Feeling French

Okay, so technically Belgian and French would be more accurate, but then the title of my post wouldn’t have the fun alliteration, so we are ignoring the technicalities today. And in case that admittedly nonsensical opener wasn’t clear enough for you, I recently visited Belgium and Paris over the last two weekends.

Let’s start with Paris. Paris was literally a whirlwind of a trip. I decided to go last minute with my friend and we quite literally only had 12 hours in the city. We took the train from Luxembourg to Paris, where we arrived around 9 in the morning and took off. We fit all of the notable sights into our trip (Eifel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, Pantheon, and the Louvre Pyraminds) and also went under the city into the Paris Catacombs. While I had never previously really cared to see Paris because I had heard it’s a bit overrated as a city, I actually ended up really enjoying the day and I’m glad I checked it off the list. Also, I will 100% admit the Eifel Tower is gorgeous in person, and the weather was incredible, so the blue skies bracketing the tourist stop were truly beautiful. My favorite part of the trip was definitely the catacombs, even though they were super eerie. It was honestly astonishing seeing just how many bones were stacked down in the tunnels. The atmosphere in the air was super creepy too. I’m not usually one to subscribe to hokey paranormal stuff, but I did genuinely feel like the air was somewhat queasy down in the catacombs with all of the loss. I was definitely glad to make it back to the surface when we were done with the tour, but I absolutely learned a lot. My favorite part of the entire trip to Paris, however, was the strawberry tart I ate at the end of the day. Jessie and I stopped at a small bakery and the strawberry tart’s drew my eye right away. The strawberries were so fresh and fruity and the thick custard of the tart balanced them out deliciously. I could legitimately eat those every day and I wish I had easier access to them. Overall, it was a successful trip.

Then, over the long weekend for Memorial Day, I did a road trip through Belgium, starting at Brussels, onto Bruges, and ending in Ghent. I’ve been to Brussels before for work, but this was my first time really getting to explore. It was super fun. I did the chocolate museum and ate my weight in chocolate, stopped by the natural history museum, saw all of the incredible archicture, and finished the day off with a Belgian beer tasting. The beer tasting was hilarious and so fun. Our guide basically just opened a ton of bottles of beer and passed them out, so we were drinking about 5 bottles each and they were some strong Belgian beers. It was a great time and I got to meet some interesting international travelers, including an Italian lady where it was her first ever taste of beer. At the end, she promplty decided she was going to stick with her Italian wines instead, and although I enjoyed the beer tasting, I’m inclined to agree with her LOL.

Bruges is probably one of my favorite places I’ve been in Europe. I’m sensing this trend where I really love cities with gorgeous canals and cute architecture in them (throw back to my trips to Strasbourg and Amsterdam). Bruges has the most gorgeous small-town charm and like I said, the canals are truly magical. I also liked that Bruges had a lot to do, but did not feel quite as touristy as Brussels. I did a tour of the French Fry museum and learned that french fries probably got their names from dumb Americans who did not realize Belgian soldiers were not french, which honestly seems like a very accurate summation of the American education system. I also did a canal boat tour. The sun had just come out and the weather was perfect. I felt so cute and idyllic in my sundress listening to our hilarious tour guide show us Bruges from her perspective. I ended the day with dinner and a walk along the canal, and the sunset with the reflection on the water was amazing. I’ll add some pictures to this post when I’m back on my phone; it is easier to type on my computer.

The final day in Belgium was in Ghent, a medieval part of Belgium. I stayed in an old converted monastery, which was super cool and surprisingly cheap accomodations despite being very nice on the inside. I started the day with a tour of Gravesteen castle, which was honestly one of the most well done castle tours I’ve been to. The audio guide was narrated by a commedian, and it was hilarious while still remaining educational. After that, most of the day I just walked around and saw some of the architecture. I also stopped at Grafitti Street, which had some truly impressive art considering the works were done with spray paint. I was thoroughly impressed.

My trip through Belgium was super fun overall. I ate lots of yummy food, to include literally one Belgian waffle a day. Those things are addictive, especially when smothered in chocolate, strawberries, and bananas. I’m definitely glad to have a quiet weekend coming up, however. I have been traveling a lot recently without really slowing down, so I am going to take this weekend to get reset and do a lot of laundry. I leave for Scotland in just 2 weeks (!!!!!!!!) so I need to take the time while I can. I’m also doing some private writing on the side. I have started a kind of journal/memoir/book of stories from my travels that maybe I will share with everyone one day. I’m just writing down stories or experiences that have stuck with me from my journeys, and my reflections from my time abroad. I really do think I have already learned so much in just the short time I have been back over here, and I am so blessed to have these experiences.

As always, I miss you all endlessly and I appreciate you for reading along and sharing these adventures with me. My next post likely won’t come until after Scotland, so for now, best wishes to everyone!