Day 209 - 20 Jan '24 - Paris, day one. The near-constant sirens lasted well into the night, but thankfully, they didn't keep us awake. What did disturb us were our two miscreants, refusing to go to sleep until almost 11pm!
But we can pleasantly report that there were no bed bugs - there had been numerous reports in the media for the last few months, about an infestation of bed bugs everywhere. Hotels, cinemas, bed and breakfasts, trains...and they were almost impossible to eradicate. I was naturally rather apprehensive about our Airbnb, so was very relieved the little critters were nowhere to be seen.
It was -4°C when we left the house this morning (brrrr), with our first stop being the Gare du Nord train station to buy some two-day tickets, then onto the subway network we went.
So long as you know which direction you're heading, negotiating public transport in any language is rather easy. Google maps makes it even more so!
Our first sightseeing stop was the Arc de Triomphe. There were queues of people waiting to climb up the top, but we decided to save our money and just get photos from the bottom.
We'd started with the Arc, as there was a gluten free bakery nearby, where Abi could get some French pastries. Unfortunately, it turned out that it had closed.
"What are we going to do now?" she complained.
"Don't worry," I said. "I'd already thought this might be closed because there were lots of contradictory comments on the internet. But I picked this place first because it was right beside the Arc de Triomphe, so it hasn't been a wasted trip, has it?"
We got back on the subway and went to the famous Rue Montorgueil, a beautiful street lined with restaurants, bakeries, wine shops, cheese shops, cafes, fishmongers, flower shops...
We found the second gluten free bakery, and it was filled with lots of different pastries and breads. Croissants, pain au chocolats, eclairs, tartes, baguettes, and a delicious croque monsieur (I know this, because I ate the crusts of Abi's).
"Take a moment and think about where you are!" I said with excitement. "Here you are IN PARIS, eating French pastries!"
We found another bakery further up the road for Dan, Alex, and I. We got some croque monsieurs (not as nice as Abi's, I have to say), eclairs, a pain au chocolat, and the biggest croissant I've ever seen. We ate our food outside the Saint-Eustache Church, which had beautiful buttresses around the top.
After our lunch, we hopped back on the subway and then a bus, to go to the Eiffel Tower, arguably Paris' most identifiable landmark.
I was last here almost 20 years ago, and Dan about 24 years ago. Things had changed a bit, with a lot more security features in place. There was now a huge fence surrounding the base, a bag check and scanning gate to walk through, then another scanning gate plus a bag xray.
I'd bought us our tickets while standing in the queue, but refused to pay for the more expensive tickets.
"I'm not paying €17 just to use the lifts!"
The top observation deck was closed, and would be for some time. There was some debate if this was due to maintenance or the cold, as there were signs about the frost but the website didn't mention the weather at all.
674 steps is actually quite a long way...I admit to thinking the lift wouldn't have been too bad, when we were just halfway up to the first floor.
"Isn't this great?" I panted. "Such a great saving! Plus, it's a chance to work off those eclairs!"
The view of Paris from the second floor was amazing. We could get to three sides of the tower, with one being shut off due to frost and snow on the platform.
We didn't know what any of the landmarks were, apart from the Arc de Triomphe, which was a bit of a shame. I do love the Parisian architecture of their apartment buildings, with wrought iron railings, shutters for all the windows, and the top storey a different colour and always tilted in slightly.
The walk down the stairs was much easier than going up (once our jelly legs got used to it!), and then we walked across the road to the Place du Trocadéro. From here, we had a great view back towards the tower, and Abi and I ate more of our eclairs. Unfortunately, the fountains that normally were running, had been turned off for an unknown reason.
By this stage we were all pretty chilled, and thirsty too, so decided to head home. It was a rather different experience getting on the subway this time, as the carriages were absolutely jammed with people.
At one point, Abi and I were hard up against the door. We even had to get off the train to let others off, before getting back on just before the doors closed again! The next train we got on, Dan was with Abi and I was with Alex at two different ends of the carriage.
"We need to get our plans sorted," I said to Dan when we got off at our last stop.
"Yep," he agreed. "If we do get separated, we get off at the next stop and regroup."
We were lucky that time, as I remembered which stop we were getting off at, but that may not always be the case, hence the 'next stop' plan.
