Ben Blair has the week off work, so Sunday night, we planned a last-minute roadtrip to Germany. Roadtrip FTW! It’s a long-ish drive, so we decided to break it up with a Waffle Tour through Belgium yesterday.
We started in Bruges with chocolate waffles. Stopped in Brussels for strawberry waffles. And tried Liege waffels in Liege. (Liege waffles are denser and have a sugary coating. Sometimes we’ve found them at Whole Foods, if you’d like to try them yourself.) The drive ended in Cologne, Germany where we woke up this morning. And now, we’re off to explore…
I hope your Winter Break is going swimmingly. Are you traveling? Spending time with cousins? Skiing? Having a laid-back week at home? I’d love to hear!
P.S. — Here are lots more images of Waffle Tour 2011 if you’d like to see:
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Very nice pictures! I’m making a trip to Whole Foods for waffles today :-)
You are just the best – A waffle tour is simply the most fun!!! Love it!!!
I have 2 kids with Celiac disease so a waffle tour is out for us. I enjoyed your tour so much.
My son and I just visited Bruges (and London and Paris) earlier this month and enjoyed waffles from what appears to be the same vendor, too. So good. And chocolates at Madame Dumon’s! Yum. Brought back some lovely memories with the photos of the Market. What a great trip.
What a fun idea! I also like the way you can click through the pictures without opening a new window. :)
This sounds like so much fun! A waffle tour through Belgium, what a brilliant idea!!! Wish I could drag the family along as well!
Ooh, Köln! We found the Cologne – Germans are somehow so much nicer than other parts of Germany…why is that?
Hope that you have a chance to visit the Chocolate Museum and the Dionysus mosaic at the Römisch-Germanisches Museum . Both are fascinating. Whatever you choose, please share with us!
Oh my, Liege waffles are truly the best. So jealous!
Unfortunately my hubs and the Babby are having a laid back week, while I’m at work not having much of anything to do since it’s the end of the month.
I’m always impressed with your spontaneity and sense of adventure as a family. My husband lived in Germany when he was young and still misses things about that time of his life. And we both love waffles so this tour sounds like a blast. Merry Christmas and enjoy your travels!
I love waffles – what a neat idea! Have fun in Germany too – I spent some time there for work around Christmas and really enjoyed it. I still think about the roasted duck I had in Frankfurt – so yum!
very cute idea. on the way back, perhaps a sampler of belgian chocolates? at least pick up one truffle each at pierre marcolini ;)
Sounds like an amazing and exciting trip.
How wonderful to see all you beautiful Blairs on Waffle Tour! Loved
feeling that I was with you. Tastes SOOOO Goood!
As a Belgian I think this is pretty cool. If you have an opportunity you should visit Ghent. Most tourists miss it (they either go to Bruges or Brussels) and that’s why it’s awesome. We went to to Cologne, Germany 1,5 month ago (blogged about it here: http://southafricameetsbelgium.blogspot.com/2011/11/cologne-germany.html). You should get a lock and fix it to the Hohenzollern bridge. It’s such a cool tradition. Enjoy your trip!
PS: I don’t know if you’ve been there but a very neat place to visit in Northern France is Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez. Shouldn’t be too far from where you are. Absolutely breathtaking!
What a wonderful experience you are giving your children!
What a fun idea! I’ll have to stow it away for a future road trip (though it probably won’t be able to be in Belgium, sadly)…
while you’re in germany, you should head south to heidelberg. there is this small town called ladenberg, just north of heidelberg off of the A5. there is this restaurant there called die kartoffel (the potato) and it is AWESOME. you cook your meat on a hot stone they bring you. the town also has roman ruins in it as well. there are some fantastic gummi shops in downtown heidelberg, on the haupstrasse as well. german gummi’s are the absolute best!!!!!!!
you get the award for most awesome parents EVER! A waffle tour? How cool is that? Oh, and break? what break? the show must go on…I’m working everyday. Fortunately for me, I love my job!
I love how spontaneous you all are! I will think of you every time I start to fret when going somewhere with my 1 child that is a bit younger than June! I will get my groove back, I promise!
Um, What is it like traveling with your children? The waffle idea sounds totally awesome– and it must be so fun to be apart of your familia right now! What an experience!
I do LOVE your ideas! Waffles are one of my most favourite things in the world and I think I’ll have to add a waffle tour to my life list :)
That sounds absolutely lovely!
