Pareeeeeee je t'aime!

And to finish our adventure, we went to Paris, the city of lights!  The weather was absolutely perfect up until the end of our trip.  About an hour before we left, it started to rain a little but I think that's because Paris was sad that we were leaving.  Anyway, it was really really nice.  Anthony met us there and he helped me play tourist with the boys and Allie.  For the first day, we walked everywhere.  We stayed at a hotel ibis at Bastille which was very convenient.  From there we walked to île Saint Louis and then we went to the Marais to eat falafels.  Unfortunately, my favorite falafel place was closed for renovations until the 27 april.  I was extremely disappointed (to say the least), but there are several restaurants nearby that also serve falafels.  However, for one reason or another, either they were out of falafels, or they didn't have any more pita bread! So with a broken heart, I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get to eat any when Allie saw someone walk by with a real falafel in real pita bread.  So we found another restaurant (still in le Marais), and we finally got to eat some...but it wasn't the same, I guess I just have to go back to eat my falafels.  After the Marais, we saw Notre Dame and a little bit of the Latin quarter and boulevard Saint-Michel.  Then we saw the royal palace and the Louvre, and from the Louvre, we walked to the Champs Elysées through the jardin de Tuileries.  

Et pour finir notre aventure, on est allé à Paris !  Le temps était absolument parfait jusqu’à la fin de notre voyage.  Environ une heure avant notre départ, il a commencé à pleuvoir un peu, je pense que Paris était triste à cause de notre départ.  En tout cas Paris,  c'était vraiment sympa.  Anthony nous y a rejoint, et il m’aidait à faire le guide touristique avec tout le monde.  Le premier jour, on a marché partout.  On a resté à l’hôtel Ibis à Bastille, qui était très pratique.  On a marché à île Saint Louis et puis on est allé au Marais pour manger des fallafels.  Malheureusement, mon restaurant préféré pour les fallafels était fermé pour cause de rénovations jusqu’au 27 avril.  J’étais extrêmement déçue, mais il y a plusieurs restaurants qui ont des fallafels près de là. Toutefois pour une raison ou une autre, soit ils n’avaient plus de fallafels, soit ils n’avaient plus de pita!  Alors, avec un cœur brisé, j’ai accepté le fait que je n’allais pas en manger quand Allie a vu quelqu’un avec un fallafel dans une pita...et on a trouvé un autre restaurant (toujours dans le Marais), et enfin on en a mangé, mais ce n’était pas la même chose, je suppose que je dois y retourner pour mes fallafels.  Après le Marais, on a vu Notre Dame, et un peu du Quartier latin et boulevard Saint-Michel.  Puis on a vu le palais royal et le Louvre, et du Louvre, on a marché aux Champs Elysées par le jardin de Tuileries.                

             

Nick & Neilson with their space invader on rue des rosiers in le Marais

Allie and I in front of Notre Dame

The boys in front of Notre Dame

Nick, me, Allie and Neilson

Palais Royal

Allie and I outside the Louvre

Anthony and I on the Champs Elysées

The next day we went inside of the Louvre and we went to the Eiffel tower.  We tried to get to the Louvre early in the morning to avoid a line, but I think that whatever time it is, there are always way too many people who also want to go. // Le jour suivant on a visité le Louvre et la tour Eiffel.  On a essayé d’aller au Louvre tôt au matin pour éviter de devoir faire la queue mais je pense qu'à n’importe quelle heure, il y a toujours trop de monde qui veut y aller.            

"Winged Victory" aka Nike

from the temporary exhibition: Napoleon's apartment which was almost like a mini version of Versailles

the dining room

picnic by the Eiffel tower

Nick, me and Neilson

Paris went by quickly and I'm glad that Nick and Neilson got to see it without being jaded.  They saw the good, as well as the bad that Paris has to offer and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. // Le séjour à Paris s’est passé très vite et je suis contente que Nick et Neilson l'aient vu sans être blasés.  Ils ont vu le bien et aussi le mal que Paris a à offrir et j’espère qu’ils ont aimé autant que moi. 

    

Real Madrid!

For the second part of our adventure, we went to Madrid and it was so nice! (meaning warm) which was great for Allie and me, but not really for Nick and Neilson, they both wanted cold weather.  Madrid wasn't exactly what I expected it to be, but on the other hand, I don't know what I really wanted to see there.  The main reason that I went there was to visit my roommate from Annecy and her brother and I didn't do too much research beforehand.  We were really lucky because our hostel was centrally located and it was convenient for walking as well as taking the metro.  

