The Young Adult and I: 2025 Christmas Markets in Germany

Day 1 -- New York City

My good-value frequent flyer ticket came at the price of driving about 90 minutes to Cincinnati’s airport. Also… it had a 6+ hour layover at JFK. The young adult’s coach ticket was on the same flights. Given the layover, we decided to check our bags so that we could easily go into the city; it was the young adult’s first visit there. The big thing he wanted to see? The Empire State building. So that’s where we went.

At the Empire State Building, we enjoyed going to both the 86th floor and the 102nd floor observation decks. The young adult taught me that that the spire was used as a tie-down site for zeppelins back in zeppelin days. At the 102nd floor observatory, he looked at a staff member with big, enthusiastic eyes and a wide smile and said, “Did you know the spire above was used as a tie down for zeppelins??????” She replied with big enthusiastic eyes and a wide smile, “Yes. And this floor was the waiting room.” She pointed to a stairwell. “That’s where the passengers would ascend to get on the zeppelin. They had to carry their own luggage.” The visit to the Empire State Building was fun. And pricey. But maybe neither of us does it again? And it’s almost certain we will never do it together again. Sometimes, an experience is worth a splurge. Another descriptor for the activity: COLD! So we popped into the Starbucks Reserve on the first floor of the building for coffee and then headed back to JFK. I think the young adult feels the same way about Starbucks as I do about Motel One.

Day 2 -- Aachen

We arrived in Brussels around 9 am, grabbed our checked bags, and immediately caught an ICE train to Aachen. I gambled on a cheap non-refundable train fare; it worked out for us. Once we arrived in Aachen, we walked to the hotel and headed out to explore a bit. The city was heavily bombed during WWII, but there are some surviving buildings – the grandest being the Dom (cathedral) and the Rathaus (city hall). We had 3 pm tickets for a Dom tour (obtained online prior to the trip), but the young adult became quite hungry at 2:30. We sat at a café on the original town square which was also an old fish market. Food took forever to come, but it was fun to people watch from our outdoor table. We missed the tour, but I had already scheduled a backup tour for Day 5 just in case we arrived late on plane or train.

The young adult’s diverse interests include plants. We spent some time in plant shops, and he longed to bring some European plants home, but he knew he could not get them through customs. Late afternoon and into the evening, we explored Aachen’s Christmas market, which is spread out over multiple squares. It was a Thursday night. Crowds were manageable. Lights were gorgeous with the Dom and Rathaus in the background. It was pretty delightful! And cold. What stood between two restaurants with gilded facades and typical German names of Goldener Schwan and Zum Goldenen Einhorn? Starbucks. With a nice wood Starbucks logo. Young adult? Happy with Starbucks. Dave? Happy the young adult is happy. It would not be our only visit to this Starbucks!

Day 3 – Valkenburg

I woke early for a 9 am Aachen city tour with a guide found on Get Your Guide. The young adult was invited but also told that his attendance was not expected. He slept instead. The tour was excellent and gave a very nice overview of the city from its Roman founding to the age of Charlemagne to the present.

After the tour, I walked back to the motel to meet the young adult, and we headed to the train station to catch a train to Valkenburg in the Netherlands. The town is known for Christmas markets in caves. I bought entry tickets online, just to make sure we could get into them. Our first visit was to the Municipal Cave. It was… a Christmas market in a cave. Actually, cave is not the right term. These are spaces mined for marlstone, leaving cave-like structures. The Municipal Cave was packed, but it did thin out a little the deeper we got into the cave. The wares were typical for Christmas markets, and there were many festive lights, including in Santa’s workshop. After that cave, we wandered the town a bit. There is outdoor dining everywhere. Literally. It’s lovely. We had a snack and then got in line for the Velvet Cave, the “other” Christmas market cave in town. I noticed that the MergelRijk, a cave that is more attraction than market had its last entry in 30 minutes; it has marlstone sculptures. I told the young adult this. He said, “Let’s just stay in line for this one.” I said, “I think it’s going to be the same as the other one.” “But, we’re in line. Let’s do this one.” I added, “It’s really important to me to see the other one.” The young adult harumphed, rolled his eyes and reluctantly agreed.

