HaveBeen: Trier (Germany)

 

First of all; meet my new duck:

 

 

He's a pilot and he has joined the traveling team last Saturday. He's a German duck who, as it turns out, is not able to squeak like other rubber ducks (he's a duck of little words). But al least he looks cute in pictures, and that's what really matters. 

 

So back t Germany, Trier to be exact. This is a city I visit a lot. It's close to Luxembourg, things are cheaper there and you always feel like you had a day out when you go there. It's often my alternative for when I want to go on a trip in the weekend but did not really plan ahead.  

 

 

 

 

Trier is the oldest city of Germany (at least, so I've been told). It has a lot of pretty looking buildings in the city centre, some like giant doll houses. And in just a short walk, you can reach the Moselle river or the vineyards (photo's are stuck on my old laptop that does not want to start anymore).

 

 

 

 

 

 

A walk into the other direction brings you to some beautiful gardens and the old Roman amphitheatre. This place is really cool. You can walk through the underground tunnels but also into the arena itself. When you speak out loud in the middle of the theatre, it sounds loud as if you were using a microphone. Very convenient when you lose your friends. In the summer, you can do guided tours with a guide that is dressed like a gladiator (=almost naked man).

 

 

 

 

Next to a touristic visit, Trier is a good shopping destination (at least for people living in Luxembourg). There are many shops available and a large number of bars and restaurants to take a break and rest a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

Also, there seem to be a lot of events going on in Trier. During the summer there were DJs playing at the river where people have BBQs and hang out when the weather is nice. One time when I was visiting there was a free open air festival with some really nice bands. Also, the big mall always has something to do inside. Around Easter there eggs beings hatched (baby chicks, so cute!) and last week there was a exhibition about reptiles (these were real) and dinosaurs.

 

 

 

My duck almost got taken (ducknapped?) by a little kid when I was trying to take this picture. My friend thought that was pretty hilarious. Maybe I should have chosen a photo bombing item that looks less like a toy.

 

 

Speaking about the events of Trier; one of my favourite events is coming up: The Christmas Market. I don't know why I like the market in Trier more that other Christmas markets, but I kind of do. Everything looks extra cute when it's dark and there are lights all around.  

 

 

 

Plus it's the only place where I have ever eaten one of these things:

 

 

It tastes so much better than it looks! And it goes very well with some Glühwein. Next to that there are many other nice foods and drinks at the market, which you can all consume accompanied by some nice Christmasey music (I love Christmas music, but I only allow myself to play it in December to avoid annoying other people). Because of the bad weather all of August, I feel like December is really close already (I was contemplating getting my winter clothes out this weekend), but my beloved Christmas market is still a while away.

 

 

In the meantime I will probably (ok, surely, one visit is already planned) pay Trier a non-Christmas market visit it well.

 

 

And luckily I also planned some more exciting trips for myself. I am very excited to go to Porto just two short weeks from now. Can't wait!

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the Netherlands: Maastricht - Rotterdam - Concert

Last week I was back home again for a while. I might live fairly close if you look at the distance, but its a whole journey if you have to take public transport. To get home with a stop in Maastricht, I used a grand total of SEVEN different tickets. Partly because of the tickets I already had, party because of rules (it's not allowed to leave the train in the middle of your journey so I needed to split that ticket in two) and party to save a bit of money (pubic transport in the Netherlands AGAIN since last time I was there). This whole process also took around 7 hours of sitting in rains and busses. That reminds me again why I cant go home so often.

 

 

So, the first stop; Maastricht.

 

 

 

 

I needed to go here to arrange some paper work, so why not turn it into a small sign seeing trip with a friend? The last time I was here was in high school, about 10 years ago. The only thing I can remember is that I ordered a waffle and while the waffle maker was making it we were already too late for the meeting at the busses to go back so we just started walking really fast, leaving the waffle behind.

 

 

 

 

 

The size of the train station on Maastricht really surprised me. It is so small. I imagined it a lot bigger considering the city itself is quite big. But it's a cute and pretty station, just like the rest of the city centre is. Most buildings are quite old and the streets are paved with small cobble stones. That gives the city a very nice atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

Maastricht has is full of restaurants, bars and terraces (many a bit to many of the latter because the was barely any space to walk between all the tables and chairs). So there are plenty of opportunities to relax after sightseeing or shopping in the many available shops.

