December's Adventure: Day 6, Valkenburg NL & Brussels

On Thursday morning, we packed up our bags, retrieved my car, and made our way to what I call the "chicken strip" of the Netherlands, a narrow projection of land between Germany and Belgium. Our destination was Valkenburg; we were to visit the Christmas market in the city's caves.

We parked up the hill from the city at the parking lot for the Holland Casino (Cauberg 28, Valkenburg). I think it was about 7 euros to park for the day. The casino is at the top of a very steep hill so it might not be suitable for everyone to walk up and down it to get to town.

We found the Gemeentegrot at the bottom of the hill. It is one of the caves and we bought combo tickets to enter that cave and the second cave, the Fluweelengrot (the Velvet Cave). As we entered, we realized that this is no German Christmas Market. Well, of course, as it was the Netherlands, but...the Christmas markets in the caves were very disappointing. Pretty much everything was cheap quality and most items weren't related to Christmas! I felt as if we had descended into an underground flea market, almost as cheesy as Traders' World is. 

One of the only true Dutch things we saw in the caves was stroopwafel, which are thin, round waffle discs filled with caramel. There was a vendor selling fresh ones so we each had a tasty waffle, hot off the grill.

The other cave, Fluweelengrot, was no better. In fact, it seemed as if most of the vendors were repeated. My cousins said that they were glad to have gone to the beautiful Christmas markets in Germany first; if they had first impressions from the Valkenburg markets, they would have been concerned about the other markets.

I have heard that on the weekends, it's unpleasant in the caves because it gets so crowded that it's hard to move. I have a colleague who said when he was there, police were walking through the crowds, reminding people of pickpockets. I'm glad that it wasn't insanely crowded when we were there because the caves are a little claustrophobic as it is.

Exiting the market, my cousin D said that she had to satisfy a craving she gained from a previous trip to the Netherlands: Dutch soft serve ice cream. She said it is amazing and delicious. I needed no prompting (ice cream is my favorite treat) so we found a snack shop. I was totally amused by the snack shop we visited; it served Asian snacks, Dutch snacks, ice cream, and even döner!

We each had a cone. Oh my goodness, was it ever good! It was so rich and creamy. I don't know what the difference is from regular soft serve; all I can guess is that it has a higher fat content or something. Anyway, I highly suggest getting a vanilla cone for those passing through the Netherlands. 

Walking off the ice cream we ate, we visited more of the town and found very expensive restaurants. After a disappointing and salty dinner of ravioli, I suggested we pack up and make our way to our next destination: Brussels. 

On the way out, we reflected on our visit to Valkenburg. The Christmas markets in the caves are not recommended at all. However, if one were passing through the area, she might want to consider visiting the caves during their regular opening season. There are tours through them, either by foot or by train. The caves were mined by Romans looking for building materials and there is interesting artwork inside.

 This snowman is so embarrassed by the cheap junk for sale in the caves that he's trying to hitchhike out.

Entrance to the  Gemeentegrot.

 This was one of the few booths that had Christmas stuff, and even then, it was cheap Walmart-style stuff.

 It's 007 Santa!

 Somewhat creepy artwork, yes?

 I didn't understand this one. I don't really care if Santa Claus likes hot showers!

Giraffes and good ol' boys, oh my!

I decided, somewhat last minute, to trek down to Cincinnati this weekend for a trip to King's Island with my brother. He's working on the road for three weeks and seemed a bit bummed out about that so I decided to visit. Originally we were going to visit King's Island on Saturday but the weather was lousy so we found ourselves in need of something to do.

We were right by Traders' World, which is this crazy "palacio del flea," as they call it. I didn't really need any velour Jesus throws for my house but I figured it would be better than sitting around so I agreed to go. Plus, we were trying to figure out just how many life-sized, poorly-executed-in-fiberglass giraffes were present on the property. Seriously, it's freaky, folks; they're on the roof, inside, along the drive, etc. If you have a need to visit fiberglass giraffes, that is THE place to go.

Also, the complex has a recording of animal noises playing. The scary thing is that one of the noises sounds like a person moaning during a certain act. We were horrified by that one, even though it was probably supposed to be a hippo or something.

I am so glad that we visited, in spite of the weird noises because the people watching was absolutely amazing and we found Goonies t-shirts for $2 each. My brother especially enjoyed the shirt inspired by Data, with a patch that read "Booty Trap Specialist" on it.

We ended up spending three hours there, which blows my mind, but the time flew. I even bought two gnome yard ornaments, which is the beginning of my downward spiral (I'm not a yard ornament-owning type of person but apparently now I am a gnome-owner). If you're looking for Jesus-themed inspirational items, bumper stickers of a famous cartoon character relieving himself on various logos, military surplus, or some excellent yard ornaments, then Traders' World is where the action resides.

*I don't care that they don't know how to punctuate it correctly and they don't include the apostrophe; I'm adding it because it would bother me otherwise.