Monschau, Germany

Rusty got two days off and we were ecstatic. This was the first time since the season started that he had two days off in a row. We just kept waiting for the day to see a break on his weekly training schedule so that we could visit nearby cities. As soon as we saw it, we started researching rental cars, and found a great deal on one with unlimited kilometers! Almost all rental cars here limit the distance you can drive and it's expensive to add more- it's super annoying. 

We knew we wanted to spend one day at Disneyland Paris because I had been dying to go during Christmas time, which meant we needed to find a city close enough to drive to and from in one day. We decided three hours was doable and chose a couple cities in Germany. 

We woke up super early and headed to our first stop, Monschau. Even the drive was pretty. We passed through one of Belgium's National Parks, which was filled with evergreens and cyprus trees. We arrived to Monschau- a little village in the mountains and it was perfect. You know how when you picture Germany, you picture a quaint town filled with timber framed houses? Well this is the city I had always pictured. A stream ran through it and the smell of gingerbread wafted through the air. It was magical. We strolled through the cobblestone streets and stopped in a couple bakeries- the gingerbread smell was way too good to pass up. 

The town was quiet and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. Sadly, the Christmas market was being taken down, but, there were seven at our next stop- Cologne, Germany! 

Sorry for the picture overload but every building and street was just too cute...

Rusty thought this was snow...I'm not quite sure...but we will just assume it was

These ended up being apple flavored gingerbread and they were delicious!