We bought some soup and a baguette (nice and cheap, but warm and filling) at a nearby supermarket, then went back to the apartment, where I did some laundry.
We also finished watching a Netflix series, that really opened our eyes to the way animals and fish are farmed, and the benefits of a vegan diet, not only for our bodies but the planet. Dan and I had previously been convinced to modify our diet, but now we're seriously contemplating a total change (not necessarily to entirely vegan, but certainly heading that way). Might be a bit difficult on our trip, but something we'll consider when we return to New Zealand.
Day 210 - 21 Jan '24 - Paris, day two. It wasn't as nice a day today, with the skies overcast and a bit of a breeze. It was much warmer though, at 2°C!
Our first stop was the Sacré-Couer, after climbing the 222 steps up Rue Foyatier. These steps have most recently been featured in John Wick 4, and caused my calves to be screaming fairly quickly!
It was very busy at the top, with lots of people trying to sell things, get signatures, or hand out flyers, as well as the tourists taking photos.
We went inside and sat down in one of the visitor pews, and listened to the choir sing a hymn and the priest start his sermon. We couldn't understand anything other than "hallelujah", since it was all in French, but it was still lovely to be there.
There were some beautiful mosaics and paintings in the alcoves around the walls, with a lot of gold everywhere.
"Can you imagine getting to go to a church like this as your every-day place of worship?" I asked Dan. "Not just for special occasions, but just your standard Sunday?"
Our next stop was the Louvre museum, where we spent just under three hours. It was nowhere near enough time to do it justice.
The building itself was supremely ornate, with beautiful sculptures adorning the exterior walls (once you ignored the controversial glass pyramid). It was originally the palace for the king, until Louis XIV moved to Versailles. It's also the second largest art gallery in the world, with 72,735m2 of space, and home to some very famous pieces of art and sculpture.
Of course, we made our way to see the Mona Lisa, and joined the throngs of people trying to take a picture. I made the kids push their way to the front, like everyone else, as there was no apparent queue.
The sculptures on display were incredible, with Venus de Milo and Victory of Samothrace being two particularly famous ones.
"Painting is one thing," I said to Dan, "but being able to make marble and stone look fluid, is something else entirely."
We were utterly gobsmacked by the gallery that housed the French Crown Jewels, and not by the jewels, but by the walls and ceiling. So incredibly ornate and detailed and beautiful! There aren't quite enough adjectives to describe it.
We also walked through an area that had some of the palace's tapestries, chairs, carpets, and clocks, and the most exquisite pairs of cabinets.
Following repeated moans of "I'm hungry" and "I'm bored", we eventually decided to stop and grab some lunch. I wasn't prepared to go travelling to another gluten free bakery, so we went to the on-site McDonald's, having checked their chips were okay for Abi to eat. It was, hands-down, the worst McDonald's we've ever had, and did nothing other than put food in our tummies, and make us €43 poorer.
Our next stop was Notre Dame cathedral, but it wasn't a very successful visit.
"Oh wow! Look at all that scaffolding!" Dan said, as we rounded the corner. "I wonder what's under there?"
"Oh no!" I answered. "That's the Notre Dame!"
"The scaffolding is pretty impressive by itself!" Dan wryly added.
There was a fire in 2019 that completely destroyed the spire and most of the roof, and is estimated to take between 10-40 years to fully restore, although it is supposed to reopen in December this year.
By this stage, we had decided we'd seen enough of Paris, and headed back to the apartment. Yes, we realised there were sooooo many more sites to see, but we only had two days, so I think we did a pretty good job of seeing the big ticket ones. Besides, if we saw everything, there would be no reason to ever come back!
Day 211 - 22 Jan '24 - Paris to Brussels. I find that when I set an alarm for the morning, I wake up multiple times during the night. Surely I'm not the only one?
"I've set the alarm for 7am," I told Dan last night.
"Yeah? That's quite early, don't you think?"
"I think it's fine. You said we have to be at the train station for 9am for a 9:30am departure, and it's a 15 minute walk, so that gives us an hour and three quarters to have breakfast and get ready before we have to leave."
So, at 7am the alarm went off. Then at 7:09am the snooze went off. Better get up rather than hit snooze again!
