If you know one thing about Belgium, it's probably that they make damn good waffles. This is true. If you know a second thing, it's that some of the best chocolate in the world is made in Belgium. This is also true. And if you are a beer drinker, you probably know the pleasure of the rich and delicious flavors of Belgian beer. I sure do. You may also enjoy said beer accompanied by the unofficial Belgian national dish of moules frites. It's incredible the Belgians aren't 300 pounds each! Maybe they leave the massive feasting to the tourists. In either case, we experienced all of these things and more with a quick weekend trip to Belgium in celebration of Michael's birthday. Our first stop was Brussels, which is an interesting city for maybe an afternoon, but after the obligatory trip to the Grand Place and jaunt with the masses to snap a picture with Manneken Pis, we were kind of done with Brussels. So on Sunday morning, which was Michael's actual birthday, we nixed our Brussels plans and headed to Bruges - which is an absolutely magical city that was the perfect place to spend an afternoon in celebration of the wonderful man I am lucky to call my husband. To see all of the photos we took in Brussels and Bruges, check out our image gallery.
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After ten months living in Paris, we finally made it to the top... On the last night of Suzanne's trip here, we took the elevator to the second platform and arrived just in time to step out for the 9pm twinkling light show. It never gets old! And was so awesome to see up close, after admiring from afar on so many occasions since we moved here. We actually stayed long enough to enjoy the 10pm light show as well :)
For our second weekend with Michael's mom here in France, we headed to the Loire Valley to explore the chateaux and wineries. To start, we took a train from Paris to Tours, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes south on the high-speed train and is a great base for exploring the Loire Valley. Tours is a pretty amazing city in and of itself, which we didn't actually know too much about before arriving last Thursday night. On Friday, we braved some dense morning fog to visit the chateau at Chambord, which is everything you would want a French castle to be, complete with a fire place to beat the chill! A few fun facts about Chambord: some experts think the incredible central staircase may have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci; during WW2, the art collection of the Louvre was moved to Chambord (including Ms Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo); and the chateau was the inspiration for the Beast's castle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. We spent that afternoon at the chateau de Chenonceau, which is ridiculously beautiful and is also apparently the most visited chateau in France, following Versailles. Out of all of the chateaux we saw this weekend, I would definitely choose to live in this baby. On Saturday, we visited the chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau, which sits on an island in the middle of a river, similar to that of Chenonceau. We got into the habit of taking the audio guide along with the admission, which made our visits way more enjoyable, as we could actually understand what we were looking at, and the stories of the people who lived there. That afternoon, we found the Cave des Producteurs de Vouvray for some wine tasting (and buying), where they offer a tour of their Troglodyte cellars. Needless to say, we enjoyed it tremendously. We capped off Saturday with a joint birthday dinner for me and Michael (I am September, M is October) at a fantastic restaurant in Tours called La Deuvalière. We feasted. A huge thanks to Art and Sue for treating us to such a delicious and special dinner! We capped off our weekend on Sunday with a visit to the chateau where Leondardo da Vinci lived during the last three years of his life - the Château du Clos Lucé. Not only is the chateau beautiful, the peaceful gardens showcase many of his engineering inventions. You can see all of the photos from our weekend in our Loire Valley album.
On our first trip to Versailles with Lady Casey earlier this year, we didn't exactly make it in. This time, we did our homework and headed there on a Sunday, along with probably half the tourists in Paris. In a bit of an unorthodox move, we bypassed the main palace for the Petit Trianon Château and the Hameau de la Reine, where Marie-Antoinette spent many an hour escaping court life at Versailles, occasionally dressing and acting like a shepherdess, while of course maintaining the comforts of her royal lifestyle. After discovering Marie-Antoinette's quaint get-away château and village, we hopped a shuttle back to Versailles - walking between the residences takes a good 40 minutes, so a one-way hike in the cold wind was enough for one day. For those observant readers, you will notice a significant clothing change between today and yesterday, as we are about 20 degrees fahrenheit cooler today. I am sad to admit that the summer months of 2014 may finally be behind us. Anyway... the Château de Versailles is everything you would imagine it to be; radiating with shimmering, golden opulence. And we finally made it inside the gates! When we finally made it back to Paris, we exited the RER just in time to catch an amazing sunset...
We are so lucky to have Michael's Mom, Suzanne, in town for a few weeks. I was unfortunately in Geneva when she landed, but we are making up for lost time this weekend. First stop today... the Rodin Museum! And for October, we are having some fantastic blue skies and warm temps in Paris. After Rodin, we spent some time at the Musée D'Orsay (always a fave), and then headed for the first time to the Musée de l'Orangerie to see Monet's water lilies, though sadly we weren't allowed to take pics of those.
After years working in international trade, I finally made it to the World Trade Organization in Geneva. Lake Geneva is absolutely beautiful, though there is not a whole lot to offer by way of good food or sights up by the WTO. It was a good three days of meetings wth great weather though, so can't complain about my first trip back to Switzerland in over 10 years. |
AuthorBecause why not get married and move to Paris to really kick off your thirties? Archives
December 2016
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