One Night in Paris

We are officially 8 weeks into our adventure abroad! Time is flying by. As we mapped out our travel destinations for the next four months, we couldn't help but spend Valentine's Day weekend in the City of Light. Paris is a relatively close three hour drive or 1.5 hour Euro Star train ride from Brussels.  Since we have a four legged fur child that loves road trips we opt for as many car rides as possible. By now, Maddie has associated the car with some sort of adventure. She is going to be a bit disappointed when we return home as American car rides will revert back to running errands or going to the nanny.

  

Upon our arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to receive an SPG upgrade to the Ambassadors Suite. We are relishing the bonuses while we can as our hotel and airline status will disappear in the coming year. The extra space was nice but the living room view of the Eiffel Tower was the most spectacular perk. The Westin has the perfect location in the city. We were in close proximity to the shops along Champs-Elysees and lush parks that flanked the Louvre.  Maddie will be more well-traveled than most dogs (and people) by the end of our trip. In case you were wondering, the Parisian stereotype is true as there were an inordinate amount of pint sized Poodles and Frenchies out and about along the avenues.

After a lengthy "Tour de Paris", Maddie was thrilled to spend her time relaxing in the king size bed while we spent the rest of our evening at the Crazy Horse.

  

The weather on Sunday was incredibly mild with abundant sunshine which made for an even more crowded walk around the Parisian neighborhoods. We fell in love with Saint-Germain which was full of art galleries, patisseries, and restaurants. We had a scrumptious Parisian lunch with a friend from business school at “La Palette” known to host a few Hollywood celebrities here and there. To my dismay, we didn't catch any celebs but the meal was fantastic regardless of star spotting. We highly recommend both the restaurant and neighborhood to anyone visiting the city!

The following weekend was spent with a variety of activities back in our host city. Saturday featured the "Museum Night Fever" event where 20+ museums kept their doors open until midnight to allow locals enjoy the variety of different exhibits for a single admission ticket. We were impressed with the large turnout and extra activities of art workshops, live music and libations.

 

 

 

  

 

On our way home we FINALLY experienced our first Gaufre (Belgian Waffle) from a local food truck. As you can see from Ben's expression, it is a tasty late night snack perfectly portioned to fit in your hand as you walk (or stumble) home from an evening out.

 

Stay tuned next week as we experience our first Carnival celebration in Cologne, Germany!

 

 

Bikes, Beer, and Bruges

Ben and I had a busy couple of weekends in Belgium. Having a list of extraordinary activities helps Ben get through the (still very long) work week. I've made it my job to research the latest and greatest events to keep our weekends full of the Euro experience.

To start, we couldn't believe that the car gods were smiling down on us, yet again. The European Motor Show conveniently came to Brussels for a weekend of pure car euphoria. It just so happens, only occurs on even numbered years, making us feel extra fortunate to experience this colossal car exhibition. It drew over 600,000 people over the course of the show! Like nothing we had ever encountered before in the U.S. The displays featured a combination of vehicles that spanned a variety of continents:

• European high performance vehicles (Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche)
• Big 3 luxury (BMW, Mercedes, and Audi)
• Japanese (Kia, Toyota, Honda)
• Standard Euro (Renault, Citroen, Peugeot)
• U.S. Auto Makers ( Jeep, Ford, Tesla)

We were delighted to see the Tesla Model S receive a great deal of attention from spectators. There was an astounding number of people in the exhibit area as kids, adults alike we're poking and prodding every inch of the electric masterpiece. It was reminiscent of those reacting to the " leg lamp"  in A Christmas Story.

A tour of automotive paradise wouldn't be complete without seeing all wheels including motorcycles. A bit surprising to find the combination of cars and motorcycles but this event knew it's audience. While the high performance area had the biggest draw there were still plenty of people oohing and aahing over the (foreign and domestic) selection of two wheels.

 

We've organized our weekends to allow for us to experience the local activities in Brussels and around the region. The first of February featured the famed Bruges Beer Festival so that was more than enough incentive for us to hop in the Blue Devil and drive the 1.5 hours south on E40 to Bruges. Bruges is a very popular town in Belgium as it is known as the "Venice of the North" with its canals, medieval architecture and central square featuring its most famous landmark, the 13th-century belfry. Prior to our journey abroad, we rented the film In Bruges featuring Colin Ferrell to give us a sneak peak at this historic Belgian town. For anyone planning to watch the movie, it's more of an action flick so don’t expect to see many tourist sites.

Now onto the best part of our Bruges experience: Beer. For a measly 10 euros, we received admission into this incredible beer bonanza complete with 4 tastings and a souvenir beer glass. If you ask Ben, this was by far the best deal we've had in Europe. There were over 350 beers to sample which, being a non-beer drinker, was quite overwhelming. While a red wine or vodka cocktail is normally my beverage of choice, the Belgian beer has grown on me. The pièce de résistance was the trappist Westvleteren beer. A little biere 101: Trappist biere is a beer produced within a monastery by monks. Majority of the trappist breweries are in Belgium but there are a few others around the world with a total of eight in existence. The trappist breweries are not in business to make money but rather only produce beer to support their monastery. Therefore they stop beer production once enough money has been raised. Westvleteren XII is noted (via beer advocate and worldwide critics) as the "Best Beer in the World." In case you were wondering, Ben was lucky enough to imbibe the exclusive "nectar of the gods". Another exceptional aspect to Belgian beers is the high alcohol content (8-9%), which after a few tastings made for a very entertaining day at the festival. The remainder of our time was spent merrily strolling about drinking, eating frites, and taking in the cast of characters. See below:

 

 

 

Our weekend wouldn't be complete without our Sunday family activity. We found a 100% off leash dog area that is nothing like your "average dog park". It is located in the Sonian Forest (forêt de soignes)  within the 4,421-hectares so there is plenty of room for horses and dogs to coexist. Maddie is always thrilled to see a group of horses trot by as we are on our 4-5 mile jog. It further solidifies our speculation that she was a farm dog in her past life. On our way home, we happened upon a local farmers market to pick up fresh eggs, bread, flowers and homemade cookie (for Ben, of course). We miss the Minneapolis Farmers Market and Brussels couldn't be a better place for our farmers market fix. All in all, we couldn't ask for a better end to a very full two days together.

 

More to come as we head to Paris for Valentine's Day weekend!