Trying to get caught up now. After Amsterdam I got better of keeping track of things by writing notes in my precious Moleskine that I bought before leaving, so I've now got some more details for y'all.
Emily and I took a bus from Amsterdam to Brussels on the 24th and arrived mid-day. We were staying with a family friend of Emily's named Mary, who turned out to be a very nice host. When we got to Brussels we met her at the United States embassy where she works, and dumped our bags into her car while she was still working so that we could explore the city with a bit less weight. The embassy was right across the street from the Parc Royale, so we soaked up some sun there before heading down to la Grand Plaz to explore further. We only had a couple hours to walk around since she was to be driving us back to her house when she was out of work, so we just loafed around the city, noting down things to check out later on.
Mary made us an amazing meal of salmon, lamb chops, salad, fresh bread, and numerous sides; which we ate with her two daughters adopted from China, Nora and Ellen. It was soon bedtime for them, so Emily and I caught up with emails and such on Mary's computer before crashing out ourselves.
The next day we got a fairly early bus to Brugges, which I'll simply describe as the kind of town/city "your mother would like." It was definitely a very pretty town, with lots of cobblestone roads and churches galore, but wasn't exactly the kind of small town I needed to spend more than one day in. We went on a brewery tour, boat tour through the canals, and visited all of the touristy shops. A fun day, but I was more excited to see Brussels again the day following.
We awoke the next morning to explore Brussels, and almost got caught on the metro into the city without paying (we didn't know how to, really, but hadn't made a big effort trying to figure it out either...). We reserved Emily's train ticket to Paris for that night at Gare du Midi, and I got my separate train as well. After that we headed out into the city, firstly by checking out the Rene Magritte Museum and grabbing some much needed Belgian waffles. A good amount of time was also spend again in the Grand Plaz, but we also checked out Brussels' "Manneqin-Pis:" their landmark statue of a boy happily peeing into a fountain. After watching a bit of the Brazil/Portugal World Cup match, we headed back to Mary's for our bags and then back out to the train station to hop onward to Paris... barely making it.
All in all Belgium was certainly a good time, and a nice way to relax at a real home, but Paris was certainly going to be a much more fun and fast-paced time. Update coming soon, my fingers are too tired right now.
Emily and I took a bus from Amsterdam to Brussels on the 24th and arrived mid-day. We were staying with a family friend of Emily's named Mary, who turned out to be a very nice host. When we got to Brussels we met her at the United States embassy where she works, and dumped our bags into her car while she was still working so that we could explore the city with a bit less weight. The embassy was right across the street from the Parc Royale, so we soaked up some sun there before heading down to la Grand Plaz to explore further. We only had a couple hours to walk around since she was to be driving us back to her house when she was out of work, so we just loafed around the city, noting down things to check out later on.
Mary made us an amazing meal of salmon, lamb chops, salad, fresh bread, and numerous sides; which we ate with her two daughters adopted from China, Nora and Ellen. It was soon bedtime for them, so Emily and I caught up with emails and such on Mary's computer before crashing out ourselves.
The next day we got a fairly early bus to Brugges, which I'll simply describe as the kind of town/city "your mother would like." It was definitely a very pretty town, with lots of cobblestone roads and churches galore, but wasn't exactly the kind of small town I needed to spend more than one day in. We went on a brewery tour, boat tour through the canals, and visited all of the touristy shops. A fun day, but I was more excited to see Brussels again the day following.
We awoke the next morning to explore Brussels, and almost got caught on the metro into the city without paying (we didn't know how to, really, but hadn't made a big effort trying to figure it out either...). We reserved Emily's train ticket to Paris for that night at Gare du Midi, and I got my separate train as well. After that we headed out into the city, firstly by checking out the Rene Magritte Museum and grabbing some much needed Belgian waffles. A good amount of time was also spend again in the Grand Plaz, but we also checked out Brussels' "Manneqin-Pis:" their landmark statue of a boy happily peeing into a fountain. After watching a bit of the Brazil/Portugal World Cup match, we headed back to Mary's for our bags and then back out to the train station to hop onward to Paris... barely making it.
All in all Belgium was certainly a good time, and a nice way to relax at a real home, but Paris was certainly going to be a much more fun and fast-paced time. Update coming soon, my fingers are too tired right now.
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