We had everything packed and ready to go by about 8:30am, so left around 8:40am, which was a few minutes earlier than planned. At 8:53am, as we walked along the road, Dan said:
"I think we need to go a bit faster. I think I mucked up."
"What do you mean, 'you think you mucked up'?"
"The train leaves at 8:55am. It wasn't that we had to be there for 9am, that's when it leaves!"
"WHAT??!!"
"Do we have to run, daddy?" asked both kids.
"Yes!"
"What's the time?" I asked.
"Almost 8:55am"
"WHAT??!! We're never going to make it..."
Have you ever gone running wearing a rucksack that weighs about 20kg, holding onto a carrier bag of food in one hand and a backpack in the other?
I have.
We made it to the train station at 8:55am. The information board said the train was departing at 8:55am. I would have sworn, had I not been struggling to breathe.
Dan and the kids were some distance ahead of me, running along the concourse to the correct platform, to which they had already closed the rope. The kindly conductor let them in, then reopened it again when he saw me coming. We boarded the train, gasping for breath, legs shaking, and it left just 30 seconds later.
"Well, we all made it on!" Dan said with a grin, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead.
"Yep," was all I managed to answer. There may even have been a glare.
"Running is much better than walking," Abi piped up with.
The annoying part was we had plenty of time in the morning, thanks to my 7am alarm, and could have left the apartment much earlier than we did.
"I'm sure that won't be the only time we're running for a train," Dan pointed out.
"No, I'm sure it won't be either," I agreed once I'd sat down. "Train, or plane, or whatever. But the next time you say a time, I'm going to check!"
Our seats were in the first class section, which meant larger seats and more leg room, as well as being a quieter area. Naturally, that meant we spent most of the time telling the kids to be quiet.
It was a pleasant train ride to Brussels, and we arrived at 10:30am. Our Airbnb host, Marc, had organised to meet us at the station, as he also was catching a train in, so he led the way to our apartment for the next two nights.
The building was designed and lived in by the main architect of Brussels, Victor Jamaer, and had beautiful high ceilings, and elaborate carvings and plasterwork (and in our suite, a photographic canvas of Brussels Sprouts!). We were allowed to drop off our bags early, and then we caught another train (again first class) to go to Bruges for the afternoon. Our three-month Eurail pass means we can use as many trains as we like, with them already paid for. Sometimes there is a reservation fee to pay, but this one has no charge.
When we arrived in Bruges, we made our way to the city centre, wandering around the cobbled streets with no set route.
We walked past a traditional Beguinage, where lay nuns (women who act like nuns but who haven't taken their vows) have lived since the 13th century. We also went to the O.L.V.-Kerk Museum, which was a church that had incredible wooden carvings as well as some original c.1360 murals that had been discovered during renovations.
While in Belgium, we of course had to get some Belgian chocolate! Every second shop was a chocolate one, so it was practically impossible to avoid. Their traditional hazelnut praline seashells for Dan and the kids, and some plain truffles for me. Mmm mmm, delicious!
We carried on to the centre of town, to the market square, a gorgeous area of cobbled stone and old buildings, every one of them different.
It was fairly quiet, being winter, and we could imagine how busy such a pretty place would be in high season. After spending a few hours here, we caught a train back to Brussels, and checked into our accommodation. No need to get up at 7am tomorrow, and no trains to catch!
Day 212 - 23 Jan '24 - Brussels. Well, if we thought Bruges' market square was lovely, Brussels' Grand Place was a whole other level of awesome!
Gold painted, elaborate, intricate, and very, very old. Beautiful, breathtaking...not enough adjectives. Need a thesaurus.
The Brussels museum (in the background of the above photo) was designed by the same man whose house we were in, and even though it was built 1860-1880, it was done in the Gothic style so as not to look out of place.
Their city hall dated back to 1402, when construction started, and puts many other city halls to shame. It was completely covered in carvings, wrapping around the entire outside of the building.
For lunch, we had the 'traditional' frites with Belgian mayonnaise, which was rather yummy, even though some of the chips had been cooked for a third time.
We then went to see two amusing statues, one of Manneken Pis and one of Jaenneke Pis...
