Paris

The next major stop on our trip was Paris. Overall Paris was beautiful, but wasn't my favorite city. As beautiful as it was, it was just as stinky. Summer smells are not pleasant in Paris. The first night we got there our awesome bus driver Patrick took us on a night tour of the city so we could see everything lit up. 

Arc de Triomphe lit up at night. The surrounding traffic circle is one of the  most dangerous in the world.

One day we went and visited the catacombs underneath Paris. It is about 100 steps down and then it is dark and wet. It was kind of creepy, but still cool. 

This is part of the "lock bridge". These are all over, but this was the main one in Paris. The idea is you write you and your significant others names on the lock and then close it on the bridge and throw the key into the water. 

Eiffel Tower day.

Eiffel tower night.

So the first Sunday of every month all the museums are free so we decided to hit up the Louvre. There are so many things to see so we just found the main things (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, etc) and then headed out. We also found a divine macaroon shop.

We visited Notre Dame a couple times. It is a beautiful building, but very dark inside. The best crepe shops were on the street just up from here.

This is from the private chapel of one of the kings, I'm not sure which one. It is called Saint Chappelle and all of the walls are stained glass like above. It is truly breathtaking when you walk up the stairs and see this.

We also headed out to Versailles for a day. The palace was closed, but we got to see the gardens which are massive and beautiful.

We also rented boats and rowed around the lake at Versailles. It was pretty sweet.

Crepes!! Yummy, yummy crepes! Definitely the best food in Paris!

We climbed up to a church called Sacre Coeur which has a beautiful view of the city and the sunset. The climb up was a bit nasty with vomit, beer, and urine all the way up, but the view was worth it.

Paris was a pretty relaxed city. I didn't get to every museum and sight, but I saw the main things and enjoyed the city the rest of the time. Next stop - Germany.

Belgium, Amsterdam, Luxembourg

So these are not in the exact order we visited them, but it was easier to lump some of the smaller visits close together. So after London we headed to Amsterdam and then Brussels. Luxembourg was after Paris, but Paris will get its own post. So the first pictures are from Brussels. We got into Brussels in the afternoon so all we really had time to do was grab some dinner and see the main square and get a waffle of course! I also filled my European chocolate need at Galler chocolates which is supposedly the best chocolate in Belgium. It was pretty good. Our business visit here was at the European Commission, but after that we grabbed some frites (their french fries) and headed out.

This is a picture of the atomium which is a large monument type thing that was built for the world fair.

My Belgium waffle! So good - nutella, bananas, and strawberries.

Us in front of the most famous sight in Brussels - "Manneken Pis" which translates to "little man pee". 

So our trip to Amsterdam was also very brief. We got into our hotel and grabbed some dinner. They had a wonderful dessert/treat called a "stroopwafel" which is two thin crunchy waffles with caramel inside - so good! Even better when you can get them warm. We visited the flower market in Amsterdam which was so cool. It is like the stock market with all the traders and their computer and all these flowers flow through on their carts. It is crazy! After Amsterdam we headed to a cute little Dutch town called Delft where they make the blue and white pottery. We were only here for the afternoon, but it was a great little town to walk and explore. Exactly what you think of when you think of a little town.

Flowers at the flower market in Amsterdam.

River in Amsterdam.

Sign by our hotel in Amsterdam. I am by the "A".

After we went to Paris we stopped to make a business visit in Luxembourg and got to stay the night. It was the 4th of July the night we were in Luxembourg and there is not a lot to do so we made a music video which was a nice way to pay homage to the dear USA. 

The Hague, Netherlands temple. We got to go do  baptisms in this temple which was really cool. Fun fact - the church only owns the actual ground the temple sits on and so the grounds are not quite as nice as you see at some of the other temples.

This is us on a bench on the street in Delft.

This is me in Luxembourg.

This is on one of the bridges in Delft.

The girls on the trip in Luxembourg.

The pictures are a bit jumbled, but these were some nice quick stops. Next destination . . . Paris.