First Trip to Europe Netherlands, Belgium and Germany – Part 2

After visiting Valkenburg, we continued to my brother’s house and got a good night’s sleep. The next morning it was time for a road trip. We started off by taking a 15 minute ride to the small city of Sittard. Our first stop was an ATM machine. When traveling to Europe, the best currency exchange rate we have found is our own bank at a local ATM. Then we walked through the open air market with local produce, meat vendors, cheese shops and other stands. This was like going to the grocery store back home, except it was set up like a flea market all around a pedestrian only market square.

After browsing through the market, we stopped in a small cafe for lunch. Cappuccino is extremely popular all over Europe, and we had our first real cappuccino. I think we had gotten a paper cup, push button machine one as we exited the airport, but this was hand made, ceramic cup the size of a cereal bowl, real cappuccino. Excellent!! I ordered mushroom croquettes for my lunch, that may not be what they were called on the menu, but that’s what they were.

About half way through the first one, I bit into something hard. This is not unusual for me, I’m the guy that always gets the single bone or knuckle in the chicken salad, but mushrooms don’t have bones or knuckles! It turned out to be the connection end of a bright yellow zip tie!! Fresh, handmade from local produce, something came zip tied and when the zip tie got cut, that end got lost in the mix. No harm, no foul, but it left me with a lasting memory.

Dreilandenpunt, Henri-Chapelle and Val Dieu

Dreilandenpunt

After lunch, we traveled to the southernmost tip of the Netherlands to a point where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany all meet called Dreilandenpunt. There is a small obelisk that stands on the point where the borders meet, and you can stand in all three countries at once.

I had a lot more pictures of this area, but now I can’t seem to locate them. At the time of writing this, we were on this trip 5½ years ago, 3 or 4 computers ago and 3 or 4 phones ago. That is still no excuse to not keep better track of the photos from our trips. So, after doing the digital gymnastics trying to find all the pictures from trips in the past, I went and bought a flash drive, specifically to store photos. Now I will probably lose the flash drive.

At this location there is an observation tower that we rode the elevator to the top, and took in the views. It was very windy, cold and snowing when we got to the top, but we walked around the observation deck and looked out over the landscape of all 3 countries. On the Netherlands side there is a maze that you can see between my elbow and the frosty binoculars in the photo of Gram and me.

Looking out at the Germany side, you can see the skyline of the city of Aachen, which we will get to a bit later. To the southwest is Belgium where you can see the Ardennes Forest and Henri-Chapelle, which is where we are heading next.

Henri-Chapelle, Belgium

Henri-Chapelle is an American military cemetery and memorial where 7992 US soldiers are buried. These troops were mostly killed in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII in the local area. There is a certain feeling that you get at places like this. I have felt it at very few places, Gettysburg battlefield, Arlington National Cemetery, Ground Zero in New York City, the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pa and of course, here at Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. It’s that haunted, solemn, eerie feeling that is hard to describe, but when you feel it, you know.

Val Dieu, Aubel, Belgium

A short distance from Henri-Chapelle is Val-Dieu Abbey. This Cistercian monastery was founded in 1216 by monks who moved to the uninhabited valley and began clearing the land to establish their remote community. The last 3 monks at Val-Dieu left in 2001, but the abbey is still run and maintained by a Christian community associated with the Cistercian Order.

In Belgium, monks, abbeys and monasteries mean beer! That is why we are here. We visited the chapel first, which being the first church we visited, seemed like a cathedral. That assumption would soon be shattered when we visited some actual cathedrals later on in the trip. After our self-guided tour of the chapel, we headed to the basement for a snack and a beer.

My brother and I both went for the Grand Cru. The name Grand Cru goes back to a grading system for champagne and essentially means the best, or highest quality. Val-Dieu Grand Cru is a dark strong ale weighing in at a whopping 10.5% ABV! In side by side comparisons, it is definitely the best, in my opinion. They also produce a blonde ale, a seasonal Christmas ale, and a Trippel. All are very good, but Grand Cru is, well, Grand Cru. Between the four of us we sampled a meat and cheese plate, made at the Abbey, and some dessert crepes also made on site with chocolate and caramel drizzled on top.

Gulpener BrouwLokaal

After Val-Dieu, we stopped for dinner in Gulpen, NL, at a brewery/restaurant called Gulpener BrouwLokaal. This business sources all of its ingredients from producers within 30 miles of its location. Everything is very fresh and delicious. They make the Gulpener brand of beer on site and have a good selection of food on the menu. When we were there they offered a “Brewer’s recommendation” dinner for 2, but that is all the information you get. It’s a mystery daily special, so my brother and I “rolled the dice” and it was awesome! 3 or 4 different meats, 2 or 3 different potato dishes, and sides too. I don’t remember exactly what we got, but I do know, if I ever go back, I will order that again!

Dusseldorf, Germany

Day 3 we headed out for Dusseldorf, Germany. We had a walking tour scheduled for the evening with Altbier Safari tours. Before the beer tour, we visited what remained of the Christmas Market.

Weihnachtsmarkt

This open air market had booths that completely filled the Marktplatz (market place). It was 4 days after Christmas, so most of the stands were closed, but a few were still open. The Glühwein (Mulled wine) stand was my favorite. They had a huge pot on a turkey fryer burner that was filled with gallons of delicious spiced red wine. Served in a little snowman shaped souvenir cup, it warmed your hands and your insides.

Altstadt

The Aldstadt is the old city, this is the area of Dusseldorf that we visited. It has many very old buildings, cobblestone streets and plazas and sits tight up to the Rhine River. We looked around, took pictures and then made our way to get some dinner before the beer tour.

Altbier walking tour

Altbier is the local style of beer in Dusseldorf, and we are off on a walking tour to show us more about it. This tour took us to 5 different brewpubs that all make the same style of beer, Altbier. They all have their own method of brewing, and each beer is a bit different from the others, even though they are all the same style of beer. We did a lot of walking that evening, but apparently not a lot of picture taking. The only one I could find was this one of me in a beer tent at a table full of Germans.

I want to get this one posted, so there is going to be a part 3 of Our First Trip to Europe. In that one hopefully I can wrap this trip up. After that is Ireland, some more from Germany (a second trip), Switzerland, France, Austria and England for Europe. I am also planning on writing about trips we have done here in the States as well. Stay Tuned!!

If you somehow landed here before Our first Trip to Europe – Part 1, click the name to read the beginning of the story!

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