Pour la deuxième partie de l’aventure, on est allé à Madrid et il faisait super beau ! ce qui était sympa pour Allie et moi, mais pas vraiment pour Nick et Neilson qui voulaient le temps froid.  Madrid n’était pas exactement ce à quoi je m'attendais, mais de l’autre coté, je ne sais pas ce que je voulais y voir.  La raison principale pour laquelle j’y suis allée était pour voir ma colocataire d’Annecy et son frère, alors je n’ai pas fait trop de recherche sur la ville en avance.  On avait la chance parce que notre auberge de jeunesse était située au centre ville et c’était très pratique pour se balader ou prendre le métro.  

Plaza Mayor (good for people watching)

This is the invisible market (mercado puerta de Toledo)  I only say that it's invisible because we got there on Monday and I had thought that it was Tuesday and there's a market on Tuesdays.  SO, we went back the next day and as you can guess, there was nothing.  So Allie, Nick and Neilson don't believe that there really is a market there but personally I think it's because the market happens on Wednesday...// C’est le marché invisible (mercado puerta de toledo) Je dis que c’est invisible parce qu’on est arrivé lundi et je pensais que c’était mardi parce qu’il y a un marché le mardi, donc on est revenu le jour suivant et comme vous pouvez deviner, il n’y avait rien.  Alors, Allie, Nick et Neilson ne me croient pas qu’il y a un marché là-bas mais à mon avis, le marché se passe le mercredi…

The Royal Palace//Le palais royal

Puerta del Sol

A bear with broccoli//Un ours et le brocoli

Gran Via by night

Plaza Mayor at night

We also went to see two museums while we were there, the museum del Prado and the museum Reina Sofia.//On est allé voir deux musées, le musée del Prado et le musée Reina Sofia.      

Nick outside museo del Prado

Allie + moi

The entrance

Lunch!

Paella yummy!

This is a 2200 year old temple (Templo de Debod) that was also a subject of debate between Nick and I. //Voici un temple qui a 2200 ans (Templo de Debod)...un autre sujet de débat entre Nick et moi.    

Hot chocolate + churros de Chocolateria San Ginés = yum // Chocolat chaud + churros!!!

Tapas!

Morcillas: everybody's favorite dish until the minute Jose told us that it was blood sausage...but it was amazing! // Morcilla : le plat préféré de tout le monde, jusqu’au moment où José nous a dit que c’était du boudin…mais c’était délicieux quand-même.  

    Susana, Jose et moi!

Outside "what looks like a football stadium", oh man they almost killed me for saying that.  This was definitely the Real Madrid football stadium!

Picasso's Guernica

To be continued... // A suivre...

A Dam Good Time 2.0

This is part 1 of a 3 part adventure with the boys.  I went to Amsterdam again with Nick & Neilson for 3 days and it was amazing, as usual.  Amsterdam has to be one of the prettiest little cities I have ever seen, and it was better the second time around because 1. it wasn't windy as heck, and 2. it's finally Spring time, so all of the trees were green.  On day 1 we walked around a bunch and Nick & Neilson went to the Van Gogh museum, which is conveniently right next to the I Amsterdam sign.

That night we went to the red light district where we met up with Raquel and some other friends from Brussels.  We tried to go to a banana show, but apparently those things cost $, as in 50 euros.  Too bad there are no student or under 26 rates for that.

Raq + me

The following day I dragged the boys with me to Keukenhof gardens, which I believe is the biggest tulip/flower garden in the world.  When we got there, I think that it would be safe to say that we were among the 10% of people there that were not of retirement age.  As we were sitting in the park we heard a little boy ask his mom why there were so many old people.

Neilson trying to blend in with his clogs

the boys + sakura

me + neilson

For the last day we just walked around town again, they saw the Anne Frank house and the ridiculously long line to get in.  We walked into a liqueur store and learned a little bit about absinthe, and then we walked up to the northern market before we headed back to Bruxelles.

I was lucky to get this shot of them sleeping because I don't think either of them actually slept for the train ride back, but I passed out for the entire 3 hours after taking this.  More to come!