Nothing Says Belgium Like Chocolate and Baroque Buildings

We all made it to Belgium. It was a cold trip, but we did it! We made a quick stop in Ghent. The whole plan was to eat Chinese Dumplings there, but the place we had picked was only allowing people in with reservations. So it was a quick stop. Much like Brussels, Ghent is a beautiful city. We walked around the streets for an hour. I found a haberdashery and bought a hat (HAHA). Then we were on our way! 

Then we were off to Brussels. The plan was to see the Christmas Markets. Online it said that all the Markets were open until the end of the first week of January. It was raining and cold, but we walked around the city to find the markets. All of them were closed but one! By then my Muggles were ready to eat! 

We thought it was fun to see the arcades of Brussels and walk through the shops. We stopped, of course in all of the chocolate stores along the way! 

In our hotel room there were photos of Brussels. One of the large photos above the sofa was of the Atomium that was built for a World's Fair years ago. They wanted to see it in real life, so we drove over one morning and looked at it! It was really great to see. You can go up inside of it, but the line for tickets was SOOOO long, we opted to walk around it and then move on. 

It was cool to see the NATO Headquarters as we were driving around. 

 We loved seeing the Brussels Christmas light presentation at the main square. 

Even after not making it to the dumplings in Ghent, we found a REALLY delicious Korean place. It was SUCH good food. 

Lights, good food, a clean room, good friends, and a warm bed...that made a win for Belgium! 

Honoring the Greats In Aachen

We kick started our year with travel. The first day of the year was our first trip! We had some friends visiting Europe and we decided to tag a long on part of their trip. They are a great family to travel with and we have had fun traveling together throughout the year last year. The trip was taking us to Belgium and along the way was Aachen, Germany. 

We needed a place to stop that was about halfway and Aachen was the place. Many people comment on Aachen as a historical place to visit. The history of Aachen goes back to Roman times and the of course covers the Medieval period too. The first Holy Roman Emperor Charlamagne (who also spent plenty of time in Frankfurt) is entombed here in Aachen. 

It was SO COLD and the wind blew through the narrow old city streets so we were all frozen walking around. Because it was the first of the year there were not many things open, but we were still able to see the town square and go into the Dom. 

 

We passed this 'puppet' fountain on one of the side streets. The water, due to the freezing cold, was turned off. But you could still mold the puppets into whatever positions you wanted. We thought that the puppets looked so haunted. 

Everywhere we went there were Christ statues honoring some historical event. 

Inside the Dom we were amazed by the beauty. It seemed to be a mixture of Gothic and Byzantine architecture and art styles. Parts of it reminded me of great Doms around the world. Other aspects reminded me of details in the Aya Sophia. 

The tile mosaics on the floors, walls, and ceiling were breathtaking. 

The gold tomb in the back is holding  relics of Jesus. It is said to be a shrine to Mary and holding Jesus' baby swaddling clothes, the dress of Mary, and the material that held the head of John the Baptist. 

This statue is a revered and ancient statue of Mary and baby Jesus. 

All over Aachen you can see glass floors that show you down to the Roman foundations of the city. Even the Five Guys (yes, we ate at Five Guys in Europe. We walked all over the city center looking or another option, but everything was closed except Five Guys) had a glass floor in the basement to see the Roman ruins. 

There are two shrines in the Dom. The one for Mary and the other holding the remains of Charlamagne 

While it was a 'pit-stop' along the way, it was a really cool one! Cool as in FREEZING cold AND cool as in awesome! Glad we made the stop so we can learn about the history of the area we live in.