Christmas Market in Cologne
We just got back from two weeks in Europe, starting in Amsterdam followed by a Viking River Cruise up the Rhine River and finishing with three glorious days in Zurich. The highlights were definitely the time on each end of the cruise, as Amsterdam and Zurich are both magical places to be for a few days. We’ll follow up with more detail, but if you are going to these cities, then here are a couple of great places we found.
Amsterdam: while wandering around the old city in search of a cocktail, we stumbled onto Dante Kitchen and Bar, located at Spuistraat 320. The bar is comfortable and inviting. We stayed for an hour or so and had both a drink and an appetizer, with Cheri
Genever Tasting
getting Brushetta and myself the octopus. The food was great, the drinks were great and the people were fabulous. We also enjoyed an impromtu lesson on the local gin, Genever. Gin was invented in The Netherlands and imported to England. We tried three different types, one aged for six years, and were intrigued enough that we would visit the House of Bols a few days later to learn about the history of this drink in more detail. We’ll cover that in a later blog, but it is worth a visit. We recommend Dante, and it is in the middle of a number of restaurants and bars on a street that really comes to life at night.
Amsterdam Jewel Cruises Dinner Cruise – this was a fun three hours, sailing the canals with all of the
Dinner Cruise Boat
seasonal lights aglow. We sat up near the front and the Captain was very informative and full of historical information. We saw more on this cruise than we could have possible done by foot in a week. But the best part was that this was a dinner cruise, with four courses accompanied by a glass of champagne. We added a bottle of good red wine and had a fine time indeed. We highly recommend this.
Zurich: We actually left the river cruise a day early (a long story we will share later) and luckily found an open room at our hotel for an early arrival. Zurich has an amazing old town. It is huge, charming, historical and fun. High end shopping is available on one side of the river, and smaller, quaint shops dominate the other. During December there are numerous Christmas markets throughout this area, with the best one located in front of the Opera House. We spent three days just wandering, with the exception of a two hour guided tour with a local guide, which was defintely worth the time and expense. You can find a thousand places to eat and drink here, but here are two we liked:
Ristorante Vallocaia
Boar Ragut
Ristorante Vallocaia – this lovely, small Italian restaurant is located on Niederdorfstrasse 15, which winds its way parallel to the river on the same side as the Opera House and the Kunsthause Art Museum (which also fabulous by the way). We liked this place so much we went twice for dinner, and both times were exceptional. Service is top notch and the experience is slow and relaxing. The wine list is good as well, and we had a beautiful Super Tuscan both times. Cheri’s boar ragut was the best she has had since we were in Piemonte, Italy. My tenderloin was to die for. This is a great place to enjoy a fine meal and revisit the highlights of our day.
Widder Bar – we stayed at the Hotel Storchen, a wonderful, elegant hotel right on the river. We’ll review that in detail on its own later. A sister hotel to the Storchen is the Widder, in the middle of the old town and more edgy. Attached to the Widder Hotel is the Widder Bar.
All to myself!
This is a popular spot, and while we were there a constant line of people were lined up waiting for a table. It’s a cozy bar, with good food options. I started with a 16 year old Scotch, Cheri with a gin and tonic. We got very conofrtable and decided to share a burger for dinner. I did find it interesting how they left the bottle of scotch on the table after pouring the drink. That seems very dangerous! This is a fun place for a drink, to meet friends or have a bite to eat.
The above is just a tiny piece of our experience, and we’ll share more in additional articles. Since it was Christmas season there mere many Christmas Markets, one even with a giant Ferris Wheel! You have to ride one of those when you get the chance.
A votre santé!
Leave a Reply