They stole our Speculoos.

I may just be in love with Paris. Or should I say, Je’taime, Paris. So, due to a lovely schedule change on Ryanair’s part, our flight left at 2 p.m. instead of noon on Friday, so we got in a little bit late. We arrived to the metro, only to wait for two completely packed metro cars to pass by until we could get on. So, we got onto said crowded metro and took it to our hostel, where we found Madelyn waiting in a lovely park with some simple, yet delicious French pastry for us to eat. I think they were actually called Madelines.

So, we checked into our hostel with Madelyn using her exquisite French skills although turns out the guy was from West Virginia or something. So, while he figured out how to let us pay separately, we opened up the bottle of wine that he gave us and had a glass. A very welcoming way to start off Paris. So, then we were off to the Louvre, which was FREE. Yes, on Friday evenings it’s free for everyone. So, we saw the Mandatory Mona Lisa and Venis de Milo, with barely any lines, mind you. The Mona Lisa is much smaller than one would suspect, and I have to say seeing all this art, I don’t understand what makes, say the Mona Lisa, more impressive than anything else. Perhaps I just don’t know the history, and maybe Leonardo Da Vinci just accomplished some tactic first. Anywho, that was good to see.

After the Louvre, we wanted to try to find a place for dinner on the way to see the Eiffel Tower by night, but I swear there were no restaurants. So, we never did make it to the Tower that night, but we did find a very nice little Rugby decorated bar. It was 12.50 euro for a roasted chicken breast, French french fries, a glass of good wine and a delcious crème de caramel. It was very nice. So, then we walked back in the cold to our hostel. Paris is very spaced out. It was a long walk to anything really. Got back at like 1 a.m. and went to sleep. We woke up on Saturday at 8 ish and were off to the Luxemburg Gardens. Again, a very far walk, but it was very pretty and well worth the walk. I believe it might have actually been before the gardens, we went to Sacre Bleu, haha. I’m not really sure of the name. Madelyn was our official Paris tour guide, so she knows all of that information. Anyway, it’s this big cathedral up on a hill. There are some of the most insistent venders there. They try to tie this string on your finger and say, “If you don’t like it, you can take it right off.” Right, buddy. So, we bypassed them and went inside. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, so I don’t really remember what it looked like. I’m sure it was like most cathedrals in Europe though. I’m kind of getting desensitized to it, which I know is awful, but it’s really hard not to be.

We then headed to a creperie for lunch and I ate a crepe complete=eggs, meat and cheese with some good cider. It was pretty weak though. Even the little kids were drinking it, so right up my alley. Haha. We then hit up the Pantheon, but didn’t enter because it cost money, and we went to the one in Rome anyway. After said event, we went to Champs du Elise, a tree lined avenue that was pretty and led to the Arc du Triumph. We saw the Arc du Triumph, and then our troubles started. So, one of Madelyn’s friends from Nantes who had already visited Paris told her about some place that served the best chocolate mousse that she had ever had. So, we searched long and hard for that mousse, and let me tell you. When we got to that street, no such restaurant/address existed. It may have been the biggest disappointment of my life. Then we decided to get a nutella crepe, because we had bypassed a lot of crepe stands, but those too, like the restaurants on the way to the Eiffel Tower seemed to have disappeared! Finally, we found one, and it was a delicious, delicious nutella crepe. We then ventured to the Eiffel Tower. It is so beautiful, and I think the first thing in Europe that has completely lived up to my expectations. Not to say that other things have been unimpressive, but Paris really just is a magical city. We took photos, which is hard to do, because when you’re right under it, you can’t get it all. So we exed out the perfect spot and had a man take a photo. Not the best photographer ever, but I suppose it’s okay.

Colleen, Madelyn and I decided that after having been to the Eiffel Tower, it’s going to be very hard to be proposed to anywhere but there. It’s just so cliché, but really feels romantic. There was an innumberable amount of men selling carnations, although they bypassed us single ladies and offered keychains instead. Haha. I suppose they think single girls just love keychains. Then we took the metro back to our hostel, and had a very Frenchy dinner of Kir wine (very delicious), baguettes, delicious, delicious French cheese, grapes and yogurt. It was superb, and I felt very authentic. Madelyn told us that it’s authentic. So, I’m not just being a stupid tourist.

Sunday we went to Notre Dame, which isn’t that beautiful on the outside, but the inside is very impressive. We heard the bells too, so I can say that I’ve heard the bells of Notre Dame. Then we tried to go see the first department store in France, but because it was closed, we couldn’t enter. That made me sad. In order to pass the time, I learned how to count to ten in French. I’m trying to learn how to do that for every country we visit, but I still need to learn Arabic and Portuguese. Then, we headed to catch our train, that we nearly missed, because the system was confusing and not a lot of Frenchies speak English, so that was tres stressful. So, then off we were to Belgium.

