Christmas Caves

 On Sunday, before we went to Snow World, we stopped in Valkenburg in the Netherlands for their Christmas Caves.  Almost every town in Europe (at least in our area) has a Christmas market.  These are primarily located in the town squares.

In Valkenburg, the market is located in caves below the downtown.  The caves are decorated for Christmas with trees, lights, Santas, and manger scenes.  This was Flat Stanley 2's first time out, as you can see he is not as photogenic as Stanley 1.

Given the enclosed nature of the market, there is controlled access to the market.  Even so, we found it to be crowded and that we were constantly struggling to make our way through the caves.

On the plus side, it was far warmer than an outside market and there wasn't any wind.

I enjoyed the unique atmosphere of the Christmas Cave.  I was disappointed that the merchandise for sale was not very special. I had hoped to see hand-crafted goods, but the majority of the goods were things you could buy in a store.

Kyra found some of those bracelets that are popular among school kids these days.  Apparently the animal shapes are numerous and easy to find, but she found fruit shaped bracelets which she called "rare."  She was willing to pay a euro for the purchase.

Allen spent more - 10 euro.  He found a non-sport watch that he wanted.  It was a pretty good deal, as the seller removed the extra links so it fit him and threw in an extra watch battery.  Allen was pleased with his purchase.

I told the kids that we couldn't leave the caves until I took a photo of them.  Can you tell which kid was the least thrilled by the experience?

Empire Market at Waterloo

Every couple of weeks, the Belgian tourism office sends out an email with information about events taking place in and around the region.

A few weeks ago the email mentioned an Empire Market at Waterloo.  I clicked on the website link and saw photos of costumed re-enactors and some merchants selling period stuff.  It looked like a smaller version of a Renaissance festival only different time period.

As it wasn't far away (30 minute drive) I thought it was worth checking out.  Neither kid was interested (big surprise) so Kyle and I didn't take them.

The main landmark of Waterloo is this lion - the site is called "But (pronounced "boo" in French) de Lion" which all Americans call "Lion's But."  This huge hill and its lion statue were built by the nations that defeated Napoleon in this location.

At its foot was the Empire Market, which was as pictured.  There were re-enactors and tents and merchants.  What I couldn't tell from the website but could determine from being there was that the four photos on the website were the sum total of the market.  There were about six guys dressed as soldiers, four tents, a couple of wagons and four market stalls.

That was it.  Kyle and I were really glad we hadn't made the kids come.

So we spent about five minutes at the market, climbed to the top of Le But de Lion, looked over the fields of Waterloo, visited the panorama and then went home.