Brussels and Bruges

2 weekends ago me and Cole took a weekend trip from Paris to Brussels (I know, it has taken me forever to write about it, but I've been too busy working actually doing stuff to write about it!)

We took off on the Thalys train from Paris Gare du Nord Friday afternoon, and it only took 1 1/2 hrs to get to Brussels-Midi station. Upon our arrival we checked into the Thon hotel, and our room on the 25th floor! It was a pretty fancy-shmancy hotel but we only paid $60 per night for it on hotels.com which was a pretty good steal. It was also only 5 minutes walk from the main square. The only problem was that even when the A/C was on the maximum cooling setting, it still wasn't very cold. However, since that weekend we have adapted to the lack of adequate A/C because they pretty much just don't have it in Europe. In Paris they really don't have it anywhere, not even our apartment, which is pretty inconvenient when its 95 degrees outside.

Anyways, Friday night we just strolled around and looked for food. We found a doner kebab place, and I was hoping that they might have some falafel, unlike the Paris doners! Happily for me, they had some delicious falafel and feta sandwiches. Cole had some yummy shawarma too! After that, we picked up some Belgian beers to drink at the hotel and headed back.

Saturday, we woke up and decided to forgo the 26 euro hotel breakfast. (Outrageous!) Instead we walked down the street for something quick. The only real option (other than doner) was a sandwich shop which turned out to be pretty delish. After our brunch, we wandered into the main square to check out the St. Michel cathedral.

Cole in front of St. Michel cathedral

After the cathedral tour, it started to rain a bit, so we opted to take the metro to our next stop, the Cantillon brewery. This brewery is the last of the breweries left in Brussels. It was pretty sweet, very small and old, and we did the brewery tour and tasting there. The kind of beer they make is the lambic, a sort of tart and fizzy beer to which fruit is often added, most commonly raspberry or cherry (called kriek).

Wheelbarrow

Hiding behind a barrel of lambic

Kegs!

Bottling and labeling

Thousands of full bottles!

After the brew tour, we headed back to the main area to find some food and some shopping. We found the possibly coolest beer store ever. They had tons of different types of Belgian beer, as well as Belgian beer posters and all of the proper Belgian beer glasses. They had so many awesome accessories but after all we can't take too much stuff home... (we are going to struggle packing as it is!) but we did buy two Delirium Tremens glasses to use back in Iowa. We also bought some delicious Belgian chocolates at one of the many chocolate shops, and also found a strangely delicious Italian restaurant that served amazing gourmet baked mac and cheese! Once again we stopped at the convenience store for some (slightly cheaper) Belgian beers, went back to the hotel and drank and watched the Spain/Paraguay world cup soccer match! Later that night we grabbed a quick bite at the nearby Brussels grill for some cheese croquettes, burger and fries, and hit the hay so we could get up early the next morning and head to Bruges.

Glorious. A Western Shop in Brussels. (They didn't even speak English)

Early Sunday morning we headed to the north station and bought tickets for the train to Bruges. It took about an hour to get there from Brussels. When we arrived, it was beautiful weather, sunny and warm with a little breeze. Perfect day for walking around! We strolled through the Sunday morning antique/flea market where they had just about everything, including an amazing crystal decanter that I desperately wanted, but was just too heavy to take home with me :(. We wound up on the other side of the market, and headed towards what looked like a more popular area of town. Luckily, Bruges is pretty small, so we were headed in the right direction.

On the canal in Bruges

At the main square, we sat down for some lunch. I think I had cheese croquettes again with salad, probably because it was the only thing without meat on the menu (they are very reluctant to add/delete specific things from menu items around here...) but it was pretty delicious, and we also got some HUGE 50 cl Hoegaarden beers. Not too shabby at all.

GIANT Hoegaarden!

Beer and fries-- Welcome to Belgium!

After lunch we strolled for a while. Lots of parks and shops all around the city. Our next destination (and pretty much our only planned destination in Bruges) was De Halve Maan brewery, which means "the Half Moon". This brewery was definitely a must-see if you are heading to Belgium. In fact, I would say Bruges is a must see, and I wish we could have stayed there a little longer. Anyways, at De Halve Maan we took a tour, and our guide was awesome! She was pretty hilarious, but also knew a hell of a lot about beer. At the end of the tour we got 2 free beers and also chatted with a couple from Minnesota who were currently living in London. They gave us some of their beer recommendations as well!

