Mom and Noelle's Trip

As I said awhile back, I discovered "the guest" was going to be my cousin Noelle. I'm really excited about this. Noelle has never been to Europe, and I wanted to be sure she got to see/do what she wanted. I hounded her for two weeks making her decide where she wanted to go - offering suggestions and ideas. I think she was just really overwhelmed by all the possibilities. I told her to google image places if she wasn't sure about. She kept asking me over and over again, "Yeah... well, what would we DO there?"  Um. I don't know. Amazing stuff? I tend to either research and discover a cool place I want to go, or I decide on a destination and then do the research on it. So needless to say, I didn't have answers for most of her questions. I kept at her though - asking her repeatedly what she wanted to do. Then I realized - she would be happy with doing anything and everything. And... she honestly was just overwhelmed. So (as usual) I kind of took the reigns and made some decisions. Noelle did ultimately decide she wanted to go to Paris... so I have taken that idea and ran with it.

Thus far, here is how their trip is breaking down:

Wednesday November 21st - They arrive! This is the day before Thanksgiving, so really my only thoughts are to keep them awake and prep for Thanksgiving (as we are hosting this year).

Thursday November 22nd - Thanksgiving! Eat! I'm not sure of specifics, but we will have a minimum of about 10 people at the house, but it could climb to over 20. I guess we'll see as time gets closer.

Friday November 23rd - One thing I really want my mom and Noelle to see/experience is Christmas markets. I loved Christmas markets last year! I thought they were a lot of fun. For some reason I thought there would be more Christmas markets open and going the day after Thanksgiving (kind of like the European black Friday), but I found there were only a few which would be open. (Here is the awesome website which gave me all the info about which market will be open - it has some great pictures). Most of the markets open up the next Monday or Tuesday. However, this worked out okay. One thing Noelle does want to do is see a castle. One of the Christmas markets which will be open will be in Cochem, which has a castle. I never went to Cochem's market last year, and honestly haven't been to Cochem. Chances are the market is going to be small, but if I'm able to do a Christmas market and a castle.. well, that will work out well.

 

There is also a Christmas Market open that day in Koblenz, which we may go to as well depending on time. The market in Koblenz will definitely be bigger... 

Saturday November 24th - Josh and I were talking about ideas of things we could do/places we could go. We were trying to think of places close by we had been to and enjoyed... and decided to make a quick trip to Brussels. I enjoyed the time we went to Brussels and we have talked about going back. I think my mom would really like the architecture, sights, and vibe of Brussels. And Noelle, well, one of the great things about her is she's always up for anything. There also may be the starts of the Brussels Christmas market - I have found conflicting information about the start date. Anyway, as I started to search for a hotel, Josh told me about how a guy at his work drove about an hour into a Belgium, then took the train into Brussels. Josh had been told it was easy, a fast ride into the city, and cheap for both the train ticket and parking. I remember the last time I looked for Brussels hotels I had a hard time finding one which allowed parking. I was sold on the idea of taking the train and not worrying about parking or the car. It made my searching for a hotel easier and I was able to find a hotel more centrally located to the downtown area since we wouldn't have a car to worry about. After booking the hotel, I was cruising around online to try and find anything else to do Brussels, or ideas for Brussels. Noelle had mentioned she thought it would be fun to take a brewery tour, and Josh always enjoys the prospect of something like that. As I was searching for a brewery tour, I stumbled upon a new website and a beer tour. Viator is a website which offers tours for many cities across the world. Some of the tours are as common as an open air bus tour, or a walking historical tour. But, there are also more exciting off the beaten path tours as well, such as the beer tour. The beer tour will be a small group of people lead by a guide to different hole-in-the-wall spots in Brussels. You are then able to have different Belgian beers as the guide explains the differences in Belgian beer, the history behind it, and the brewing process. From the reviews of this tour it sounds as if you get some good history of Brussels as well as you walk to different locations. All of the reviews also said this tour was a top favorite of the people who did it. Well, here's to hoping. The tour is four hours long and in that time you get eight full sized beers. I hope my mom is "training" for this... 

Sunday November 25th - Josh's birthday! I'm really not sure what we'll do... probably wander around Brussels, see anything else my mom/Noelle wants to before heading back home. I've been a master of online shopping and have all of Josh's birthday presents wrapped up and tucked away, so when we get home he'll have a chance to open presents. 

Monday November 26th - Josh isn't going to take time off while our guests are here... which I can understand. The holidays are a popular time for a lot of people to take off, so it would have been difficult for him to get time off as well. Plus, I think he wanted to leave things open for us to have "girl time." On Monday morning we'll be taking a fast train from near where I work (so about 1.5 hours away) to Paris. The train ride should only be about 2 hours and we'll be in Paris before 10 am. Now what we'll do when we get there I'm still working out... But. Paris! 

Tuesdays November 27th - What we'll do during the day I am still working out (PARIS!). However, I have something really cool planned for this night. Thanks to Viator... I saw this tour on the website and I just couldn't get the idea out of my head. We'll have dinner at the Eiffel Tour, then do a one hour night time river cruise, and then go to the Moulin Rouge for a show. Exclamation point. I look at the whole evening as an exciting once in a lifetime experience. How fun!!! I'm really looking forward to it. 

Wednesday November 28th - More Paris. Again... not sure on specifics. Possibly the Palace of Versailles. We shall see. 

Thursday November 29th - Finish up seeing last minute things in the morning. Our train leaves Paris around 1. So basically just get home.

Friday November 30th - Noelle's birthday! How awesome she will be spending her birthday in Europe with me! Whoop whoop. I wanted to do something neat for her birthday. I think we'll drive up to Cologne (Koln in the German spelling) to do the Christmas market, shop, and see the sights. I love love LOVE Koln. I loved the Christmas market last year and thought it was really beautiful. And the Koln cathedral is hands down one of my favorites. The chances of us finding a really nice restaurant for Noelle's birthday dinner are much higher as well. 

Now for the rest of that weekend I am kind of unsure what we will do. Originally I had thought we could drive up to northern Germany to see the area where my great-grandfather is from. However, I do know it will be winter and the weather has the potential to be quite awful. The town my great-grandfather is from is also pretty small and there isn't a lot to see or do. So... I guess I'm really not sure if we'll make the trip up or not. If we don't, then we'll do more local day-trip things, more Christmas markets (if they want), things like that. Then, sadly, they leave early on Tuesday December 4th. As always, I have quite an ambitious travel plan.... I tend to over-plan and run people ragged when they get over here... but it's only because there is so much great stuff to see and do!