It was a great call. The sculptures were very impressive, including an amazing recreation of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, with a dog in the spot where the dog is missing in the painting in the Rijksmuseum. There was an area where visitors could make their own marlstone sculpture from a small block of marlstone. The creative young adult labored earnestly and made an impressive boot. There was a back-lighted plexiglass shelf on which finely-crushed marlstone could be spread and then art could be made in the powder. The young adult drew Homer Simpson, with a “Doh;” then he added “67.” Much mental effort – probably too much -- was spent this trip contemplating whether 6-7 is a thing among kids and young adults in Germany. By the end of the visit at MergelRijk, the young adult saw the error of his eye-rolling ways with respect to cave selection.

We found a café and ate soup on its patio as we watched people pass on the crowded streets. After eating, the young adult wanted to find a second-hand store we had passed on our walk from the train station. I did NOT harumph or roll my eyes; I gladly agreed. We ended up back at the train station well after dark without finding the shop. We decided to skip the Velvet Cave and caught the train back to Aachen after coffee (me)/tea (him) in the train station restaurant. Once back at our hotel, we decided to visit the Aachen market again. Mistake. It was packed on this Friday night and hard to move in places. So we threw in the towel, but not before… popping into Starbucks.

Day 4 – Bastogne

We both got up early because we had an 8:30 pick up time for our tour to Bastogne with Peter. This was a great day. I learned while planning the trip that we would be in Bastogne for NUTS Weekend. For those who don’t know, during the Battle of the Bulge, Bastogne was surrounded by the Germans, who demanded surrender. The US 101st Airbrone’s commanding officer, Brigadier General McAuliffe responded, “NUTS!” As in… “That’s nuts”… which had to be explained to the Germans. Shortly thereafter, General Patton rolled in and saved the 101st Airborne. NUTS Weekend is the annual celebration of Bastogne surviving its seige.

Our activities for the day included

• A quick view of the “dragon’s teeth” that made up the Siegfried line
• The Bastogne War Museum. This is an excellent museum that tells the story of the Battle of the Bulge with artifacts interwoven with an audio guide that tells the true stories of four people from that time – a German troop, an American troop, a Belgian schoolteacher/resistance member, and a Belgian boy – whose lives end up intersecting in the most interesting of ways.
• Areas of the forest where the 101st Airborne troops dug in and had their foxholes
• The Bastogne Barracks that served multiple purposes over time, including as the headquarters/barracks for the 101st Airborne during its time in Bastogne. The Barracks has one of the largest collections of WWII vehicles from the battle – it’s impressive!
• Various military reenactors with camps, vehicles, weapons, and demonstrations as part of NUTS Weekend

We got a hamburger and a drink at the Band of Brewers pub located at the Barracks; both were good. It ended up being about an 11-hour tour day. Peter happily let us get a photo with him at the end of the tour as he dropped us off at the hotel.

Day 5 – Aachen & Maastricht

I had hoped to sleep late this day but woke early, so I wandered Aachen alone and got some nice photos of the town/city without people in them! Very nice. The young adult called me late morning, and I went to meet up with him at the hotel. We wandered a bit, ending up standing in front of… Starbucks. Of course, we went in!

Then it was off to do the self-guided tour of the Rathaus that includes a visit to the Coronation Hall where coronation celebrations/feasts were held for Holy Roman Emperors (neither holy nor Roman) from 936 AD until 1531 AD. It’s an impressive building. We succesfully made it to the cathedral tour at 1 pm. How was it? Amazing. It’s a beautiful place. Relative to general admission, the tour allows a closer view of (1) the Karlsschrein, the gilded box that holds Charlemagne’s remains and (2) “Charlemagne’s Throne,” which may or may not be his throne but was the throne where Holy Roman Emperors were crowned. So… if you go… get that tour ticket. And order online. Don’t be disappointed like the couple I saw walk up to the ticket counter asking for tickets only to be told “We’re sold out for today.” That would be sad. We were going to visit the Cathedral Treasury but there was a note on the door saying it was closed for inadequate staffing due to illness.

We made a stop at TAT Gemüsekebab for a tasty meal, and then we were off to Maastricht to see Peter’s jazz band perform. Maastricht is a quite attractive city. It was pleasurable to walk through it to get to the show. After the show, we headed off to Maastricht’s version of a Christmas market where the young adult bought a sheep skin. He wanted one to drape over a chair at his house. The Maastricht Christmas Market felt hip and cool. There were a lot of young people running around, and stands/activities/food/drink seemed aimed at a younger crowd. It is kind of like Christmas Market meets Oktoberfest. We left Maastricht fairly late and got back to the hotel around 10 pm.

