Oh good! I didn’t want to poo-poo your travel plans, and I don’t know Frankfurt that well. But: ugh, hated that city! (Sorry shantih) Mainly (hehe, pun) because the only time I was there because I missed a flight and had to spend a day and a night waiting. It’s not a terrible place really, but not something to go on a must-see list.
Theobroma, it is called koffie verkeerd because it contains more milk than coffee, which is the wrong way round, there should be more coffee. Kind of boring reason, sorry. I wish I could give you an elaborate etymology about how the treacherous supporters of Spain drank milk in their coffee making it the “wrong” coffee to drink, but no. And I doubt they had coffee then anyway…
Not at all, like I said I am not married to this itinerary. I was just trying to maximize the time I have, only 7 days, and try to go in a sort of circular pattern that would end me up back in Brussels for my outbound flight. I’m happy to make changes, I don’t know anything about any of the places I’m going to I am really grateful for the suggestions now before I put anything in stone.
I will have access to a car some of the time, over the weekend, but for a lot of the time I am there it will be me and my feet, and public transport. I might try and see if there is a decent weekend trip I can make to one of the places you mentioned.
So it looks like I might have a place to crash in Stuttgart, so the new proposed itinerary would be Berlin to Nuremberg for the day, then a short train to Stuttgart to crash for the night and maybe the next day there. From there to Luxembourg.
I forgot to mention I will be using the Eurail pass while I am there, so I am looking into the types of discounts I can get on the regional trains as I will be taking them around.
If you’re going to be that far south in Germany, you really should try to see one of Crazy Ludwig’s castles, either Chiemsee or Neuschwanstein, both a short drive from Munich.
I usually try and grab some Indonesian food whenever I’m in Amsterdam, which is not often. Maybe other posters have more specific tips - I usually go into an Indonesian place at random and it has always been good, but can’t remember any specifics.
As I always do in threads like these, I want to give a shout to the beautiful Dutch city of Maastricht(which has a friendly eponymous Doper in residence) and I’ve just read they are not closing one of the coolest bookshopsever just yet. On your current trajectory, you might find yourself near this city, so thought I’d bring it up.
Also agree that Cologne beer (Koelsch) ist SUPER en Cologne people are IMO some of the funnest Germans around. So even if the city, apart from the truly spectacular cathedral (walk out of the train station and :eek:) isn’t particular beautiful, it merits a visit for those reasons.
Thanks for the “koffie verkeerd” explanation, gracer! Makes sense. Explanations in Holland generally are pretty straightforward, eh? : )
I also second the Indonesian food. Excellent idea.
So, ladyfoxfyre, how free are you during the two weeks in Belgium? We spent a week buzzing around the Ardennes, a beauty spot and no lie. Americans are very very welcome there. If you’re interested in old manor houses/castles, spend an afternoon at Castle Modave. It’s amazingly well-preserved, furnishings and all, not crowded, isolated in velvety green hills. The remains of the old fortress at La Roche-en-Ardenne are worth it too, as is the charming town. If you are interested in WWII history and the Battle of the Bulge, there is a museum in Bastogne, as well as others in the area.
It’s much easier to get around with a car, though. (Which we had there, as we met my in-laws in Durbuy, a tourist spot with no train station.) You can get most places by quick train, though…Belgium isn’t all that big. Brugge (= Bruges) is an incredibly beautiful town and worth a day trip for sure.
Just as a helpful aside, most cities and towns in Belgium have both a French and a Flemish name. Sometimes it’s obvious (Bruxelles/Brussel) and sometimes less so (Liege/Luik). And don’t get flummoxed in Luxembourg/Luxemburg/Lëtzebuerg. : )
Getting REALLY jealous now. I’d like to take the advice of every poster in this thread, but we won’t be back for a while. Oh well.
The first two weeks I’ll be wildly free. The person I am going with will be there for work, so M-F during work hours will basically be me wandering. Weekends I will have access to a car and a traveling partner, so I’d be interested in seeing some of the non-walkable historic locations. I’d love to go see Bruges! You guys have been great with the suggestions and help, thank you so much for the help. Keep the suggestions coming!
Mons/Bergen is cute-- I like that area. While you’re there you can do a lot of nice day trips-- connect to Ghent/ Bruges or Antwerp or Leuven from Brussels, or pop over to Liege or DInant–both terribly cute towns. . . or Tournai, or Oudenaarde. . . ok, there are a lot of cool day-trip-worthy towns in Belgium.
Completely forgot that a huge big event is taking place in my hometown even! If you’re even in the slighted bit interested in flowers and plants, you should go to the Floriade, a horticular exposition organised only once every ten years. I’m told it’s quite spectacular.