Kaiserslautern Christmas Market

The huge benefit to this market is its close to home and it's looong! It starts Thanksgiving week and rolls into the new year with what I've been told is the same market but renamed as a New Years market! 

The Gluwein across from the Brauhaus and Vera Moda has a ton of flavors. We enjoyed the blueberry and strawberry flavors the most!

The Glubier is delicious! It's a belgian lambic and makes you all warm and toasty. It isn't the traditional warm beer idea you would think from the title. The best place to get this is around the corner behind Vera Moda. The hut is a Flamkuchen hut and they make a delicious flamkuchen to go with the beer! They have a ton of other drink specialties here. So far that has been my favorite.

Since we have been down to KTown to the market twice we have tried a variety of the foods.

One item to beware of is the spicy currywurst. You can get levels. I convinced Antonio to compromise and chose a level in the medium range. The lady free poured his spice and let's just say we were all hurting after one bite of sausage! It was FIRE!! I am glad I don't have a photo because that was a waste of money and went straight in the trash. The spice was clearly unmeasured and way too much. We didn't order the hottest option on the menu for a reason!

We also tried churros which were good but mediocre. Tons of flavor options. The chimney cake was slightly over cooked so had a burnt taste at the half way eaten point. This was dissapointing. I will show photos and describe the better chimney cake I had in my next post! 

So top food items we've had in Ktown so far were the wildbratwurst and fried potatoes! They come with a garlic sauce that did not skimp in the garlic department that's for sure! It was a cool delicious sauce to dip the potatoes in. 

There are several food booths and cute items to buy back behind the church where the wild meat booth is. Like many of the Christmas markets you have to explore a little to notice all the town has to offer.

Also the flamkuchen is so thin and light it's something you want to never end! It's top on my list too! If you aren't sure what that is its like a thin pizza topped with ham and onions with a light white sauce. Not even 100% on the ingredients but it's a,axing! The crust is like a tortilla almost. I'll be sure to get a photo next time! It was gone before I could think about snapping one.

Overall ktown is close and not a bad market to frequent when hungry or just wanting to be consumed by the holiday spirit! It doesn't have many vendors w Christmas items like other bigger markets but for food and drink and a place to hang out we enjoyed it & will be back!

De Belgian Bistro, Weilerbach

Working full time has me spending more time sleeping or with the family then on my blog or iPad lately! But we spent some time this weekend enjoying some good pub grub and brews that are worth writing about!

Not far from our house is a cute bistro in Weilerbach specializing in belgian beers! After working Saturday this is just the place I wanted to spend my Saturday night. We walked in without reservation and almost all of the tables had reserved signs. Without a reservation the staff still gave us an option: the bar or the one table without a tiny place card. We chose the table!

Since Brussels is one of the first and few places we have been in the last 90 days that we have lived in Europe we were pretty excited to put our knowledge and taste buds to the test! 200 beers to choose from?! Yes please!!

I quickly chose a name I knew and beer I loved from our Belgian trip. Antonio chose a familiar name but new type of beer. The beers were served in their respective glasses just like in Belgium! They were cold and fresh and any beer that had extra in the bottle was placed on the side of the poured glass.

We tried a couple ambers too! Everything was delicious! The choices were a bit overwhelming however good Belgian beer is hard to come by. The prices weren't awful, average was €3,70 for 0,33L. Nothing like the shopette or bx prices for a case of Delirium or La Leffe. And they have so many choices you have no choice to go back. For more incentive they have a punch card! After 10 beers you get one on the house!

A quick bit on the food! The orders come with bread and saladand the bread is pretty dang good. A nice French bread with a seasoned herb butter. If you're hungry you will devour it! We put some aside to save room for our order.

The schnitzel burger was by far better than the onion burger! Antonio always asks the waitress' favorite and makes decisions from there. We ordered the schnitzel belgian bistro special it's equipped with this zesty spicy sauce. If you weren't interested just by the name it includes bacon and egg! Overall the sauce made the burger but the thin schnitzel and that flavor combination with Americas  #1 favorite (bacon, duh) made it unique and delicious! I would order it again in a heart beat! If you opt for a burger instead, I'd try the burger bistro special with all the extras. 

Overall the staff was really friendly and the environment was fun. There is a whole lot of beer going on here so I suggest it's a good place for drinks w friends. There are a ton of tables that seat several people so more of a group hang out then a date night w the wife. But there was space at the bar all night for walk ins. & they will gladly sit you there if you didn't know they reserve most of their tables out in advance. Particularly on Saturday nights. 

The salad was decent and Antonio really enjoyed the fries. Regardless, both of us loved the beer selection and since Brussels is 3 hours away this will be our go to for convenience! :) 

Cheers!

Trier

Stepping back in time, claiming title as the oldest city in Germany, Trier is full of Roman and ancient history! Our friends took the wheel and we arrived in Trier in about an hour from their place. They did the research and pulled right into a parking garage. It was right next to our first sight Konstantinbasilika! 

The buildings massive! We didn't even realize it was the basilika right away. The basilika, Constantines throne room, is the largest surviving single room structure from Roman times. Since the 19th century it has been the first and oldest Protestant church in Catholic Trier. Overall it is a sight to see because of its size! The front/back end has some amazing architecture. 

