Decisions and Final Plans

 

 

 

Some time in July or August my sister, Cathy, said she wanted to go to see the Christmas markets in Germany.  I asked her when she wanted to go.  Her answer was in December.  I asked if she was talking about this coming December.  She was!!  I was surprised but immediately game.  It has been just over a year since my last trip over to Europe but that didn't matter.

No sooner had I jumped on the bandwagon, I realized it meant lots of planning - figuring out dates, trains, flights, hotels, what to see but most important where to go in Germany.  I've been there so many times, I had to find a city with history that I hadn't been to.  Pickings are getting very slim now.  I'm not bragging just stating fact.  For anyone that knows me, they know I love Germany so have gone there almost once a year for about 10 years now. 

I decided we'd go to Dresden and Leipzig.  Both cities seem interesting and have wonderful Christmas markets.  We're also going to the Netherlands.  We're staying in Amsterdam and Heerlen.  Heerlen what is that?  That's a city where my friend, Heidi, lives.  Heidi is a former Lahr brat.  That's what Canadian Forces kids who lived in Lahr, Germany are called.  Heidi's dad and mine were in the Canadian Armed Forces.  They were posted there which meant the family moved to Lahr.  Heidi and I didn't cross paths but it doesn't matter when you're a Lahr brat.  To this day and because of the Facebook, many Lahr brats reconnected or have gotten to know each other.  That's how Heidi and I met.  I visited her when she was teaching school in St. Andrew's By the Sea in New Brunswick.  This past summer, she got a job teaching in Heerlen which is about 2 hours outside of Amsterdam.  Phew!!!  Long winded story to explain why we're going for four days to Heerlen.  The plan right now is to also do a side trip to Aachen, France.

The wonderful thing about Europe is that most countries are within a train ride from each other.  Travelling by train is relatively inexpensive as well.  One thing we're doing this trip is flying from Leipzig to Amsterdam instead of taking the train.  To take the train would have taken about eight hours and transferring to several different trains.  To fly it takes just over an hour and is a direct flight.  The difference between the cost of a ticket was minimal so I decided we'd fly to Amsterdam.

People think taking a train would be a way to see different towns as you ride by.  That isn't the case.  Most train tracks run through miles and miles of fields and outside of any town.  Berms have been built on both sides of the track to help deaden the sound of trains that are close to any kind of population.  You don't see much of anything except trees and fields with a dash of water if you're near it.  When you do get close to a town, you're on the outside of it.  Nothing to see except for a few buildings and then you're into the train station.  I guess what I'm saying is if you're taking a short trip to go to a town near where you're staying, take the train.  If it's more than a couple hours, check airfare prices.  Europe has fantastic prices to fly to different cities.

So that's the destinations we're heading to.  This is Cathy's first time visiting the Christmas markets.  It is going to be fun seeing her reaction to them when we go at night time.  The kiosks will be lit with lots of lights.  It really is quite beautiful.

 The picture below was found on the internet.  It shows you the Streizelmarkt in Dresden at night.

 

 It is only four days until we fly out of Victoria, BC.  It'll take a long time to get there because we have long waits in a couple of airports.  Flying time, however, is about nine hours.  We leave Victoria on November 27 and arrive in Dresden on November 28.

The plan at the moment is to get some sleep at our hotel on the 28th and hit the ground running on November 29th.

Right now, I have started to put items together that I will put in my suitcase.  I am going to travel as lightly as possible this trip.  Only 3 pairs of pants, jackets, shoes, toiletries, some tops and lots of socks and underwear.  I don't want to have to lug a heavy suitcase onto trains.  I'll let you know if I was successful.

My suitcase is packed.  What I found surprising is that even though I took a minimal amount of clothes, the suitcase is quite full.  It's the things like toiletries, a hairdryer, etc. that take up space in a suitcase.  The suitcase still feels quite light though.  That's what is most important.