  The area, larger than all of old town was used to bring together hundreds of thousands of Nazi socialists and military personal for a week long display of ‘nationalistic and militaristic extravaganzas’.  We spent majority of our time at what is left of Zeppelin Field. Later known in history as the destination of the blowing up of the Swastika when US troops liberated Nuremberg.

Watch as the USA troops blow up the Swastika atop Zeppelin Field

A video to show then and now perspectives of the rally grounds used throughout Nuremberg, Germany

Zeppelin Field Grandstand – The middle of the middle is the balcony where Hitler addressed hundreds of thousands of military and Nazi supporters.

Inside the Nazi Documentation Centre – Tribute to the ones lost in Concentration/Labour camps around Europe.

Records of the Nuremberg Major War Criminals Trials.

The rest of that afternoon and night was time for some lighthearted Christmas Cheer in the giant markets scattered around major tourism attractions of Nuremberg Old Town like the Beautiful Fountain and Church of Our lady, and walking up to the Imperial Castle of Nuremberg to take a birds-eye view of the city lights.

Schönen Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) and Church of Our Lady – Main market square

Hanging out on the bridge with Christmas Tree backgrounds.

Nuremberg Old Town style houses.

Nuremberg Christmas Market Mug was one of my Favourites.

As we walked the path towards the Imperial Palace, the road/pathway was lined with hundred of people bearing lit candles all the way from central market to the Palace.  Once we managed to get through the crowds and to the top we were greater with a giant lit up christmas tree and a view that went on for miles.

Food consumed inside the markets:

Cologne:
Grilled wheel cheese scraped and spread over baguette and then later over mini baked potatoes
Marinated mushrooms and onions in a garlic sauce
Deep fried potato cakes with apple sauce
Hot chocolate with whipped cream with a Triple chocolate sponge and mousse cake at the Lindt chocolate factory cafe.
Chickpea and sausage dish

Frankfurt AU Main:
Local handcut fries….apparently they are a big deal

Nuremberg:
Bratwurst sausages on a crunchy roll for 3 meals they are just that good!
Local famous Gingerbread known as Lebkuchen
Crepes with Nutella
Boiled lollies to finish us off.

All in all, we experienced three German cities, 14 Christmas markets, and an enormous amount of ‘destination appropriate’ food over four days. An epic cruise around Germany and one that gives me cause to want to return.

NEXT STOP…..FRANCE

The ‘How-to not organise a trip’ and still manage three countries in one day

When I was a child my parents took my brother, sister and I on enough flights and holidays that each of us were infected with the Travel Bug. As we got older my siblings and I started taking our own adventures and travelling the world independently of the family. This year I have had the pleasure of trips with both siblings which brings back amazing family memories but has also been a chance to spend that extra special time together that’s become so rare.

The start of 2014 I got to slay fresh powder in Japan for 20 days with my older brother. This week I started an epic month long trip around Europe with my little sister beginning with three countries in one day. Then on the 27th of December we will be joined by our parents until mid January.

Because we are travelling with our parents the planning for this trip has been very relaxed! Not because they are planning everything….but because there is no plan. We know a few key countries, cities and places we want to see and we will be renting cars most of the trip so this month has become all about freedom of choice and keeping our plans open.

I started school holidays Friday, and Meaghs and I have 7 days before mum and dad arrive. This part of the trip took us a while to organize and book for several reasons:
1. We knew what we wanted to do (Christmas Markets), we just didn’t know where…so we looked up top Ten Christmas Markets in Europe. We knuckled it down to four out of the ten we thought we could travel between over the week.
2. Open dates of said markets varied, which meant we might have to zigzag, so transport became an issue.
3. Transport…..it is so expensive to fly or train between the areas we wanted to go so we had to look at other options….we picked a car, our own little Beasty that would hopefully see us through some interesting and fun filled days. Again, freedom to stop and see all the little roadside treasures that came our way. Only downside….my driving ability along unknown roads, in new countries, and driving on the opposite side of the road in Winter freaks us both out a little.
4. Too many options and my indecisiveness….when faced with multiple options it takes my brain a while to filter through what I think will be best. Once we had decided on cities, the options for accommodation were huge. I’m ashamed to say we looked for 8 hours one day and only booked a small fraction of the trip and we only booked our car rental the day before we left.

But we did it! We booked accommodation, cars, and organized timing to make sure we made it to each market we wanted. This week we will visit Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg before we fly to Ireland to meet our parents.

