Our European Adventure – December 2014

Where do I begin! Europe at Christmas time is just remarkable – there is nothing else like it!

We started in Amsterdam for a couple of nights, and on the second day I had to buy myself a warmer jacket because I underestimated exactly how cold and biting the weather gets! It was the Festival of Lights when we arrived so we went on a canal cruise which was beautiful. We did so much walking in Amsterdam – it’s such a great city to just watch the world go by, try out different cafes (not coffeeshops!) and enjoy the canals. We also went to the hidden Church which is a Catholic Church that was hidden inside apartment buildings.

Then we caught an overnight train to Munich which was such a cool city to experience! My favourite moment was catching the train into Marienplatz at night, on our way to a Bayern Munich soccer game, and walking into the Christmas markets next to the Glockenspiel, with Carolers singing over the square from the old building. It was so magical, like I had gone back in time, and felt like a true white Christmas experience (unfortunately without any snow!). I discovered a new favourite drink – Lamumba, which is hot chocolate with rum and whipped cream! We did a lot of different Christmas markets, and stayed in two different places – a hotel in Messestadt West, and then an airbnb apartment on RumfordstraBe street which was perfect – right next to Gartnerplatz. We visited Dachau Concentration Camp which was a very sobering experience, but something that we both wanted to see for ourselves.

We also popped across the border for a day trip to Salzburg Austria, the home of Mozart and the Sound of Music! We did the music tour which showed many of the places from the movie, and also went to more Christmas markets. The Dom Cathedral is spectacular there, we spent lots of time looking at the ceiling which had beautiful works painted on them. Right outside was an outdoors iceskating rink which was very popular.

Then off to Strasbourg, on the border of France and Germany. Strasbourg is the home of European Christmas markets – and we went to every single one of them!!! Notre Dame is this incredible gothic church that is so tall, it’s difficult to get a photo of the whole thing. We ate many pretzels, including the sucre bretzel – basically a donut in pretzel shape – my favourite thing ever! Murray surprised me with tickets to the Opera in our own private box, and we saw La Vie Parissienne. Although we can’t speak French, nor read the German subtitles, we understood the Opera thanks to the vaudeville nature of the show.

Finally we flew to Paris to spend Christmas Eve and off to the ballet to see the Nutcracker or ‘Casse Noisette’ as the French call it. It was amazing. There are no words that can accurately describe the spectacle. We spent Christmas Day having a long decadent lunch in the Latin Quarter overlooking Notre Dame, and then walked through the city. After a quick nap, we went down to the Champs Elysees, where they had Christmas markets set up all the way from Concorde to the main shopping area – even an ice skating rink had been set up! It was delightful, and a festive way to finish our day. We visited Montrmartre, Montparnasse Tower, Le Forum des Halles, and did lots of window shopping and Café’s which was perfect after a couple of very busy weeks.

We made our way back to Amsterdam and I ended up getting a facebook message from my cousin who lives in Perth, that they were in Amsterdam at the same time and did we want to catch up for dinner? Perfect timing – we were staying only 500 metres away from each other so we all went out for tapas and many drinks. We finished off the holiday with trips to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, before flying back home on New Years Eve/New Years Day. We got to celebrate the new year over Iran with champagne and party hats thanks to our awesome Garuda hostesses.

I can't wait to be able to go again!