great ideas guys and gals, thanks so much. Lots to think about

mussels and chocolate mmmm.

In Belgium have a look at this;
www.wijnkasteel.com

It's between Tongeren and Maastricht. Tongeren is well worth a visit for the antiques/bric-a-brac market on Sunday mornings. Tongeren was a Roman city, there's a museum.

Maastricht is a lovely town. Charming, good food and there are several vineyards in the area. Too bad you're not there for the Preuvenemint culinary festival, the end of August.
There are limestone caves to visit as well. There's also an amazing bookstore in a Dominican church. Stay at Kruisherenhotel - also in a church. It's a very catholic place

I see now from your post that you like flea markets, in which case definitely try to fit in Tongeren. It starts very early on Sundays, from 6 am. You could continue on to Maastricht and Aachen from there. You could visit Valkenburg too, it's pretty but very touristy. Or visit the American war cemetary at Margraten, close to Maastricht.

Mrs Bilbo likes flea markets, I like a big coffee and a bun

Baden-Baden: "a faded 19th Century resort" for the "old and wealthy"

Please share what "faded part of the 19th century" the Frieder Burda museum belongs to. https://www.museum-frieder-burda.de/de/home/ (the old and wealthy must know some INCREDIBLE plastic surgeons, based on the third photo in the museum's homepage photo carousel...)

And the Festspielhaus. https://www.festspielhaus.de/en/

Kerouac, the photos, you had me hooked by the station but then the Beaux Arts kicked in, looks fantastic

Weisser, now that looks like a seriously interesting museum. Music unfortunatly leaves me coldish.

Tulip, I'm British so American war graves lack a lot of interest, though to be fair British ones are not that attractive to me either. Not that I don't respect the sacrifice, I just don't look to see the rows, I'd rather see say their diaries. However a "wine castle", what more can I boy want.

Cowboy, thats the one.

Anselm, dragging back through my brain was that where Hildergard of Bingen went to lose weight? Nah, it was where Luther went to explain himself to the HR Emperor

What, the fete is 27 Sept, too late.

Baden-Baden: "a faded 19th Century resort" for the "old and wealthy">

I writ that poorly = did not mean to imply today's Baden-Baden was for old and wealthy - still a vibrant resort for all ages.

Pal, I think mine is the post that WeisserTee is objecting to.

WeisserTee, I never said the resort was for the "old and wealthy." Rather, I said it is a "faded 19th Century resort for the wealthy."

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a museum-goer, as I prefer to spend more time outside walking or soaking up the ambiance. So I can't comment on that museum, which I'm sure is fabulous.

My comment, of course, was for the overall architecture and ambiance of the place, not for the people, and not for individual structures.

And, even though I would classify Montreux as the same thing, a faded 19th Century resort for the wealthy, I do love it there. It soothes my soul. I go there every year or every other year and spend two weeks. I must have a faded 19th Century soul...!

I appreciate your comments and your pointing out what I obviously missed, but I wish they had been less confrontational.

s

Tongeren roman muséum is very nice.

Bath bath left me the same impression as Swan.
But for me spas are clearly for the old. Wealthy ? not so sure.

I like the smaller spas, often using salt water in the countryside with maybe just a sausage bar and champagne stand (sorry that should be champagne stand and sausage bar) get the priorities right. I find the gilt and smugness of older places a little smothering.

Old, well I first started like them when I hit 30 and didn't like swimming a mile everytime I got in the pool ;-)

That is a way that could make me like spas.
Any chance of having fries with the sausages ?

Just wanted to feedback.

We carried out the Aachen/Maastricht/Liege triangle idea and stayed in a little B&B between Maastricht and Leige at Eisjden which is on the railway line between M and L. Eisjden turned out to be pretty well perfect, it has a castle with open grounds, the town boasts roughly 7 restaurants and I suspect in the high summer is abuzz with local tourist traffic. B&B Doen and Laten was very nice, only two bedrooms but guests also got to share a lounge with kitchen.

Train to Liege and Maastricht was easy to use, Liege was perhaps too big and not so much fun, but the main railway station (a bit out of town) is a masterpiece and the central cathedral pretty good.

Maastricht, on the other hand, was fantastic, easily walkable, lots of nice grungy cafes, walls, posh shops and even a statue of D'artagnan (sans musket). Well worth a day's pottering.

We didn't get to Aarchen, the German Zonal traffic disc meant that we couldn't drive there and public transport made it a long day to get there. Still we went walking in the local national park which was fine.

We also dropped onto the Saar, a river I'm begining to know well. On this occassion we went to see the 190 degree bend in the river at Saarschleife near Mettlach. Pretty impressive, lots of good hiking trails go out from here and I managed 10km one day, good restaurants (about 7 or 8 in a small area) at the top of the cliff. Never visited the bottom of the cliff but I understand there are more down there.

Thanks for the feedback bilboburgler. I love Maastricht - it has a very 'un-dutch' feel, if that makes sense.
Did you light a candle at the chapel on 'Onze Lieve Vrouweplein'? And did you eat 'vlaai' - the fruit or rice tarts that they sell everywhere?

I walked into Onze Lieve Vrouweplein and after a few moments soaking up the atmosphere I left. Not my thing but "overwhelming". I also loved all the stone shop symbols everywhere.

Brownies were my thing, I found some homemade ones in a campus (no idea which campus) coffee shop (no weed) which were wonderful. Also like the "bishop's waterwheel bread shop".

if you can make it to Metz then head a bit further south to Nancy.
http://en.nancy-tourisme.fr/
I am a lover of the art deco style so this city had plenty to offer, but it also has other thing to offer too.
Plus it is near Lorraine and Côtes de Toul areas of wines.

Nancy is a gem as I mentioned above and would chose it over Metz, nice city, anyday if not for just its Place Stanislaus: oneof the largest and mostimpressive concrete jungles of a main square in Europe IMO:

https://www.google.com/search?q=nanc...w=1745&bih=863

Glad you enjoyed (are enjoying?) your trip - Maastricht is one of my favourite cities out of anywhere.

Is the trip still ongoing, or have you returned for now?

Lavandula

I'm back now. I'll drop out a fuller visit report (maybe) when time allows.

What I will say is the B&B near Maastricht was fantastic and the AirBnB on the Saar was great.

Meanwhile our Urzig wine tastings 6 were exceptional and one was a little odd, so managed to pick up 60 bottles of wine at prices less than half what they would cost in the UK, if you could buy them. Food was generally good, but the rain!

Every wine producer was panicking about the rain, plus they had frosts at flower bud time so we can look forward to a small, weak output in 2017 from the region.

I have taken time to add to last year's rant. Please take it tongue in cheek. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...an-embassy.cfm