To get home for the holidays we booked frequent flier tickets with our American Airlines miles. The OneWorld Partner airline that flies out of Amsterdam is British Airways and imposes major taxes and fees on top of the miles needed (talk about no taxation without representation!). So I did a lot of research (pre-Jude when I had that kind of time!) and found out that we could fly AirBerlin out of Dusseldorf, a 2 hour train ride away, for practically free. I'd always wanted to see the German Christmas markets so it was a no-brainer. The train ride on Monday was really easy. We booked a "family compartment" on the train and had a huge, 6-7 seater compartment to ourselves. Good thing because Jude recently discovered his "screech" and it is not pleasant on the ears!
Most of our European trips so far have involved AirBnB stays, which is great when traveling with friends/family and with the baby. That way there is somewhere to hang out after Jude goes to bed (
when his travel crib doesn't fit in the bathroom that is :)). I couldn't find any good options in Dusseldorf so I reluctantly booked a hotel. There is something to be said for arriving to a destination and having a receptionist greet you and give you maps and local advice. We also had free reign of the breakfast room below so we could have dinner and relax while watching the baby monitor.
For our two day trip we had two things we wanted to do: check out the various Christmas markets (me) and sample the local beer (Pete). On day one we checked out 4 small markets in Dusseldorf. The best part was the Gluhwein (spiced, hot wine), served in souvenir mugs, unique to each individual market. You paid a 2-3 euro deposit for the mug and then it was up to you whether to keep it or return it. I held out and settled on one from Cologne the following day. The Gluhwein really made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside! In between perusing stalls at the markets, we sampled local specialties: Bratwurst and Reibekuchen (fried potato fritters). We also made stops at 3 local breweries to try the beer of Dusseldorf: Alt beer. Pete says he'll do another guest post so I'll let him tell you about that! He diligently took tasting notes to describe the beers. I, meanwhile, took note of how the servers (all male) treated Jude :) At two of the three, the servers went out of their way to chat with Jude, pick him up, play peek-a-boo with him and various other silly games. I for one won't remember what the beers tasted like, but will always remember that service!
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| Along the Rhein |
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| Jude, starting his coaster collection early |
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| Enjoying Alt Beer |
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| Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire |
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