This year is my (gasp!!) 40th high school reunion (sadly I'm missing it) but I bring this up because it was in high school that I had my first French class which ignited my desire to see Paris. Well, it only took 40+ years but we made it Paris and it did not disappoint!!
Our housesit was over in London, so we decided to hop a train to Paris. Earlier, we'd bought a Eurail Pass and naively assumed that since there were trains every hour, we'd just show up at the station, pick-up a ticket and we would be off. Ha!!!! The ticket lady was very sweet and managed to not laugh at the silly Americans as she explained (for the umpteenth time that day) that we had to plan quite a bit in advance to use our pass. We actually heard her spill at least twice more while standing next to her to purchase our train tickets for Paris. It's a long story but if you are ever thinking about getting a Eurail pass, let me know as we've become experts. Anyway, we were at the train station already, so we sucked it up, bought a ticket for the train and in just two hours we were in Paris!!!
As per our M.O., we found an apartment near town that even had a view of La Tour Eiffel. We quickly settled in and went about visiting the famous places we'd painstakingly learned to pronounce in French class. Mrs. Amick (my French teacher) would have been proud if it weren't for the fact that I retained very little else. However, we spent 4 glorious days, mostly wandering around, eating in sidewalk cafes, and enjoying the wine. I must admit that most of the comments I'd previously heard about Paris were that the people were very rude. I don't know if was that we stayed in a mostly residential area (that's the other reason why we love Airbnb type places), but our experience was that most of the people we encountered were friendly and helpful. Anyway, we loved Paris and the trip was worth the wait!
Too soon, our time in Paris was up, so we jumped on a bus (it was faster for us than a train) and headed to Brussels. Again, I am going to digress here but stick with me. When we were in Tunisia, we met up with friends (Peter and Dasha) that we'd first met in Malta. Well, Dasha's sister Miriam who lives in Belgium came for a visit to Tunisia and we instantly fell in love with her too. So, we headed to Belgium for our next stop and a great excuse to meet up with an old friend. She showed us around town and one of the local secret places, the statue of Everard t'Serclaes (a local hero from the 14th century). Legend holds that it brings good luck to touch the statue particularly rub its arm which ensures that one will return to Brussels. We only spent a couple of days in Belgium but we got to see Miriam, make our own comic book route tour, drink some good beer, and found a great Indian restaurant (I know but, it was really good)!
In keeping the theme of meeting up with friends, we stayed in Belgium but boarded another train and headed to the adorable town of (and a contender for my most favorite of all) Bruges. To be honest, I don't think either of us had ever heard of this city. But, again with keeping to a theme, we chose our next destination based on the intel of others. While at our pet sit in London, we met neighbors Nick and Jenny who were the de facto caretakers of Buddy the cat. We bonded over our love of animals and when they mentioned that they were going to Bruges, we decided to head there too.
Our train ride from Brussels to Bruges required a transfer in the town of Ghent. So, we decided to take a couple of hours, grab a bite for lunch (including a Belgium waffle for dessert) and briefly walk around. This town was straight out of a fairytale. As we were walking with all our stuff (and we had already booked our room for that night in Bruges), we only scratched the surface but if I ever get the chance, we'll go back one day to this adorable town.
Leaving Ghent, we jumped back on the train and continued for Bruges. What a treat this little Flemish city was. We spent 3 days enjoying the architecture and wonderful canals everywhere. Nick and Jenn introduced us to their favorite pub, great Belgium beers and "Moules Frites." With my limited French, I assumed that meant fried mussels. But no, it's the local specialty of mussels with fries. As an aside, something we also learned was the fries are a Belgian invention and are not to be taken lightly. There is an exact size for the potatoes' to be cut and they are cooked twice at two different temperatures for set times (we got the recipe from a waiter but alcohol was involved so we forgot). They are called French fries by Americans because during the liberation of Belgium in WWII, the US soldiers didn't know exactly where they were and most of the people (our waiter said the officers) spoke French so the US soldiers mistakenly called them French fries. All I know is that we enjoyed them immensely.
Taking Nick and Jenny's advice, the next day we rented bikes and rode out of town. This area has wonderful bike trails that run along the river and through beautiful countryside for miles. Per their instructions, we first stopped at the nearby and adorable Belgium city of Damme. As the town was so small, we parked the bikes and wondered a bit before hoping back on the bikes and continuing on. Since we had packed a sandwich for lunch, we stopped along the way to watch the other cyclists and the river go by. Next, we crossed the border into the Netherlands to the adorable town of Sluis. Our entire trip was about 25 miles and took about 4 hours (thankfully it was blissfully flat land and bike trails) and we're hoping worked off at least some the beer we drank. I know I've said this about a lot of places, but Bruges really is one of my absolute favorite cities.
Next, thanks to our friend Liisa (she said it was one of her favorite cities), we hopped another train and made our way to Antwerp. We again found a wonderful apartment in the old section of town where we also happened upon a great market festival. We ventured into the diamond section (nope did not buy anything) and wandered around their Chinatown. We also loved finding the oldest (built in the 1930's) wooden escalators that are still working. The escalators are beautiful. They lead down to the St. Anna's tunnel running under the Scheldt River and connecting "old" Antwerp with "new" Antwerp. While roaming around town we also learned the funny anecdote about how the city got its name and took several pictures of Silvius Bravo. Silvius supposedly cut off the hand of the giant who was aggravating the local fishermen and threw his hand ("hand werpen" or hand throwing) into the water, thus freeing the waters for all boaters.
Next, we hoped anther train and headed to Amsterdam. This city is full of varied and beautiful architecture, waterways everywhere and lots of people. We must have walked 20 miles in our 3 days there and I'm sure we didn't see half of the city. Our first day, we booked a canal cruise. As the boat was filling up, Pedro started flirting with 2 ladies (Toni and Sandy) who turned out to be flight attendants for Delta and who sat next to us for the cruise. The cruise was made more fun with our new friends and we even won free shots of the cruise company's homemade caramel vodka in a game they played during our trip.
When in Rome (well in this case Amsterdam), it's seemingly obligatory to visit the famous "red light district." This area was like nothing we'd ever seen before and was packed with people both day and night. Next, as it meant a boat ride, albeit a pretty short one, we also took a ferry across the Amstel River. But our favorite activity was admiring the architecture. One of the more unique buildings were called the dancing houses which are funny to look at but sad to think that they are leaning due to the wooden pillars on which they are built rotting away. A funny side to this story told to us by a local is that the last house in the block is said to be "Irish" since it is a liquor store standing straight and tall and thus able to hold its liquor.
Since were so close and had heard wonderful things about it, we hoped another train and made a quick day trip to the town of Utrecht. This was, yet again, another adorable city with beautiful buildings one of which seemed to have a UFO (yes, that's how it was described) sticking out the side. While not on the scale of Amsterdam, Utrecht also had its share of waterways. We wandered around for a few hours just admiring the city and grabbed some lunch. We then found a spot above the canals and cringed while watching several boats navigate and pass each other in what looked like was an impossibly narrow and windy waterway (but somehow, they managed). It was a perfect day trip.
Alas, our time in Amsterdam had come to an end. So, we hoped another train but this time to take us to the airport for our flight to Oslo, Norway. From there, we booked a rental car for a week of exploring southern Norway. But, I'll fill you in on that next time.
Until next post!
