Paris and other adventures

Sorry for the long hiatus, the last two weeks were incredibly busy.  It all started the weekend of March 24th.  That Saturday Chris, Darleen, and I head up to Dallas for our friends James and Meghan wedding.  I was very excited because he was a key member of our college group, so it was practically a college reunion!  We arrived just before the wedding.  It was beautiful wedding and we all had a blast at the reception. 

The next week and weekend were a blur and before I knew it I was getting packed to head to Paris, France.  I found an inexpensive direct flight and decided it time to get out of the country.  Chris and I decided that six days in Paris would be to long so the first two were spent in Bruges Belgium and the last four days were spent in Paris.  Tuesday after work we sprinted to the airport to catch the nine and a half to Paris.  The flight actually wasn't bad, but it might have been because I spent the whole time reading.

Once we landed in Paris we took a train to Bruges.  Unfortunately with all travel there has to be some issue, our train ended up getting delayed for 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Bruges was a beautiful little town all though extremely cold.  We spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around town checking out all the little shoppes. There were probably 300 chocolate shops in a 700 yard radius!  Hello heaven.  While wondering around we found a neat little underground pub and stopped in for a drink.  After that we had dinner and then crashed out.  The next morning we were up early to meet a group for a bike ride through Bruges and to another city.  We rode through Bruges out of town and had Belgium waffles at a town not to far away.  It was a beautiful ride with rolling green hills, little farm cottages, canals, and windmills. 

After the bike ride we took a boat ride down the canals in the city.  Friday we headed back to Paris via train.  The next four days were packed full of walking around Paris and seeing the sights.  Disclaimer: if you have your heart set on visiting Paris do not read the following.  I was not impressed with Paris.  I know it sounds jaded or who knows what, but I wasn't.  It was crowded, cold, busy, and disappointing.  It was like New York except everyone spoke French.  I really dislike crowds, tourist, and lines and that is all Paris was.  The lines were incredibly long, its a huge city so you walk for miles and then stand in line for hours.  No don't think the whole trip was a bust there are a few good things about Paris.  The main one being the bread....hello I have no idea how the people stay thin over there. (well its probably all the walking, smoking, and coffee drinking) There are cafes and bakeries on every corner, with fresh hot french bread, chocolate croissants, and crepes!  I think all I ate there were nutella crepes, french bread, and chocolate croissants.  It was glorious oh and the wine was excellent, most of the days we ended drinking wine in a little cafe. 

Even though it wasn't my favorite vacation I still got to see everything I wanted to see and have some time away from work. I hope everyone had a wonderful few weeks.  Enjoy the weekend!

Train ride to Bruges

Town Square in Bruges

Canals in Bruges

Sweet little underground pub

Millions of chocolate stores...no wonder everyone was happy

Arch de Triumph

Eiffel Tower

Sacre Coeur Basilica

Waiting in line...

The catacombs

The army museum

Nortre Dame

Palace of Versailles

Marie Antoinettes Farm house

Where she was held before her beheading

The Louvre

Until next time...

Tory