Paris and Brugge Road Trip

**There are two posts here Paris and Brugge at the bottom**

PARIS

We were on the fence about going to Paris. We had just three days, and it was over six hours each way
to the City of Lights. We went back and forth about the decision for awhile and ultimately decided we are
only here once, we decided to go for it and just do it spontaneously! So off we go in another rental car
with a French music playlist Ryan made through many small French towns to avoid tolls, it was actually
really pretty, simple and relaxing. And then Paris… it has a glamour in peoples minds unlike any other
city. Arriving was nothing glamorous as we had to park at our Airbnb and take a train one hour into the
city to get to the historical areas. (If you go to Paris I would highly recommend just staying down in the
main area, even if it is a bit pricier! It cost us each 20 euro for a round trip each time we went from our

Airbnb and back, yikes! Didn’t know it’d be so expensive, so we only did it twice….)  

But once we were in the center of the city we of course saw the Eiffel Tower, the Arc d’Triumph and
walked outside the Louvre. Walked is the key word, we walked more miles in each day than we thought
we would, which isn’t a bad thing. It really is magnificent and it is easy to be in a bit of awe at the
structures.  Culinary highlights definitely were some delicious crepes (one savory, one sweet) and
macrons from a famous bakery near the Champs-Élysées.

Seeing the Eiffel Tower made us splurge on a special trip up into the tower to enjoy a three-course
lunch, elevated 20 stories in the air, with sweeping views of the city. Included in our lunch price was
admission into the second platform of the tower for even better views. Definitely a French lunch we
will not forget anytime soon!

That evening we sat in the tower lawn and watched the light-show begin with some wine, cheese and
crackers. At five past nine o’clock, the tower lit up and started sparkling, we toasted each other to a
great trip on a whim.  It was a really wonderful moment and you could feel the “romance” that Paris
promises with the lights and the wine.

The romance in Paris was shortly lived as 4 am the next morning our alarm was going off to get back
on the road to head back to Germany. Au revoir Paris!

 

 

 

 

*more photos at the bottom*

Bruges/Brugge, Belgium:

After driving back to Germany to drop the car off, we traded our “brand-new junker” (with crank
windows, manual locks and NO CRUISE CONTROL--seriously, what kind of brand new 2018 car does
not have cruise control??) for another, nicer car. “Brand-new junker” was great for gas mileage, but we
needed power!

Time to drive fast..Autobahn fast. Lindsey and I both drove and shifted into 6th gear ASAP. I was totally
impressed that Linds could: 1.) get in a manual car and drive like a pro, 2.) have no problem literally
burning rubber on the on-ramp and hitting 120 mph like it was nothing. Still makes me smile while
writing this :).

After arriving in Brugge, ahead of schedule, we aimlessly walked the streets, and that is what you need
to do there aimlessly walk, you never know what you’ll find; beer cellars, breweries, chocolate, vintage
shops, cafes, fashion clothing, windmills, old churches, and more! Brugge is a medieval town, and the
houses are all old stone. The cobblestone streets wind along rivers that run through the city. We only had
one night and wish we had more time there.

That evening, we had beers in a cellar (now bar) from the 1400s, and had Belgian fries and croquettes.
We were not able to make it to Cantillon-I’m still totally bummed, but we will have to go next time (PJ
and Patch will have to join me...guys, it’s only a 3.5 hour drive from Christopher’s house in Germany and
rental cars are cheap--just sayin’).  

When we arrived back at our hostel that evening we saw our cool little hostel bar was hoppin’ and they
had a trivia game going (sad we missed that, we love trivia!), we had one more beer and called it a night
before heading back out the following morning. As we drove to our next destination we thought fondly
about Brugge. We highly recommend it if you are in that area of Europe and we are so glad we were able
to go, even if only for one night.

Until next time,

Linds and Ryan