Weihnachtsmarkt Cruisin'

Going along with this year's theme "The Year of the Christmas Market", my friend, Katrina, and I hopped aboard a cruise ship and headed out on a Weihnachtsmarkt Cruise last week... What a fun few days we had cruising down the Rhine River and exploring the local Christmas Markets!

Our cruise started in Cologne and stopped in Rudesheim, Weisbaden, Frankfurt, and Mainz along the way... We stopped for a few hours in each town to wander through the city and explore their unique Christmas markets. And, when we weren't wandering through the many Christmas markets, we were relaxing on the ship and watching the many German towns pass us by... Definitely a fun few days! Albeit, the most interesting part of the trip, was the fact that we were the only Americans, and definitely the youngest (by about 30 years!) passengers on the ship... Needless to say, we were very well known amongst the ship's staff! :) Overall, it was definitely a great way to see some very unique Christmas markets and get into the holiday spirit!

Here's a peak into our Weihnachtsmarkt Cruise... Enjoy!

Our ship... The Bellriva

Our room... Cozy, isn't it? :)

A view of the other side... We definitely didn't want to make too many purchases at the Christmas Markets... They wouldn't have all fit! :)

The lobby of the ship...

The lounge... This was the "happening" place to be! :) They had dancing there every evening at 8... Good times! :)

This is by far the funniest view from the cruise! :) Can you tell we were the youngest passengers?! :)

First stop... Rudesheim

Making sure to let Santa know that I've been good all year! :)

Welcome to Rudesheim!

This house appears to have gone a bit overboard with their Christmas decorations this year! It looks like a Christmas store blew up in their driveway... Craziness!! :)

While wandering through Rudesheim we found a panaramic walkway and decided to explore... Here's the view of the city from the top of the hill. It's completely surrounded by vineyards... I'm sure it's very pretty there during the summer... Now, not so much! :)

The American House... Interesting! :)

The famed Drosselhof Strasse...

Cuckoo!!

This was the highlight of our trip to Rudesheim... Finding the Chocolate Kisses hut!! These treats are phenomenal... And VERY hard to come by!

So, we decided to purchase a few...

Getting ready to bite into some delicious goodness! YUM!! :)

I was thinking of you the whole time, Stacy! :)

Stop #2... Weisbaden

Gluhwein party on the ship... Yay! :)

The Weisbaden Christmas market...

So pretty!

The theme of their market was the "Falling Star" market...

The man working the almond stand offered to take our picture... This is right after I spilled my mug of hot chocolate all over everything... Grrr!

Stop #3... Frankfurt

I love the timber framed houses!!

Clearly, Katrina was very excited about her boot purchase in Frankfurt! :)

We walked around the corner in Frankfurt and came across this beauty... Nice! :)

A view of Frankfurt from the ship...

Last stop... Mainz

I love this pyramid!! :)

And, the following day we docked back in Cologne and headed back home on the train... But, not before I FINALLY remembered to take a picture with the Na-Tah-Ka sign in front of the Cologne Dom! :)