Trip report! (Pic-heavy post)

As promised, here is the summary of my trip. :)

We left Thursday afternoon and headed straight for the Channel Tunnel. Traffic was on our side and we were able to get an earlier train. By early evening we were in Belgium where we stayed the night.

Next morning we drove through into Germany and spent the rest of the day browsing the various Christmas Markets around Cologne. I was a bit distracted though because I was waiting for....

SATURDAY!

I admit, I didn't sleep well Friday night, I was just *too* excited! For possibly the first time in my life I was up and ready early!

luin77 arrived at my hotel just after 9am. After a lot of squeeing, hugging and bouncing (to the amusement of my parents and hubby!) we managed to calm down long enough to sit and exchange Christmas gifts. That girl knows what I like. LOL.

Then we headed into the city, luckily luin77 can read maps, because I'm hopeless! We decided to be cultured first and went to view the beautiful Cathedral, which also had one of the markets right in front of it.

( The Cathedral )

Then of course our true natures could not be denied and we made our way to Starbucks which as all of life’s essentials - coffee, cookies and a comfy sofa! I think it was over an hour before we moved again!

(I'm the (fake) redhead, luin77 is the blonde!)

( Two Elves and a sofa )

When we did move again we looked around the markets and I brought a couple of small shiny things. lol. We also went into the medieval market which was really well done. They even had traditional music and a stable!

( Medieval market )

After that we were pretty tired, as the markets were really crowded and there was a lot of walking between each one. So we went back to near the hotel where there was a nice quiet cafe. We found a table in the corner, ordered lunch and stayed there. For three hours. lol. It was so nice to just sit and talk!

By the time we left it was actually time to head off to meet my parents for dinner! We took a slow walk back through the city while I worried about my dear family embarrassing me in front of my friend. :P

( My Dad is Elrond. Just look at those eyebrows! Even Mum is amused! )

( Hubby with his one true love... )

Dinner was great even though I wasn't really hungry. When we'd done we went back to the hotel bar. Time went all too quickly and soon luin77's taxi was there to take her to the station. But we both knew that this was only the prologue... the next chapters will come when she visits me in three short weeks! May this be a never ending story, too!

I'll leave you with my favourite pic of luin77 :)

( Smile! )