De Halve Maan brewery tour

Cole lookin' good on the tour

View from the rooftop of the brewery :)

Yes, that is a Budweiser can in a Belgian brewery!

After a great day in Bruges, we sadly had to rush to the train station to head back to Paris. However, we had enough time to snag some ice cream at a shop along the way, and saw someone familiar... PUNKY! This time with all his friends in tow.

PUNKY AND FRIENDS!!!

Giverny

I forgot to mention in my London blogs that we also went to Giverny that week, before taking the Eurostar from Paris to London. Its a very tiny town an hour outside Paris where Claude Monet lived and had his famous gardens. His house is still there, now a museum, and the gardens there are BEAUTIFUL! I can't really do justice to what I saw with words, so here are a few of my favorite pictures. The japanese bridges and lily pond were my favorites, but there were so many vibrant flowers there as well!

Cole in front of some pretty flowers

More pretty flowers

Smelling the roses

Lily pond

This one is my favorite!

Foggy London Town (Days 4-5)

DAY 4: Wednesday, we started off by heading over to the British Museum. It was FREE! A nice break from all the 10 EUR/pound museums all over Europe. The British Museum has lots of historical artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone which was pretty cool to see! Other than that we saw a lot of ancient Egyptian artifacts, including many human sarchophaguses (sarcophagi???) and even a CAT sarcophagus! Cats were pretty important to the Egyptians and they even buried cats with people because they were good luck in the afterlife or something.

Rosetta Stone

After the museum, me and Cole made the trek to Harrod's to meet Julie and my parents. But there were more important things to do than shop-- soccer! The England-Slovenia game was on. We stopped at a pub pretty close to Harrod's to watch and it was packed. Everyone was standing around, crowded in a tiny space and there was only 1 TV so everyone was craning their necks to see the game. We had a few beers there and stood and watched the game. Luckily England won (!) so everyone was happy and in a good mood. We also met a Scottish man who had bet $2000 that England would win.... the WORLD CUP. At the time he might have been happy, but now in retrospect maybe not so much because they got booted their first game in the tournament. But oh well. USA was also playing Algeria during the same time slot, but obviously not many people were showing that game. However we did find out afterwards that USA won too!

Me and Cole celebrated post-game by finally going to Harrod's!!! I was pretty pumped, Cole not so much but he trooped along with me. I got a pretty sweet umbrella there. Its awesome, but post-purchase it became apparent that it might be difficult to transport home since its long and doesn't fit in the suitcase... we'll see how that goes but I'll probably have to just hold it all the way back. But all in all, England and USA both won, and I bought an umbrella at Harrod's in London. A pretty darn good day all around.

DAY 5: On Thursday me and Cole made a looooong trek to the Tower of London. We walked past Westminster, Big Ben/Parliament, then along the Thames past the London Eye, the Globe Theater, and finally to the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. On the way we even stopped at a museum called the "Clink" prison museum (which is apparently the origin of the word "clink" referencing prisons).

Parliament

Some dude using the loo in front of Parliament... haha

Me and Cole at Parliament-- where James Bond jumped out the window into the Thames

Big Ben and Parliament in the background

London Eye

Clink Museum

Clink Museum-- kinda creepy (Cole was totally scared)

Tower Bridge

Although our feet were pretty tired from walking, we decided to forge ahead and go to the Natural History museum. Me and Cole both loved the Natural History museum in NYC so we really wanted to see the one in London! It was pretty great. I wish we could have stayed a little longer there too. There was so much to see! Some of the highlights included a dinosaur exhibit, the evolution of different species of elephants, and a huge blue whale skeleton. There were some other exhibits about human biology that I would have liked to see, but alas, not enough time!

Natural History-- dino skeleton

Momma and baby elephants

Tusk-less elephant!

Later that night after our sightseeing trek, we went to the Picadilly Circus area once again, this time to see a play called Avenue Q! Before the play started we went to Pizza Hut for dinner-- the British version, which for some reason is 1000x superior to American Pizza Hut. The salad bar was superb. Anyways, Avenue Q: OUTRAGEOUS. Totally worth seeing, if you can handle a few jokes about sex, racism, and just general inappropriateness. But it was pretty much hilarious and I'm really happy we got to see it!

