The Christmas Market in the Valkenburg Caves

How's this for timing, now that it's Christmas week!

At the end of November, almost a month ago, we drove to the Christmas market in the limestone caves of Valkenburg, at the southernmost part of the Netherlands.

It was 170 km (105 mi) from our home, 13 km east of Maastricht.  

Not bad for a nice drive...made into an overnight stay (the next day later!).

It so happens that Valkenburg aan de Geul (its full name) is a huge tourist attraction because of its limestone caves which have been transformed into two different Christmas markets at this time of the year.

We wasted no time and headed for the larger of the two, Fluweelengrot,

also known as the Velvet Cave.

From the minute you walk in, you know you're in for a treat.

It's such a cozy feeling because it's like night-time, even during the day.

And even Santa came across our path a few tmes, both real and fake not real!

In case you weren't already in the Christmas spirit...

 ...it didn't take long to get there.

Ya, man!

All this while finding the cave murals everywhere!
(click any collage to enlarge)

[And that reminds me of my disclaimer:  My f-stop somehow changed to something I didn't want on my new camera and I couldn't figure out how to change it back till we got home...which accounts for some of the graininess and terrible lighting.  My new PowerShot camera really does better than that!]

They even have a café in the cave, where we ate erwtensoep for lunch, and drank glühwein!

That's what you do at this time of the year!

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 Then we walked outside, down the street and around the corner to the Gemeentegrot,

the second and smaller Christmas market in a cave nearby.

It had the same old-world charm as the first market...

...making us short of eyes, of course.

Doesn't your inner Child want to come out and play?!

Yup!

Not as many murals this time but all were worthy, nonetheless.

Somewhere in the mix of it all, we watched the stroopwafel man craft his wares.

Astrid and I shared half each of a large one...because they're so sweet.
Half a stroopwafel is better than no stroopwafel at all!

How can you say NO to that!

(My animal guide is the wolf, you may remember?)

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On that note...we were caved-in-out and left to walk around town.

We remembered seeing a cemetery as we drove in and walked to it before dark.

What is it about cemeteries?  You learn so much about a people and culture.

And not too far from there, the Lourdesgrot from 1926...

from which we could see the ruins of the Valkenburg Castle from 1115.

As if you can't tell, this is the Roman Catholic area of the Netherlands, way down south.

 As the late afternoon gave way to evening, we walked into town to eat.

How about Pub Henry!  Have you noticed that after my trip to Dublin in early September,

I've been on a Guinness kick.  HA!

Festive, night-time Valkenburg!

I'm still in awe of the cafés that serve food outside even during the winter months.

We always eat inside but we love to look once we're back outside.

This is so European!

And as we walked back to our car, we bought a heart Christmas ornament,

made out of limestone from the caves, with the name Valkenburg inscribed on it:  €1.

Yes, he inscribed it specifically for us and it's now on our Christmas tree.

And on that note...

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all, however/wherever you celebrate it!

Irish Beer and Mrs. Brown

Before our guests from England arrive later this afternoon, here's another quickie from my short trip to Dublin last week....

Without getting into the whys and wherefores of how we think of beer and Ireland almost simultaneously, let me just show a bit of what I saw.  And tasted, yes!

 First of all, Catherine and I had rooms at the Blooms Hotel, across the street from Trinity College.

Location, location, location, as they say!

It so happens this hotel gives all its guests a free drink at their Vat House bar (with the hat).

We chose a Guinness, of course, just to pamper me.

Did you know it starts out light when first poured (middle-left) and then "settles" before becoming black!

Neither did I.

 Throughout my 3 days, I saw enough beer vats to drown the sorrows of many armies.

It probably helped that our hotel was in the Temple Bar area of the city, known for it's night life.

But to be honest, there are over 1,000 pubs in Dublin...enough for everyone anywhere.

So, don't be shy.  

Whether a beer or whiskey, you'll be sure to find something you like.
Even a Dutch Heineken!

I know I showed you this in my last post but...I did like my TWO Guinnesses.

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Now switch gears to something fun we saw when Catherine, Robin and I were walking around the area.  Remember that Catherine is Irish and actually lived in Dublin once upon a time.  So to have her lead us around to non-touristy places was for Robin and me..."the luck of the Irish!"

One such place was the Moore Street Market, Dublin's oldest food market.

The people who work the stalls have a witty and friendly reputation; 

they and their food stalls are Dublin institutions; and they speak in a strong Dublin accent. (Wiki)

And the women bring their produce in baby buggies!

But THE surprise of the day was finding a TV production filming a segment for Mrs. Brown's Boys.

Yes, that's Mrs. Brown, a.ka. Brendan O'Carroll, Ireland's famous drag-queen/comedian matriarch.

Catherine sent me the very first episode of the sitcom, if you want to get a taste:

 HAHAHA!

And that reminded me of Mr. Charlie Brown from Atlanta, Georgia, our famous drag queen.
Oh dear me.  We took daughter Amy there many eons ago and had a hoot.
He's now 60-something and is even better than I remember.


If you want to see a good Tina Turner impersonation, this is it.
I kid you not!

To be continued after the Brits leave....