After that, we went to the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, Belgium's most important church, and the site of all their royal family's religious ceremonies. It was incredible inside, with huge stained glass windows, an amazing organ, and a spectacularly carved pulpit.
It was then time for another Belgian traditional food...waffles! I'd found a gluten free waffle café, which Abi was thrilled about, and which cost €10! It was lovely though, freshly made, large, and puffy. The rest of us went elsewhere, and all three of ours came to €12. Plus, ours were smaller, thinner, and reheated. Hmm. I guess you get what you pay for...
It started drizzling then, so we headed back to the apartment. On the way, we stopped at a barber for Dan and Alex to get their hair cut; it wasn't the best they've ever had, with Alex's almost a buzz cut, but it wasn't the worst.
We also popped in to the local convenience store to get something for dinner. Our cooking repertoire has been dramatically reduced since arriving in Europe, due to the cost, and availability of gluten free options. Last night we had spaghetti with tomato sauce, tinned sweetcorn, and tinned mushrooms. Tonight we had pumpkin soup and some bread (with no butter). I'll really need to get my thinking cap on, as to what we can cook for meals when we get the opportunity.
It's a constant trade-off - pay more for accommodation that comes with a kitchenette, so we can cook meals, or save money on accommodation but then eat dinner out. At least we can have our cereal in our room every morning, so that saves us some money.
There has been a good change to our diet since starting this trip. Dan and I had previously been using white sugar to sweeten our breakfast cereal, and the kids would use lots of honey. Now, we all use a banana or raisins in our breakfast; not only is it just as sweet (if not more so), but it is giving us more nutrition than sugar ever did!
Day 213 - 24 Jan '24 - Brussels to Amsterdam. It was a leisurely stroll to the train station this morning. Well, as leisurely as it can be, carrying rucksacks and bags! It may have been slightly easier this time, although I think there is still some fine-tuning of strap positions that needs done for all of us.
We were once again on the Eurostar, this time in the 'comfort' section. Having driven around North America and Great Britain for hours and hours (and hours), it was wonderful to get to sit back and relax on a train, even more so for Dan, who no longer had to drive.
In just under two hours we arrived in Amsterdam; we dropped off our gear at our hotel, then started our sightseeing.
Our first stop was back at Amsterdam Centraal Station, a massive and grand train terminal building; time for our obligatory family selfie!
Then we made our way through some of the semi-circular streets that fan out from the centre. We came across a cheese shop that had lots of tiny samples to try, which was great, as all I'd had to eat so far was half a banana and an apple.
The cheeses were all delicious, with my favourite being the goat cheese honey and thyme. But at €17 for just 380g, we walked out the shop empty-handed.
At the end of the road, we came to Dam Square, Amsterdam's oldest square, and the site of the Royal Palace. The palace is one of three owned by the Dutch royal family; they no longer live there, but it is still used for state functions and ceremonies.
We carried on walking along the streets, marvelling at the tall and narrow buildings, some of which were not entirely vertical. One of them was the smallest house in Amsterdam, measuring just 2.02m wide and 5m deep! Some say it may even be the smallest house in all of Europe.
We started heading back towards our hotel, but the road wasn't very pretty, so turned around and went back on another street. This one had lots of lovely typical narrow Dutch houses, and semi-naked ladies.
I thought one was a dummy in the window, but then she blinked!
"Oh wow! She's real!" I called out to Dan, who was ahead of me.
"What was, mummy?" asked Abigail.
"Nothing," I quickly replied.
"I'll go look!" offered Alex.
He ran back before I could stop him, and the look on his face when he turned around, was priceless! We had stumbled into the Red Light District, an area that we'd hoped to avoid. Of course, we then had a whole conversation about prostitution, which followed on to contraception, when Alex wondered about pregnancies.
We went back to our hotel room for an hour or so, before heading back out to get some dinner. We've been absolutely hemorrhaging money recently, with all our vaccinations and booking upcoming flights, so meals out had to be as cheap as possible.
Firstly, we went to a convenience store that had some gluten free sushi, then we carried on to a fantastic hot vending machine shop that sold Dutch croquettes and burgers.
They were €3 each, and all you had to do was swipe your credit card and push a button to open the relevant door.
"How do you know which door to open?" I asked Dan once he'd swiped the card.