DAY 6 (departure day): On our last day, we got up early for breakfast since Julie was leaving from the London airport. We decided to go all out for the $16 (actually 16 pounds, so more like $20) breakfast per person. Although a little overpriced, it was pretty tasty and we tried to get our money's worth!

After breakfast we packed up and took a cab to the train station to get the Eurostar back to
Paris. However we did make a quick stop at one of the places I was dying to see in London-- Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross!

Off to HOGWARTS!!!

Mom wants to go too!

Foggy London Town (Days 1-3)

Artsy Underground pic

Me and Cole in a phonebooth!

Foggy London Town!!! To summarize, probably my favorite place I've been so far! There was so much to do-- we stayed 5 days but I want to go back already and see more!

DAY 1: We got there Sunday night (as in 2 weeks ago) and went out for some Indian food. The highlight of the meal was PUNKY, a small penguin-type animal with ice cream inside. He was described as "creamy vanilla ice cream in an attractive plastic toy". Oh Punky. He also got a little crazy later that night as you can see.

Julie, me and Mom with Punky

Punky Gone Wild

DAY 2: On Monday, we took a stroll from our hotel. Our first stop was the Albert, a British pub with good beer and good food! Then we saw Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament. We also went to the Churchill War Rooms, which was an amazing museum to go to. It was really interesting and interactive. I would recommend it to anyone because I'm not the biggest war history buff (like Cole) but I still loved it! After the museum, Cole and I walked around to the Picadilly Circus area and saw all the shops and restaurants there. BUT we couldn't wander for too long because we had a Jack the Ripper tour that night!

The Albert

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

The Ripper tour was excellent. Our guide was an amazing story teller! We walked around with him to all the sites where Jack the Ripper supposedly killed people, and where his victims lived. He told the stories of all the victims and how they died. It sounds really morbid but it was actually really entertaining and the guide was pretty funny to liven things up. Overall it was a night of stories and gore and even conspiracy! (my favorite part) Sadly though I didn't take any pictures during the tour because I was too wrapped up in the stories :( After the tour we went out to a Lebanese restaurant in Picadilly. Lots of pita and hummus!

DAY 3: Tuesday we decided to go on a tour instead of wandering on our own. We hopped on a bus pretty early in the AM, and headed off to Windsor Castle. It was beautiful! We saw the changing of the guard there too since we missed it at Buckingham Palace. We walked through the church, the courtyards, and all of the beautiful ornate rooms. There were some pieces of furniture that I would like for myself (haha).

Windsor Castle

The next stop on the tour was STONEHENGE! We didn't stay there for long, mostly because there isn't a whole lot to see there except for a bunch of rocks. But in all seriousness it was really interesting and fun and once again I especially enjoyed all the conspiracy stories about how Stonehenge was built (it was built by aliens). I also saw some really cute little sheep in the countryside which I was looking forward too!

Me and Cole at Stonehenge

Our last stop on the tour was Oxford. It looks like such a fun college town! I wish we could have stayed longer but we only had a few hours in the afternoon. There were a ton of coffee shops, boutiques and restaurants/bars as one would imagine in a town full of students. This lovely statue was probably one of the highlights that I saw there. I wonder what he is thinking?

It's been a while!!

Me at the Eiffel Tower



Eiffel Tower at night :)

So, its been a while since I've blogged about my travels. Long story short, I left Arcachon, then my parents, Julie and Cole came to meet me in Paris, and we spent a week in London. It was amazing!!! but more about London details later when I have time to sit down and remember everything we did there. I'm currently in Paris where I have an internship for 3 weeks. It's pretty short but I've been doing some interesting work already and I think it will be a great experience! Plus, I get to hang out in Paris with Cole for 3 weeks and travel on the weekends with him. And I'm also working on my French skills so hopefully I will be more fluent when I return.

Our apartment is tiny but its good for the time here. Mainly the kitchen appliances are ridiculously small, especially the teensy laundry machine that only fits a few things, and there is no dryer so sometimes I have to hang my skivvies outside to dry. But overall, not bad and there is wifi and cable (even though all the channels are in French-- as a sidenote we have been enjoying watching French music videos). Here are some pics of the place!

