Paris, Brussels and Bruges

We finally got a four day weekend this past weekend! We all took the bus to Paris on Thursday morning and arrived at the Gare de Lyon shortly after noon. This was the first weekend that we were in a big city and not all staying at the same hostel, so it was definitely an adventure. The metro system was a lot easier to navigate around than I expected and we made it to our "hotel" that was on the out-skirts of town. The weird thing about the hotel was that we each had our own room, so we had 5 single rooms instead of 1 room with 5 beds, like we had expected. The room was not what I expected and reminded me of a nicer version of my crappy dorm room in Dijon with a shower and toilet in the room. Naturally, the idea of staying in my own room in a hotel in Paris absolutely freaked me out, since I get scared so easily...needless to say I was not excited about that.

After checking in and getting settled, we got ready for the day/ night since our hotel was about 20 mins away from the center of Paris and didnt want to travel back until the metro ended... which was inconveniently at 1 am. We hopped on the metro on the way to the Arc de Triomphe and ran into 8 other people on our program, which was great because we were all going to the same place. The Arc de Triomphe was fantastic since it was such a gorgeous day in Paris.

Walking down the Champs-Élysées in Paris reminded me of the song Aux Champs-Élysées that I had learned in high school with the sun shining and wind blowing through the trees on the walk down to the river seine. The architecture of the buildings in Paris were divine and allowed me to appreciate the beauty of the city. All down the Champs-Élysées there were many shops and restaurants, yet one shop that really stuck out and made us all laugh. There was a huge gold and black gate surrounding it... at first we thought it was maybe a museum or a French mansion but to our surprise it was an Abercrombie and Fitch. I did not realize that it was such a popular shop in France especially to the extreme of having huge gates and male models outside. Further down on our walk we passed beautiful museums, an extravagant Louis Vuitton shop, and many people on mopeds which made us all think of the MaryKate and Ashley Movie "Passport to Paris". haha.

the abercrombie and fitch

Passport to Paris!

the wait to get in was wrapped around the corner

                            
Once we reached the river Seine we could see the Eiffel Tower along with many other gorgeous sites and statues. We all really wanted to go on a boat tour, but that ended up not working out and we ate dinner at a restaurant called Marmite! I laughed when I saw the name of the restaurant and it took me back to growing up eating marmite on toast for breakfast and how long it had been since I last ate it! We all split escargots and a shrimp and  avocado appetizer which was absolutely delicious! The escargots were covered in a garlic and basil sauce that was so yummy I could have eaten more of them as my main course!

yummmm escargots 

                        
We ended up drinking on the lawn at the Eiffel Tower that night and it was incredible. When it was dark the Eiffel Tower lit up and looked so pretty... every hour it also sparkled! Just relaxing under the Eiffel Tower full of good food, with good wine and great friends was perfect that evening and I couldn't have been happier :)
                            

the girls under the Eiffel Tower

The next day we spent at Versailles, which was just as I had remembered it! Unfortunately when we went the line to get into the palace was a four hour wait, which is insane, so we just walked around the gardens and around the outside of the palace. The statues in the garden were still so beautiful and there were people on boats in water at the end of the gardens, which I wish we could have done as well! Another great thing about Versailles was we found our first Starbucks abroad which of course made the day even better! One thing that I want to do after seeing the palace again is refresh myself on its history! Before heading to Brussels we hopped on the metro to see the Eiffel Tower again but during the day and then headed to our Thalys train.

Amanda and Steph

Arriving in Brussels was absolutely amazing! It was great to see Alley and where her parents live. The hospitality we received from Alley's family was wonderful and it was so nice to be in a house instead of a hostel or dorm rooms. I stayed with Claire, Steph and Amanda in their guest house which was attached to the main house. After settling in we snacked on edamame hummus, which was heaven in a bowl because we had all missed hummus so much, and had amazing Indian food for dinner, butter chicken curry. After stuffing my face for the 5th time that day we went out to see Brussels at night! The town exactly what I was expecting and it was nice because it was a lot less touristy than other places we have visited.

The next day we did a day trip in Bruges which was about an hour away from Alleys. The town was great and all of the buildings seemed to have "step" roofs which I found to be very unique. After walking into numerous chocolatiers (of course I couldn't resist- thanks mum- like mother like daughter) we went on a boat ride though the town, which was perfect because we learned about some of the history of Bruges and got to see most of the town. The town had so many beautiful old buildings that really showed how long the town had been around for. There were also an incredible amount of boutiques with extremely unique pieces in them... I wish I had more euros! That day got even better when I bit into my first REAL Belgium waffle... and let me say it lived up to what I had imagined. After stuffing my face with tons of chocolate and waffles, we continued our eating spree and ate falafels with hummus! When in Belgium...

couldn't get enoughhh

before getting on our boat ride

Steph, me and amanda on the boat!

first Belgian waffle

After spending the day in Bruges we went back to Brussels and sat in the plaza looking at the beautifully lit up buildings. While sitting there we saw some interesting things, such as a bachelorette party, that entertained us for a while. We then absolutely needed to see one of the "strangest attractions" in Brussels, the Manneken Pis.  The Manneken Pis is a famous landmark and is a small bronze fountain sculpture of a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. Legend tells that the boy was awoken by a fire and was able to put out the fire with his urine, which stopped the king's castle from burning down. An interesting thing about the sculpture was that they dress him up on different holidays!

Alley took us to this "French wine bar" which was very random and different, but I loved it. It had a million random paintings, trinkets and decorations all over different rooms with a funky staircase. It must have taken years to accumulate all of the miscellaneous things in that bar!!

Brussels and Bruges were as gorgeous as I had imagined and it was so refreshing to be in smaller towns with smaller crowds. I have never been so full in one weekend, from the crepes in Paris to the waffles and chocolate in Belgium.. I probably should never live in either of those places because I would not be able to get up from a cafe or would camp outside of a chocolatier. The one thing I wish I could have done was send some Belgium chocolate to my family because we all have sweet tooth's, especially my mother!