We are off to a great start on day one….five trains, one plane and a million steps between. With an early start, the first hour of travel was smooth sailing. I made a quick check with the ‘assistance’ man at Victoria station to check when the next Gatwick train was leaving to be told if we ‘scooted over, the next one leaves in two minutes’ as he pointed to the Gatwick express. So we scooted and as we approached we heard…. “Next express cancelled, all passenger to platform 19 for the train departing in one minute”…..instead of scooting we ended up running and made it on just as the doors were closing. At the airport Easyjet cap for carry on luggage is one bag only. So after some reshuffling and a walk to our gate (which felt like it was all the way back in London), we looked at a board and realized our gate was closing in 10 minutes. With no idea how much further we had to go we went for another little jog and made it with a few minutes to spare. The flight to Brussels was over just after we finished our sandwiches but the Zigzag runways and flight paths made us feel like we were in a washing machine.

Upon arrival into Brussels Airport we found our Car rental company; Budget, we were going to get a Reno and have to pay €120 for a sat nav until the point where we were highlighting all the documents and they tried to give us a manual instead of the automatic we paid for. We drove away in a new VW Golf with an inbuilt sat nav for FREE! Our little beastie has been named Theodore…Teddy for short, and our sat nav who we have already thanked countless times is called Rose. The driving wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, I think because the roads where separated into highway straight away AND the last roads I drove on where on the opposite side also.

First stop Cologne, Germany!

When the Girls join together to play!

Calli came to London!!! What happens when two best friends are reunited in a different country? One surprises the other at the airport, and then they laugh, eat, and drink to their hearts content while they explore new places together.

After the obligatory ‘Welcome Tour’ to make her and her BF Tom feel like they were in London (both have been her multiple times so we moved pretty quickly), they left me for a week on their own adventure.

On their return Calli and I went on a two-day adventure of ‘firsts’ (for me). It would be my first mini escape from London via train, my first trip out of London with Calli and my first English League Football game.

Before we could jump Into all these firsts, we grabbed train snacks from Euston station M&S (Marks and Spencers) which seemed to hold as many people as the station itself.  As we raced to the platform, Calli handed me a “deck of cards” as my tickets. Three tickets for one train ride seemed a little excessive, and we had four trains for this trip! We caught a Virgin Train from Euston to Crew and then a London Midlands train from Crewe to Liverpool. With smooth sailing we even had time for hot chocolates in Crew to boost the blood flow as the temperatures dropped.

We had a slow check in we settled into our private room at Hatters Hostel and after putting on many warm layers (making us look like marshmallows) we headed for a stroll in the rain around central Liverpool. We went to dinner in an American style restaurant called ‘Yardbird’ where I ate one of the best fried chicken burgers known to mankind!!! 

Now, to the main purpose of the trip; Football. Liverpool vs Swansea, not a huge game, but memorable non the less. Liverpool came back and fought hard for the win. My favourite part was the roar of the crowd with the winning goal….it felt like it went on forever and you couldn’t help being caught up in the excitement and roaring along with everyone else!

My second favourite was the father/son commentators sitting behind us. The banter and quick-witted comments towards player dives and referee calls made for non stop laughter.  The crowds leaving any major sporting event are always large, so we bypassed the taxi stand and took a 45 minute night stroll back into Liverpool.

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we were blessed with sunshine, so we took a stroll into Liverpool centre for breakfast at Moose Coffee for the most delicious eggs benedict. The restaurant/cafe is covered with famous paintings transformed to include a Moose head, and as it was Halloween this is what we walked into…..

We wandered around Liverpool for the next few hours checking out old buildings and hotspots while taking photos.  We strolled down to the water, across to the Beetles Store, saw a yellow submarine available for rent on the water, and pirate ships. We rode on Superlambananas and tried to find as many as we could around the city.  All together it was a chilly but great day discovering a new city.

 

The trip back to London was fairly uneventful except for the mother and two daughters who had a booze-up on the way back.  A few days later I had Calli all to myself for a whole week.  We stayed in her Hotel room in Angel, and the days I didn’t have to work were jam-packed full of fun.

We did more sightseeing….

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went for High Tea at Bea of Bloomsbury (thankyou to the nice man who seated us even though I took us to the wrong location), went shopping all over London, watched football at the local pub, and ate breakfast at Bill’s (if you have never eaten here, treat yourself to a ‘Billy’ worth of tea….it feels bottomless!).

For Halloween we went to witness a record-breaking attempt for the most amount of people to dance Michael Jacksons Thriller in Covent Garden; they didn’t break it, but they looked great!

We had a girls night out in Shoreditch where we found a rooftop Teepee Bar and the indoor Putt Putt course at ‘Swingers’.  In here we played 9 holes of brow sweating mini golf and enjoyed a delectable feast of Mac and Cheese and Deep fried Oreos from  the ‘When Mac met Cheese’ food van.

To top it all off and to end the trip we went on a late night photography mission around London.  Two tripods, two cameras, one person who had an idea of what to do with said camera (Calli), and one novice “having a go” (me).  These were some of my favourite shots from the night.

I LOVED having my girl come to visit, but it is even more exciting to know that she is moving here at the start of February.  47 days and counting….hurry up and get back!!!!