Seeking Santa

Who does a 2 day road trip to Germany from England?!?! We do! That's who!  All our British friends thought we were nuts but we are from a driving culture and since we have little time to spare we managed to do a quick 2 day drive through England, France, Belgium and into Germany for their world class Christmas markets.

Cologne or Koln

Anyway, we wanted to go see what all the hub bub was about. Everyone here talks about these markets.  And after going, I would HIGHLY!!! recommend them. The drive was 4 hours once in France. The same distance from Maryland to NYC. We hardly bought anything apart from amazing German food.  So we will need to go back next year to purchase some German souvenirs. But the food is really great!

Back in 2009 when we went to Germany on our Honeymoon trip we discovered that German food was unique to the region and very very tasty. For some reason when your there German sausage and sauerkraut is so much better. Pretzels are fresh, cookies and candy are made in front of your eyes. And let's not even get started on the delicious beverage options. Mulled wine, Jaeger in the streets, beer and the whole nine yards!

Champions aka Mushrooms

Aachen

We ended up going to 2 market towns.  Cologne, voted #1 Christmas market, and Aachen. Both were great and after getting our fill of the markets we headed back into Belgium and stayed in a small hilly village.  I would say that Belgium is by far my favorite country so far. We've been there a hand full of times and every time is a wonderful experience. They speak a mix of French and Flemish making it a very diverse place.

Gent

This go around we stopped in Gent and Brugge on the way back to the train. Our first time in Gent and it didn't disappoint. Very beautiful city and lots of history. After lunch in Gent we headed to my favorite, Brugge. We've been to Brugge so many times that I feel like I know the city in and out. We made our way to our favorite beer stop and picked up a good selection for the holidays.

Back on the train and a quick 35 minutes under the sea and we were back in England! No official Saint Nick spotting but we did it! Done and done and now we know that it's possible to do quick European weekend travel with a 1 year old. The possibilities always seem so endless.