A side view 

The back or front view depending on where you're coming from

Wandering around the city on foot is easy and not strenuous by any means. Everything was much closer than we anticipated! 

Our next stop was the Kaiserthermen Imperial Baths. Also described as ancient ruins. This attraction was never completed as originally planned. The outside courtyard is large and beautiful. The ruins allow you to go down inside several tunnels and unique bath areas and rooms that were in construction. 

The grounds from an aerial view 

Inside

The thing we found most interesting was in roman times they had plans for building heated pools! The public baths had a variety of plans however their plans came to a halt when Constantine the Great shifted his political activities. The site without its installation of baths ever being completed did have one section completed under the rule of another emporer and became a reception hall. Overall it was a neat site. It was 2-3 euro a person and there was a video in the beginning with a small sit down area, and you could roam free outside and up a structure for some great views. The info pamphlets helped us learn about the place in English as many signs were in German. There is another nearby historical bath house called Barbarathermen.

There is a small pond outside of Kaiserthermen and a nice park area. Everywhere around the site was beautiful. 

A quick stroll down the road put us at hauptmarkt. They had a big farmers market going on. A delicious French fry stand and a ton of booths to buy items at. 

The market had entertainment for money on the street as well.

The cathedral was right next to the market which I believe is every Saturday. The cathedral is a sight to see! Massive and beautiful! 

 

The large organs and detailed architecture is something that will have your neck sore from staring up at. For a small fee you can get a candle and go set it and pray. There was no entrance fee into the Cathedral but you must be quiet... Shhh!

Right across from the front of the cathedral to your left if you have your back to the cathedral was a cute wine bar. They had beer as well. Delicious soups and pretzels. We tried the Riesling there that Trier is known for. It was delicious. That's indoor and outdoor seating. I would recommend the place just for a snack or afternoon drink. 

Next on the sight seeing list was Porta Nigra. Not even 5 minutes down back through hauptmarkt. 

Another entrance fee was required, this was the most expensive of the day 3-4 euro a person, I can't remember. The Porta Nigra is known as the gate to the city of Trier. It is their major landmark & has a ton of history dating back decades. This place is cool inside and although there isn't much to see I thought it was worth the few bucks to see inside! 

Porta Nigra overall is a must see. Next stop was Karl Marx house. This was a bit far from Porta Nigra. We would map that stop earlier on our stops if we did this again. Overall it was worth it. The 'Museum Karl-Marx-Haus Trier' is the official name. It was later discovered as the birth place of Karl Marx and turned into the exhibition. Overall the house walks you through an audio tour with different rooms going through the life, work and legacy of Karl Marx. The audio tour gives you a ton of insight on his life and theories. There is a shop where you pay to enter and get the audio tour including in the entrance fee (€4 pp, groups of 10 only €2,5) & you can buy souvenirs here also. Anything from books to a Marx coffee mug. 

The courtyard at the end was very peaceful and serene. It is supposed to be a place to reflect on Marx legacy and all the information you were just exposed to. 

A ton of history had us hungry. Kartoffel is the place to go! It's a potato restaurant and has a ton of other delicious options. A friend told me they have meat dumplings that are to die for. I'll have to try them next time!

 

A nice selection of beers and wines here while potato soup and bread were on our agenda. If you're thirsty try Schlosser Alt beer, it's delicious!! Our friends with us told us a little about the unique & rare German brew. 

Schnitzel and pommes! Amazing!

http://www.kistetrier.de/anfahrt.html 

So overall Trier was a beautiful quaint unique city I would love to visit again! We didn't get a chance to get up to the castle so we will be going back to see it! Until the next day trip... Tschüss!

Brauhaus

The Brauhaus in Ktown is somewhere I would take everyone who visits us! It's a typical german atmosphere with a large outdoor seating area which is great for people watching. And on a nice summer day it's fun hanging out even for a long period of time. & It's right next to the farmers market!

So the bonus of beer and a nice place is they serve some nice grub too. But one of the main highlights is the beer tower! In a 3 or 5 liter option to pour yourself. You can get any beer of your choice in your tower and it's just fun! 

http://brauhausammarkt.jimdo.com/lrk-gastro-gmbh/english/

They have a sampler for 3,50€ or so and you can try their dark, seasonal, lager and wheat beer. Our favorite of the night was the seasonal so we decided on the tower with that one! Runner up for best beer was the lager.

It was a good 6 beers in the 3L in the large glasses they provide. And between the 3 of us it's a good item to share with a group. I wouldn't say it's any better price than ordering one beer at a time but the convenience of serving yourself instead of tracking down a waiter was worth it. 

All the food was delicious unfortunately we we're too quick to eat for me to get any photos and the sun went down. We had the pretzel w butter which was delicious as a snack with the beer! I also tried the spaetzel (a noodle side dish) which was awesome with schnitzel and a mushroom sauce. I also had the pleasure of trying the croquettes and steak a friend ordered. That was delicious!! And the fried potatoes were also something I would recommend. The website shows some great photos of food. I have also heard they have big amazing salads! The dinner entrees come with a small side salad with a nice house dressing. I think anything you order would be good here! They also serve soda and cocktails for the non beer drinkers. Overall a great place!