So I'm a little bit late on this one, as we've already been in germany for about five days now but here is the update on Paris and Brussels.
As you already know we had to stay long in barcelona for unfortunate reasons, which cut down on our France stay substantially. We were originally going to have two days in Avignon and then five days in Paris, but instead we were stuck with only two days in Paris. Now I'm not saying its impossible to experience a city in two full days....but its Paris....in two full days...common. Now you're not going to get this reference unless you watch how i met your mother but... "Challenge accepted!!!".
We pulled in the first day to some light snow, and made our way down the street to our hotel. We were told before hand that the french were somewhat snobby but we were not prepared for what we were to encounter. Looking like "the albino" from the princess bride, (google it, I feel bad even saying it but its uncanny the resemblance) this woman at the reception continued to snoot and laugh at everything we would ask or any sense of miscommunication in the least. Finally after half an hour of arguing and phoning managers we were able to get ourselves our reserved room and get out to the city.
Thankfully aside from the people, paris had more than enough to offer. Our first stop was of course the Eiffel tower. The weather was supposed to turn gross so we thought we should get there first to ensure we see it in its prime. When we got there it was still daylight, and Im not saying I wasn't impressed, just...i can see why people say its more of an eyesore than a thing of beauty. Basically just a huge hunk of metal thrown together and propped up in the middle of town. The size of it was ridiculous though, I'll give it credit for that. To get that classic standing in front of the tower picture that everyone has you actually have to stand in the next city over it felt like. Once it turned to night though, you really could appreciate it for what it was. Glowing in all it's lights (except once an hour when they do a light show which is basically just the tower having a seizure), is when you really feel the magic of everything come to life. You begin to understand why the eccentric romantic Pepe Le Pue makes this city his home.
One of the funnier things about it though is these flocks of immigrants who make their living by selling cheesy little glowing Eiffel towers. Now we were used to these people as every city in europe has their own version, but what we hadn't experienced yet was what happens when bike police come cruising through. With one tug of a rope all their little models would be tied into a bag and within seconds twenty or thirty of them would be sprinting down the street, with the jingling of their toys on their backs. This would happen about once an hour or so, like a bunch of renegade Santa clauses or something.
The next day we decided to check out the louvre. Being basically the most famous museum in the world we felt we kind of had too. Not too mention kalia was more than stoked to see all the paintings from the artists that she had been teaching her kids in school, like van gogh, Monet, da Vinci etc... Now i won't get too into it but basically we had some major false impressions and realistically ended up paying twenty dollars to go see the mona Lisa. She was really cool too see though, had the same smirk on as usual and, as kalia loved, her eyes would follow you wherever you went.
Also that day we went and saw the champs elysees. Its apparently the second most famous street in the world next to fifth avenue in new York. It's basically a two km long shopaholics dream that starts at a main roundabout and ends at the 'arc de triumph' (which was also kind of cool, just a little too cold at the time to enjoy). Oh but when I say 'shopaholics dream' I of course mean the kind that wear fur around their necks and have twenty black credit cards to use, not two broke travelers including one who is used to shopping at army and navy. But nonetheless it was a great time for window shopping and pretending. It wasn't all a bust though, Kalia managed to find a beauty of a coat to replace the burlap sack that her previous coat had turned into.
At the end of the street where the roundabout is, it continued into their own version of a christmas market and this is where we experienced the sensation of the french crepe. Not a breakfast food as we have altered it to be, but a fresh off the pan, layered with nutella, desert from the heavens. Mothers, you have two and half weeks to perfect this by the time we get home...
The only other thing we really saw in Paris was the notre dame, which was pretty amazing. We've already had a few things be a let down throughout the trip, as they're so hard to determine in pictures, but I would say this one lived up. And don't worry I got tons of pictures of the gargoyles as I know this is what everyone like myself is actually interested in...
So that was pretty much it for Paris. From here we went on to Brussels, which actually came very close to not happening. When we were deciding way back when , we had the options of Amsterdam, Brussels, or stretching out France a little bit more to fill the gap until we got to Nuremberg. Thankfully we made the choice we did, as the city turned out to be one of our favorites. We had kind of felt like most of the cities had been selling out to the western ideals and losing their soul that made them each unique... mainly Spain and portugal. But Brussels felt like it must have way back when, except instead of a blacksmith and a butcher they now have a Footlocker and a Burger King which I will actually agree was a good upgrade.
But other than that, this small city was lined with ancient buildings, cobble stone roads, and chronicles of narnia looking lamp posts. We spent most of our days there just wandering the streets popping into any shops that looked intriguing, and strolling through the endless vendors of the Christmas market. Although none of these came even close to the best part of the town. Belgium beer. We found online this pub in a basement that contained a ridiculous two thousand different types of beer. Needless to say I attempted to try every flavor there, but came a little bit short......1996 flavors short actually. But it didn't matter, with those four flavors that we tried, our minds and taste buds were blown. Not even the infamous Sleemans honey brown came close. Not too sure what were gonna do when we get home, but Europe has officially ruined deserts and now beer for us.
Other than that belgium didn't have a lot of sights or anything, just a great little city to get lost in for a few days.
Until next time
g & k
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