We arrived in Antwerpen, the second biggest city in Belgium after Brussels and Colleen’s distant cousin picked us up and we took the metro back to Mortsel, which was about half an hour away. Then we rented Mama Mia, had a delicious traditional Belgium dinner and chatted. Her English was so impressive, and she was such a sweet host. We got a good night’s sleep and woke up to a delicious breakfast consisting mostly of chocolate spreads, and the most delicious spread I have ever had in my life, that was called Speculoos, It’s a paste made of these Belgium cookies and it’s heaven. Then we headed into Antwerpen, which is actually a big fashion capital, and shopped all day because the museums were closed because it was Monday. Then we got home and went to dinner at Ann’s, Colleen’s cousin, parents house. They were so sweet, and it was a good dinner of just rolls with a lot of different spreads, but a really tasty peach wine. We talked about their family history a little bit and then just chatted about things. Again, very good English, and it wasn’t hard to communicate really at all.

Tuesday we went to Brugges, which has been compared to Venice. It’s not entirely made of water, but there certainly are a lot of little rivers and boats go through them and they’re through the middle of town. We went to the chocolate museum which was actually really interesting and saw the Madonna and Child which is supposedly one of Michaelangelo’s only sculptures outside of Italy, so that was cool. We took lots of pictures, and there were windmills, so I suppose we just can’t get away from Hope culture. We were actually very close to the Netherlands, so I suppose that makes a lot of sense. They speak Flemish in Flanders, which is the northern part of Belgium where we were, and it sounds what I would imagine Dutch to sound like, and the kids learn Dutch in school, along with English and French. I think Belgium may be one of the most well rounded, educated countries I have come across. Very impressive people. It was also interesting because the people are not very homogenous, which is different. Spain, basically you can tell that everyone is Spanish, although some people look a little different. But Belgium felt like a mini-US because it was very diverse. When we got back from Brugges, we met Ann’s children, Lein and Raf, and they were so sweet. They were intrigued by us, and that’s refreshing because in Spain sometimes it feels like they just like already have had their fill of Americans, and we’re nothing special. But Lein, perhaps because she was a fifteen year old girl, was very intrigued by us, so that was very flattering.

Wednesday we went to Antwerpen with Ann because it was her day off of work, and we had a lovely time. We started the day with Belgian chocolates, which I could unfortunately not taste because I was a bit stuffed up from traveling. We then moved on to Genevre, which is apparently a liquor that is from Antwerpen. It’s very strong, but again, I couldn’t really taste a difference. We had apple, passion fruit and amaretto. They were in essentially shot glasses, but you don’t shot it because it’s like 35% alcohol or something. The strongest one was 54%, but we didn’t try that one. ;) Theeeen we had schmotenballen or something, basically fried dough balls that taste like elephant ears, but I dare say better. Do you understand how to come back to the US during beach season is going to be torture now? Ay. Haha. So then Colleen and I went to Rubin’s house, which is the house of a painter from Belgium. It was interesting and free so that was good. We had a bite for lunch and returned to Mortsel for the night.

Thursday we woke up early to say goodbye to the kids, and they were so sweet. Especially Lien. She wrote us both notes to say how much she was going to miss us and how much fun she had with us, and we weren’t even that entertaining! But, nonetheless, sad to say goodbye. Then we had our last breakfast of Speculoos and toast, and ventured to the grocery store to buy some more. Sad part is, my stupid backpack was so stuffed and we were almost going to miss check in for our plane, so we had to redistribute my things. So I gave my Speculoos to Colleen, and when she was going through security with it, apparently 5 jars of peanut butter like substance seemed suspicious because they said that she couldn’t have it, and took it away. Saddest day of my life. I was so excited to share it with everyone, that I may just have to send Ann some money and ask her to ship some. You haven’t lived until you’ve had Speculoos. I got patted down searched too, so apparently Colleen and I were sketchy characters.

We got home to Sevilla after the 6 hour bus ride from Madrid, slept late, ate and went to Feria by night. But that will wait for the next post. Overall, I’m in love with Paris and I think I could live in Belgium. Also, a realization to which I have come is one of capturing a culture. You kind of just have to be there and soak it in. No amount of pictures will ever capture exactly the sentiment of a country, and no amount of trinkets can recreate it either. These things help, but really the most fun way to experience the culture is through talking to the people and getting to know them. Leading me to conclude with the fact that our trip was a great one.