 

 

 

I did not see a whole lot because of the limited time I had with the admin things that needed to be done, but it was a nice visit nevertheless.

 

 

Next stop; Rotterdam. I have to admit that the main goal changed into a shopping almost immediately after we arrived at the train station since it was raining so much at that moment. So before visiting the main city, we paid a visit to Rotterdam Alexander, where the big shopping mall is. I managed to not overdo it (also knowing that I would have to get all the things back to Luxembourg eventually).

After some post-shopping rest we continued on to the city centre, where the weather had improved a bit in the mean time.

 

 

 

 

I was pretty overwhelmed by the huge amount of shops and restaurants available the in centre (I guess I am used to the size of Luxembourg now), there is just so much! What was also pretty cool was this new market building (building on the right on the photo below). The grey part contains apartments and in the middle there will be an indoor market (it's not open yet). The apartments of the top of the building have see-through floors (one way only) so the people who live there can spy on the shoppers all day long. I would like to go inside to see it but that was not possible yet.

 

 

 

 

For dinner we ate at a vegetarian buffet where you can tae all the food you want and just pay according to the weight of the food. The food there is so great! I had not heard of half of the ingredients, but all was very delicious and supposedly also very healthy.

 

 

 

 

Rotterdam has many art works on the street and a lot of interesting architecture. I really liked the vide of the city and I really want to visit again for some proper sight seeing. 

 

 

 

And then there was also this really cool thing I did on my Saturday night in the Netherlands. A friend invited me to go to a living room concert with some people I used to study with. It was a concert of Bart Voncken (https://www.facebook.com/bartvonckenmusic), who used to be a member of the band K-otic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Jakp2Bh5k , seeing this video again makes me really laugh btw). This back was really popular in the Netherland when I was in high school. Bart came to the house of one person of the group with his guitars and played a private concert there. I did not know what to expect at all. But it was so very great! The songs were good, the atmosphere relax and fun and Bart was very nice and, as we say n the Netherlands, gezellig. I would really recommend this!

 

 

And these were the highlights of my short week back home.

 

 

 

 

 

ToDo - Food! (All over Europe) Part 3

Time for more food moments! Oh these lovely times. 

This was in Brussels, in a restaurant close to the parliament. It was stuffed chicken with raisins and herbs etc. Tasted a lot better than it looks.

This is a Czech speciality I ate in Prague. It's a sort of party with almond and cinnamon baked on a wooden stick above charcoal. Really sweet and tasty.

I got this fancy little cake at the ICT Spring conference. I got a free ticket to that because one of the organizers gave a lecture to my class when I was in my masters.

 

 

I love this cute cup I drank my chai latte from in Brugge.

This was my lunch when I was flying to Istanbul. There even was a small bottle of Turkish wine. definitely an upgrade from my usual low cost airline flights.

First food after arriving in Istanbul. On the left dome vine leave rolls (one of my favourites), in the middle a dish with chicken, cheese and tomato sauce and on the right my all time favourite; Ayran (drink yogurt).

 

This was a strange kind of liquid lolly pop I ate in Istanbul. You could choose the flavours you wanted and the man would just wrap them around the stick. Very sticky and messy.

 

Stuffed jacked potato in Istanbul. The potato is a lot bigger than the ones you usually get in England and the filling is very different as you can see (different combinations are possible).  

Yet another Turkish dish; very delicious!

This was one of the starters we got in Bosnia. It's fried dough with different types of cheese. So very amazing! This whole mountain of food was supposed to be the starter for one person but we could not even finish it with the three of us.

 

 

While eating that amazing starter above, we were sitting on the balcony of the restaurant, enjoying this amazing view.

 

 

Another starter we got in Bosnia. Some really tasty mushrooms.

 

 

This pizza we got from a small bakery in Sarajevo. They don't do different flavours there, just vegetarian or with meat. So its a bit of a surprise what you get. But the taste is great for sure.

 

 

 

Hmmm, I do realize I take a lot of food pictures. I do regret the day I walk into one of those restaurants that forbid you to take food pictures.