Tongeren and Liege (Belgium)

So you know when you are traveling - you try to plan everything out perfectly and sometimes it ends up being a bit comical (at least that is how you have to handle it or it would be VERY disappointing).  So, with that said......In Tongeren, Belgium there is a VERY famous Antique Flea Market EVERY Sunday of the year. It is frequented by Flea Market experts and is known as one of the top 10 places in all of Europe to find the absolute coolest Antique treasures at the best prices. I have been wanting to go for years. The schedule fit perfect - we were going to be somewhat near the area on a Sunday. The catch is that you have to get up quite early (you know how they say that the early bird catches the worm :-). It was snowing, and freezing (literally below freezing). We woke up and drove there. It was dark and cold (did I mention how cold it was?), and there were a few vendors starting to set up. I thought for sure we were in the wrong area, because there are supposed to be Hundreds of vendors. Did I mention it was cold? The kids are being troopers because they knew how important it was to me, but truly they are quite miserable. Nothing in mainland Europe is open on Sunday, but we did find a little place to get some hot chocolate and coffee and Belgium waffles as we try to make a plan and allow time for more vendors to set up. The waiter was very nice and spoke English, I asked him where the other streets and buildings were that the vendors set up in, and he looks at me with a compassionate face and said that usually the place is absolutely packed, but we just happened to have chosen the absolute worst Sunday of the entire year to come (because it was so cold).  My heart sank. I had dragged my poor family out in the snow and cold (did I mention it was really early too?). I did find one little treasure (a coat rack). You are supposed to haggle, but when he told me it was 20 euro - I was happy to have found something on our trip and totally forgot to ask for a cheaper price (not that 20 euro was a lot, but still, you are supposed to get an even better bargain :-).  The waiter mentioned that in Liege, there is a nice Christmas Market and Street Market open on Sunday, so we were on our way to Liege before 8:00 am.  The Street Market was along the river and really pretty, but it was sooo cold!!! The Christmas market looked adorable too, but didn't open until the afternoon (much too cold to stick around that long when nothing else is open). The wind was blowing too. We literally were back at the hotel by lunchtime (I had planned to be gone the entire day), Sometimes, things just don't go as planned. Looking back, it was quite funny actually and the kids LOVE Hotels so they were quite happy to just hang out at the hotel. Now, I just have to talk someone in to going back with me in the Summer sometime :-)

You always know the Belgium Highway because it is lit with lights the entire stretch. We joke that you could probably spot Belgium quite easily from space! You can get an idea of how early and Cold it was from the picture :-)

Tongeren is a cute town - they say it is the oldest city in Belgium.

Here is glimpse of a vendor. Usually, there are hundreds, but only a handful were there :-(

a cute old dresser

more stuff...

They had fancier things too...

My patient, loving, yet at the moment of the picture - quite miserable family (up at the break of dawn to make there mom happy :-))

They did get waffles and hot chocolate out of the deal :-)

A Cathedral in Liege, Belgium (you can see the sun coming up - this is after we were already in Tongeren :-))

The Christmas Market looked adorable, but we didn't go because it didn't open until the afternoon.

Along the river, they had a market with everything (clothes, food, live produce - yikes!) And it was bitter cold!!!

Yummy French cheeses

The Meuse River

Don't let the sunshine fool you! It was cold! I saw this big back of Baguettes and chuckled because  the bread would turn hard quite quickly with the temperatures..

And just like China - they had live produce too :-(