Day 6 -- Esslingen

We left Aachen late morning for Stuttgart. Apparently, some work on the tracks had begun and the DB schedule became laughably inaccurate, with half the trains headed east from Aachen cancelled. We changed trains at Köln, popping out of the train station to get a quick glimpse of the Cathedral while sipping a coffee on the patio right in front of a coffee shop at the train station. Yes, Starbucks. We arrived a couple of hours late in Stuttgart, checked into the hotel and headed off to Esslingen to visit its medieval market. It was my second time there, the young adult’s first time there. Unfortunately, we arrived after dark, which made it a little harder to marvel at the city’s half-timbered houses. The young adult chatted up a Frenchman at the market who was selling medieval clothing from a rather large space. They talked hunting at length. My eyes glazed over. Overall, the medieval market is cool. One of my favorite things is the wooden ferris wheel for kids that is turned by one gigantic human being and one regular size human being on opposite sides of the ride. The medieval market is definitely unique. A quick S ride got us back to the hotel. The young adult decided no more evening coffee. It was keeping him awake at night.

Day 7 – Stuttgart

We had nothing officially scheduled for this day until 8 pm. So we both slept in. Man, that was a comfy bed. I slept 11 hours, waking up only when the young adult called me a little after 9! We wandered the Stuttgart Christmas Market. I loved it. It’s so visually appealing with its decorated roofs, and it is quite expansive. There is a good variety of things offered, and there is a singing moose atop one of the huts. He’s cool. The evening activity? The reason for the trip. Revolverheld at Porsche Arena. The young adult knew 2 of their songs (I had tried to get him to listen to more but without success). The band played 22 songs, performing well over 2 hours, despite the lead singer performing in an orthopedic boot due to a foot injury sustained the day of the concert. The concert was glorious. All I hoped it would be. An 11 out of 10. The lead singer for Rammstein was performing in the next arena over. The young adult knows lots of those songs and was a little sad to miss that. We got back to the hotel around midnight.

Day 8 -- Frankfurt

I would have liked to have slept without an alarm again, but that wasn’t an option. We had arranged to meet Ms. Jo at 1 pm in Frankfurt. We had minimal trouble with trains that day, arriving just 10 minutes late. We took a taxi to the hotel from the train station. Probably a little lazy, but we were tired. We checked into Motel One #3 for the trip and spotted Ms Jo in the lobby. We dropped our stuff in our rooms and then had a very nice time with Ms Jo – seeing some Frankfurt sites, exploring the Christmas market, and eating lunch. The young adult? Very chatty! He likes to talk. And he had a new person with whom to talk! I was very impressed by the Frankfurt Christmas Market. It is large and has a wide variety of goods and food. Gee… there were even dental tools and doctor tools! We watched a brass band play from atop the cathedral at 6 pm. After that, we decided to eat dinner. The young adult was ready for sushi, so we did a quick internet search. We found Kyoto Restaurant near the Christmas Market. Excellent environment. Excellent service. Excellent sushi. We wandered the Christmas market a bit more after dinner and got candied nuts at the hut Ms Jo recommended (they were yummy) and then returned to the hotel to pack the young adult’s stuff, which was accompanied by a long talk about life. Then I went to my room, looked at my bag, and decided to choose sleep over packing.

Day 9 – Return Flight

I got up at 5:15 to finish my own packing and get ready to go. I ate breakfast a little after 6. And our scheduled Uber picked us up promptly at 7 to get us to the Frankfurt Airport. The young adult got some McDonald’s for breakfast but was not impressed. We headed to the gate. Along the way, we found… wanna guess? Starbucks! We both limited ourselves to a tall coffee due to the upcoming flight. The flights home were uneventful with one more Starbucks stop during our Atlanta layover.

To finish the Maastricht story at the beginning...

After Go Tell It on the Mountain ends, I look back at the young adult who is all smiles. He tells me with a laugh that when the lead singer started pointing at him, he ducked down behind me and peaked over my shoulder. He says that he was not ready to go on stage at the time, but he kind of regrets not taking advantage of that opportunity. We watch more of the show. We smile, sing, joke, laugh. We wave at Peter as we walk out. He thanks us for coming, adding that it was very special to him that we came to see him. As we leave the café, the young adult is smiling ear to ear, talking about how much fun that was. Which is really, really cool and made me really, really happy.

Because the young adult really did face adversity this year. Three weeks after the Japan trip, he got up one morning and noticed his early-rising, 50-somethig-year-old dad’s work truck was still parked outside the house the two of them shared. He checked on his dad and found him dead in bed. A crushing blow for the young adult. Two months later, his grandfather, the family patriarch, passed away not unexpectedly, but it was still tough. Another blow. There have been other smaller blows. The young adult’s ubiquitous smile was gone for a while. It has slowly returned. It was on full display inside and outside Café de Pieter.

