Christmas Markets Galore

The hotel beds were so comfortable, thank-God because I needed some proper sleep. Also great shower and breakfast offered. We're were off at 8am to hit the Xmas markets in a few different towns. We're staying in Trier, the oldest city in Germany. Our first place to visit was Koblenz, about an hour away. More time on the bus - dear God.

Koblenz is a city that is situated where the Rhine and Moselle Rivers meet and at this point there is a massive monument of Emperor William I on horseback - it's quite impressive.

Just beside this monument stands 3 pieces of the Berlin wall - as you'll see from my pictures. After being a tourist and taking many pictures, Stacey and I headed into town to discover these amazing Christmas markets Germany is famous for.

The architecture here is so neat, I love it. The markets are set up in several places around the city center and are little wooden sheds open as kiosks. There is never ending food and drink as well. I quickly learned the German food is fantastic. So much variety rather than your typical burger and fries. Stacey and I sampled one of the desert like items. It was like a pancake with apple slices folded into it. The guy warmed it and served it with sugar sprinkled on top. It was so good.

Next was our wine tasting in Winnigen. We went to this very neat, cozy winery/vineyard. The couple who own the vineyard have built a small pub/restaurant like service on their property where they hold their wine tastings. It is a very welcoming place. The wine wasn't anything I like as most of it was white, but it was still a neat experience to have a German explain his wines to us.

Next we're on our way to Cochem, a small market town about 30 minutes away. This town was also kited out with Xmas market kiosks and food. Here, Stacey and I tried their deep friend potato pancake something or other. I have no idea what anything was called and even if I did, I'd never be able to pronounce it or spell it. This potato thing wasn't great as it was soaked in grease. Better luck next time. Cochem is also nestled alongside a river and has narrow little streets in its town center. There's also a castle that sits on the hill overlooking the town.

The last stop for the evening is Bernkastel. Wow! There's a huge building outfitted as an advent calendar! It's was amazing all lit up. Each window was decorated to look like a day on the calendar. Impressive. Another very cool town with quaint, narrow streets. By this point we are all starving so we all split up to go grab some grub. Stacey and I went to the first restaurant we saw that looked pretty decent. The atmosphere was great and the food fantastic. We had a great time relaxing and chatting and listening the the German chatter around us. By the time we were finished eating, all the markets were closed so we walked around with a few of the other girls and took in the sights.

We landed back at the hotel around 10pm. Stacey visited my room for more chatting and checking out what we bought.