Our family is frantically packing to move into our new home in the middle of January. We couldn’t be more excited!
Love Bruges! And love the waffles on the street! That’s probably my kids’ favorite memory of Belgium.
That sounds like so much fun! Sadly, I am working all this week. :(
Try to get to Aachen – it has the most amazing cathedral (unESCO World Heritage Site) and is a cute town. I was in Lille, Brussels and Bruges earlier this year. Lille had the best cake shop ever – Meert.
Christmas break at home with my parents and seeing old friends – back to my home for New Year with other friends. Fun!
wow! what a great way to split up a road trip! what amazing experiences for all of you. Happy New Year!
what a creative idea! i love it. we should come up with something similar on our next (US) road trip…doughnuts would be a big hit with my kids :)
Thank you so much for sharing. Happy New Year.
Fun!
In NYC there is a food truck called “Waffles and Dinges” that makes traditional Belgium waffles as well as the Liege waffles, which are my favorite. I like them best spread with speculoos, a spread that tastes like graham crackers and has the consistency and look of peanut butter. Next time you’re here, find them! They look almost like DHL trucks.
I am really enjoying watching your Christmas in Europe. I so loved that time of year in France, Germany and Luxembourg. Have fun and Happy New Year!
uhhhh…if you do make it to heidelberg, come and visit!
enjoy yourselves ( keeping my fingers crossed you only meet nice people)
I hope you like Cologne! If you have time come to Cologne-Ehrenfeld and visit Körnerstraße. This is a nice small street with small design and interior shops. There is a good cafe too (Cafe Sehnsucht) You will like the cakes :-)
I had to bring my husband and daughter in to read this post…they’re both “Waffle People.” You guys are so amazingly fun! As always, thanks for sharing! Happy New Year!
So fun! And totally made this preggo crave waffles. I bet we can’t find any as delicious as those look here in Texas, though.
I’m want to go on a waffle tour! Such an awesome idea and one I’ll gladly give you credit for when I steal it in the future…
Enjoy your vacation! I am so glad that you and your family stopped in Liege en route to Cologne. In spite of the recent tragedy it’s a lovely, ancient city with a lot of history (and if you are without the kids and so inclined a lovely place to go out in at night). A lot of North Americans reduce Belgium to the Flemish towns and Brussels (PS Ghent IS really lovely!) though Liege and the Ardennes (in the Southern hillier French speaking part are lovely with lots to offer such as spa towns and WWII sites.
super fun! i love things like that and can’t wait to be able to do it with our kids. as they are 5, 3, 2, and 6m we tend to hit up the rest areas in the US to run around or something like that for some energy burn. maybe in a couple years.
ps- loving the (newer?) photo click through. my browser seems to handle it better. yay! merry Christmas and happy new year to you all.
Love waffles – this sounds like a delicious excursion!
wonderful pictures. i wish i could tastes all the waffles there. so excited!
I’ve been living in Belgium my whole live, but I’ve never went on a Waffle tour! Seems super fun and yummy!
For a few weeks now I have been checking in having seen you and your wonderful family on HGTV and I must say thank you for opening the world to me! As a stay-at-home mom in a remote Northern town in BC, Canada I have felt very isolated and alone here in my love of all things design… I will admit to being a little behind the times (read: living in a time warp) so I really had no idea that such a medium existed for connecting with other likeminded people but I am so glad you are here! My children and I live a portion of each winter away in an artistic community and I was really missing that infusion of the creative, literary, beautiful… Congrats on your TIME recognition – you are so deserving and thank you so much for saving me!!!
You are living the dream. Good for you.
YUM! I love belgian waffles!!! Have you been to the place in downtown SLC, Bruges waffles n frites? My fave when I go there!!!
Looking at these photos inspired us to have chocolate chip waffles for breakfast this morning–on a FRIDAY! :)
Thanks! (and I *love* Brussels–one of my favorite cities in the world!)
I learned to love waffles in LIEGE! Wonderful, caramally outside! Must eat hot! I have tried to make them at home with big sugar crystals in batter and extra eggs for density and richness, but haven’t quite figured out recipe. Thanks for a great blog!
Bonjour, en tant que belge, je suis très heureuse de constater que vous vous êtes tous bien amusés. Félicitations pour votre Blog et, merci pour vos partages. Bonne continuation. Vi de Liège Belgique