The day after we returned from the trip, the young adult had a flight from my local airport to his aunt’s house on the east coast for a family gathering. We had breakfast and then stopped at… where else?... Starbucks on the way to the airport. At the airport, we checked his bag and walked toward security. The young adult said the trip was special and fun; it let him escape the stress of his life for a week. We exchanged big smiles and a high five. We parted ways, but as always, we will keep in close contact. And, as fate would have it (or, to me, as the good Lord would have it), my Christmas plans got changed so that I will be in my old SC home, where he lives, instead of my new Kentucky home, for Christmas.

Good read, and sounds like a really good trip.

I am always so happy to read a trip report from you. What a blessing that the young adult has you in his life. Thank you for sharing.

Dave, you really should give up your day job and focus on travel writing. You have a gift for storytelling. And your young adult is quite the gift too, thank you for sharing his (and your) adventures with random people on the internet.

Your trip reports are such a positive reminder of all the best parts of travel! The way the two of you complement and enrich each other's lives is a joy to read. I especially appreciated the compromises on both your parts- something those of us who travel with partners, family or friends of the same age should emulate!
Happy new year and hope it brings you both more opportunities to explore the world together!

What a wonderful time you had and of course your writing is awesome. I'm so happy you could bring light into what has been a very dark year for your young friend. Thank you so much for caring.

Meanwhile...I'd not seen about the Christmas Markets in caves! Wow! I'm sure the vendors like that it's "climate controlled", lol.

And...Go Tell it on the Mountain is one of my favorites!

Dave, I really enjoy reading your trip reports! You should write a book about your travels, especially the ones with the young adult. I am so sorry about the loss of his father and then his grandfather. I am certain that you have been put in this young man's life for a reason. Merry Christmas to you both.

Another wonderful travel story. You are never allowed to stop traveling because I am addicted to your after-trip reports. I always almost feel like I’ve been there with you.

I’m so glad you both had such a good time!

Dave, what a wonderful trip report. And what a wonderful relationship you and the Young Adult share!

Happy to have met you again and be able to show you around a bit. Lunch was a special treat, so thank you. Sorry that I was under the weather a bit and had to go home and to my bed. Would have enjoyed spending the evening at the market and hearing the brass band with you guys.
Next visit, we will go to Höchst and also to the WW2 Bunker.

In a word (or 2), my life is richer for having read this entire post.
Thank you, Dave

Hi, Dave! What a great post. And how nice that you were able to spend time with Ms Jo. We always love meeting up with Forum Folk. And of course, I include you it this. We enjoyed your visit to Tulsa so much!

Thanks for a great post about your travels with your young friend. As the man says, "Keep on travelin'"

KGC -- Thanks for the "good read" comment. It really was a good trip!

Ginger -- Glad to share!

CL -- I'm glad you enjoy the young adult's adventures. I do think it would be fun to try to figure out how to get our adventures into book form and see if a publisher has any interest.

Bon Voyage -- Thanks for the kind words. Good pickup! The enrichment of life definitely goes both ways. It's very nice for me to see the world through the young adult's eyes (and through young adult memes -- he sends me a lot of those on Instagram -- I have to admit I don't always get the humor in them). Compromise... definitely important in travel regardless of with whom we travel.

Pam -- I found the Christmas Market in caves due to the search bar on the Rick Steves forums. Aachen lies where Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany come together, so I searched for Christmas markets in the Netherlands, and it popped up in a few posts. The website for Valkenburg's markets. If you scroll down, you'll see Professor Dr. Falckenstein. He stopped at our table as we ate soup to loudly greet us and to ask if we were enjoying our time in Valkenburg.

Sherry -- Thank you for your kind comments. Merry Christmas to you, too!

TTM -- Thanks for the kind comments. I hope I never stop traveling, too!

Barbara -- It was awesome!

jeanm -- Thanks for your kind words, too!

Jo -- We enjoyed our time with you. Thanks for spending the afternoon with us. I look forward to seeing some new sights with you in the future.

tripletblessings -- Wow. Very kind words. You're welcome. And... thanks!

Jane -- It is a lot of fun meeting up with folks from the forum, and I too enjoyed the visit to Tulsa. I'm glad you found the post "great" and wish you a pleasant holiday season!