Cole in the bedroom/futon/TV area

Our wee little kitchen (note the small appliances and lack of preparation space)

The tiny washing machine

Hand-to-door comparison for emphasis

Me on the deck (with enough space for 1 person to stand)

View of the courtyard

ITALIA!

Italy this weekend. Amazing. First of all we took RyanAir and for most of us it was the first time on one of the cheapo airlines. The flight (round trip) was around 40 euros which to me was absolutely unbelievable, considering I paid around 350 euros to get to Madrid a few weeks ago! I was expecting a tiny plane but it was actually pretty big, just bare-bones. No front seat pockets and very little leg room. It really wasn't a big deal since we all talked and listened to music anyways-- also, I discovered that I can play solitaire on my iPod so that is a new obsession. However, on the way back there was lots of turbulence and a pretty rough landing...

Anyways, back to the good stuff. We arrived in the evening on Friday in Bologna and checked into our hostel/hotel... more of a hotel, but with single beds. We ate at the most incredible restaurant of my life. When we got there, they handed us glasses of champagne to drink while we waited for them to fix up our table. The waiter was so nice to us, and he even brought Vince (Jaye and Tony's adorable 2 year old) some coke in a wine glass. Me and Anel shared the caprese salad to start-- the first of several this weekend. It was delicious, especially drizzled with the balsamic creme (reduced balsamic vinegar) which was unreal. I also had possibly the best pasta of my life. Orechietti with tomatoes, mozzarella, and porcini mushrooms!!! It was so tasty. Not to mention the delicious white wine that we ordered. It was just the house wine, but it was one of the best whites I have ever tasted. After this trip I think I definitely prefer Italian wine over French wine-- but shhhh,  don't tell.

That night we got a good night's rest, and then in the morning we were up early for some SHOPPING. There were a bunch of stores like Zara, H&M and other similar shops along the main street in Bologna. I got a few things, like a few skirts and an amazing dress and JEAN VEST which I am super super duper excited about. Later on that day around 5 we picked up our luggage at the hotel, and headed to the train station to catch a train to Florence.

Once we got to Florence, we headed to our hostel and dropped off our bags. It was pretty similar to the one in Bologna, with single beds and a bathroom for each triple. We walked around in one of the piazzas (plaza/square thingy) and looked at all the statues there. We sat outside and ate at a restaurant in the square, ready for some more delish Italian food. Well this one wasn't quite the same as the restaurant in Bologna, but it was decent. The gnocchi with pesto was actually really delicious and made me happy. After dinner, we hit up an Irish bar. We had some snake bites (Strongbow cider and lager) and some cheapo tequila shots--- obviously a brilliant idea.

After we left the bar around midnight, we stumbled upon a carousel and clearly had to go for a ride. Interestingly we were probably the youngest people on it. The two men in front of us appeared to be in their 50's haha. After that we started to wander back and came upon a gelato store open late!! It was pretty glorious and really hit the spot. We decided to go home relatively early that night so we could get some rest for the day of sightseeing ahead.

The next day we hit up all the important sights in Florence. The Michelangelo statue of David at the Accademia, the Uffizi museum with the Birth of Venus by Botticelli, the duomo, and a really awesome bridge that had a pedestrian walkway with a bunch of shops and some great views. Afterwards, we went to get some gelato (reportedly the best in Italy) and went to the Irish bar once again! The gelato was pretty phenomenal-- I had pistachio, always a good bet, and rice pudding flavor as well which was really interesting and soo tasty! A the bar, we drank lots of cider again and limoncello shots too. Post Irish bar, we decided to find a gay bar. We found one called YAG which was playing some sweet music and we stayed there for a while. Pretty crazy night! And lots of fun for sure.

The David in Florence

Girls out in Florence!

Duomo in Florence

In the morning, after passing out, we woke up and had to scramble to check out. There was also an incident with the bidet but I won't mention that here.... anyways most of the day consisted of us traveling to Bologna and then flying back to Bordeaux. The landing was pretty rough on that flight and there was lots of turbulence, but we made it.

Now we are back in Arcachon. I'm pretty happy to be back and maybe have a chance to relax some more! Now I just need to hope for good weather this week. No rain please!!!