Josh and I have been planning a getaway as just the two of us for … ever. We decided last spring that we would do it when Portia was a year old. Well, we have arrived! And did we ever get away! We had originally planned on going to Disneyland and then on a cruise, but when we found killer deals on airfare to Paris, we knew we were meant to be in Europe!
We had already spent a decent amount of time in Paris, and there is so much to see that we decided we would take the train from Paris and visit Belgium! Here’s how it went!
The first stop on our trip was Lille, France. Why Lille; you may ask. We chose to go to Lille because it was between Paris and Brussels, and though we had both heard of it, neither of us knew a thing about it.
It turns out, there’s probably a reason Lille isn’t number one on people’s tourist destinations. But it was a charming city–as French cities are wont to be–and we had a good day visiting it.
A beautiful staircase in “Le Palais des Beaux Arts” in Lille. This museum was filed with mostly art from Lille. There was one nativity painting that had the most beautiful depiction of Mary and the baby Jesus! I took a picture, but it is a bad one; so you’ll just have to imagine it.
Notre Dame de la Treille cathedral. Something I loved about this was how tucked away it was in Lille. If this building was in Utah I feel like there would be a jillion signs showing how to get there, and it would be a major tourist destination. But in France, every town with more than 100 houses has a giant church.
I LOVE the adorable sandwiched houses you find in Europe! This little neighborhood is facing the cathedral in the last picture and it is perfectly picturesque! Don’t you want to move there?!
We also did some shopping and some eating in Lille. I bought cheese because it had to be done. But our real destination was Belgium. So the next day we boarded another train and off we went to Brussels.
Brussels is a fun, busy city. They have a good metro/bus/tram system and that makes all the difference–especially when you are tourists with no car. 🙂 One cool thing about Brussels, and Belgium in general, is their affinity for comics. They have a comic book museum there that we just had to check out! A tour guide we had while we were there told us that if we were not fans of comics, we had better keep it to ourselves for our own safety. 🙂
Me at the Smurf house in the comic museum.
The Grande Place in Brussels is quite extraordinary, especially at night! It rained basically every day we were there and the lights reflecting off the wet cobblestones were magical!
The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. It is named after THE St. Michael, and the patron saint of Brussels who was just a really hard working, loving, serving woman from history. I thought it was beautiful that they chose a saint who simply chose to do good her whole life instead of one who had some unbelievable story that brought them sainthood.
We saw lots of great things in Brussels! And we took Kathryn’s advice (she gave it approximately 8 times) to go on the walking tour and it was totally worth it! I will probably recommend it at least 8 times to anyone who asks me what to do in Brussels. But my favorite part was going to church! I seriously love the Gospel SO MUCH! And it is so fun to see how people all over the world live it!
Outside the church building.
During Relief Society I met these two adorable ladies: Vivianne (in blue) and Marinelle (in white). Vivianne invited us for dinner! We got to get to know these two best friends a little better, and they both have amazing stories! Talking with Vivanne reminded me a lot of my time in Paris when my job was to hear the stories of old people. But there is such an enormous difference between Vivianne’s light, enthusiasm, and feeling of purpose than that of those I visited with in Paris. I know it is because of her faith in Jesus Christ!
We also have a funny story about getting locked out of our AirB&B while in Brussels. If you want to hear it, I can tell you personally.
After two days in Brussels, we went to possibly the most adorable city in the whole world! Bruges! When I asked facebook where we should go in Belgium everybody said Bruges, and again, I will recommend it to others as well. And we stayed at the best B&B! Josh said it was “pinterest worthy” and it was definitely true! It was beautiful, had a great location, etc. But what really made it great was how much care our hostess put into everything. She had homemade apple muffins for us in our room on the first day, and homemade chocolate mousse in our room on the second day. Not to mention she made multiple kinds of artisan breads each morning for breakfast, and had an adorable chalkboard of goings-on in Bruges which she updated each day!
Anyway, enough gushing. Here’s some pictures.
One of the major sites in Bruges–right in the middle of the Markt–is the clock tower. It has something like 350 steps, and we walked up all of them! Josh commented that it was nothing compared to going up Notre Dame in Paris, but that was because the steps were much larger here.
The Grand Bell. Although, there was another larger one further up the stairs. I’m not exactly sure how that worked. But it was still quite an impressive bell!
Bruges is home to 3 or 4 windmills. They are on these little hills outside the main part of the city. This is Josh looking majestic with the majestic windmill.
One thing you, apparently, have to eat in Belgium is mussels. We did and they were really good! I must confess I haven’t eaten mussels in years, so I am probably not the best judge of comparative quality, but the ones I ate were delicious!
This is just some residences in the middle of the city! And yet it looks like it was taken out of a fairytale!
GORGEOUS! I totes want to go back and see this city in the summer!
There are canals that encircle the city of Bruges. Our B&B hostess said “They have boat tours on the canals. It’s totally touristy, but you just have to do it!” I’m glad we did. I’m not ashamed to do touristy things: I’m a tourist after all!
Probably my favorite part of the whole trip was dinner our second night in Bruges! Our B&B (they seriously were so great!) recommended some restaurants that they liked and we picked a random one called Nxt Door. It was the coolest little place that specialized in “street food.” There was a normal menu and then there was an option where the chef would choose 6 courses to give you, from 6 countries, and you didn’t get to know beforehand what they were. Even our waiter didn’t know what we would be getting! It was way too intriguing to pass up! We got starters from Peru, China, and Italy, then we got main dishes from Africa (I don’t remember which country) and Mexico, then we got dessert from Belgium! It was all really well made with unique and rich flavors! I would recommend this place at LEAST 8 times!
Then it was time to leave Bruges and head for home…by way of Paris! We only had a 3rd of a day to spend there, so we got right to business. We bought a kebab with fries (definitely not as good as Belgian fries), and went to the Louvre. It was lovely to be inside out of the rain and to see some old favorites and some brand new things! It was Josh’s first time to see the Mona Lisa and both of our first time to see the Venus di Milo. I must confess, I would have enjoyed all the sculptures in that museum more if they had been wearing clothes. My favorite parts this time around were probably the ancient Egyptian things and the David gallery.
Proof.
And then we flew home! It was so fun to go have our adventure! But it was also really fun to come home to our cuties and lovely weather!
By the way (on the subject of weather), if you are wondering what to pack so you can blend in with the chic europeans during the winter, the only thing you really need to worry about bringing is a coat you feel chic in. Because it is cold and rainy and you wear your coat constantly (as you may have noticed from our pictures).
So cool to see your adventures! I’m with you on the nude art.
I’m glad you weren’t disappointed with the walking tour, haha 🙂 Please tell me you also ate waffles!