"I don't know, I think a light comes on," he replied.
"It's been a wee while now," I pointed out. "Maybe we should just push a button?"
"Okay!" said Alex.
"Noooooo...!!!" yelped Dan, too late.
"Why would you push the button to an empty tray??!!"
"You said 'push a button'!"
In the end, my croquette cost €6. It was yummy, so I bought a second one. That one only cost €3.
Dan and Alex bought a croquette burger each, then we went to a different shop to get chips and mayonnaise. A lovely, healthy, nutritious meal!
We sat at Dam Square to eat them, then went for a walk back to the train station and past some houses by the canal edge. Everything looked very pretty lit up at night.
One of the places all lit up in green was The Grasshopper, a famous restaurant and coffee shop. Both Dan and I had been there before at different times; he'd been there with his friend Jeroen, as the bar stayed open late, and I had been there on my Contiki, so we could frequent the coffee shop.
In case you didn't know, it is legal to smoke marijuana in Amsterdam if you buy and use it in a coffee house. If you want coffee, you need to go to a café.
Day 214 - 25 Jan '24 - Amsterdam. Despite the streetcleaners, the pedestrians, the trams, the pub music, and the church bells, we had not too bad a sleep in our four single beds.
This morning we went on a canal cruise. We got kind of gipped by the receptionist of the hotel, when we asked her which one she would recommend. She booked us one at her desk, which had a 10% discount, but when we walked to our point of departure, ALL the other cruise operators we walked past were €4 cheaper each adult!
"And our one is the furthest away!" Dan grumbled.
The tour lasted an hour, and we saw lots of old buildings, built in the 1600s and onwards. Other than that, we left at the end feeling rather underwhelmed. In retrospect, I'm not sure what we were expecting to see.
Our next trip was to the Albert Cuyp Market, a decent 40 minute walk away. It was lunchtime when we got there, so we bought three burgers and a taco, then bought Abi a pear as well.
"It would be much easier and cheaper if we just let Abi eat regular food, then she can just vomit it all up afterwards," I said to Dan.
"That's so mean!" he replied with a laugh, "but she sure does make things a lot more difficult."
We walked back to our hotel, and I stopped briefly at one point to stand in amazement at the sheer number of bicycles. There were hundreds all stacked up next to a metro station.
"So many people ride their bikes in, then catch the subway in to work or whatever," Dan commented.
"Yep, but even the roading network is fantastic," I replied. "There's streets for the cars, and a whole roading network just for bikes! It's awesome!"
Back at the hotel, we had a quick toilet stop (there had been no public toilets anywhere that we could see), then walked back to Amsterdam Centraal and caught a train to Zaanse Schans. This was a little area with working windmills and traditional Dutch green and white houses.
The area was not entirely historical, as the buildings had been moved there, but they were all still lovely to see.
We spent about an hour there before catching another train further out of Amsterdam, to visit a Dutch couple we had met at Yellowstone Park! We'd pulled off the road to use a public toilet, and they were relaxing in their rental van, taking pictures of themselves and the scenery. I took a few pictures of them on their camera, and they told us to look them up when we arrived in the Netherlands. So, out we went out to meet them at their pub in Heiloo.
When we first arrived, I confess to feeling a little apprehensive, wondering if we were in the right place, and even if they'd remember us! But I got to try out my Dutch on the barmaid (Spreekt u Engels?) and soon Marcel had ordered us all some drinks, and both he and Jannie were chatting to us about everything that had happened in the last three months or so.
We had a wonderful evening! Dan tried out two different stout-like beers, (one of which was 11%!), and we left with hugs and an extended invitation for them to visit us in New Zealand. It just goes to show how amazing it can be, striking up conversations with people you meet on the way.
We caught the train back to Amsterdam, then sorted out some dinner since it was 8:30pm. Dan and Alex tried Dutch KFC (verdict: hot wings were spicy, but the chips were sub-par), Abi had some supermarket sushi, and I had the delicious vending machine croquettes again. Yummy!
(And I don't really care about how they were made - they were hot and tasty, and that's good enough for now).
Day 215 - 26 Jan '24 - Amsterdam to Eindhoven. At 3:30am, our upstairs neighbours came home. At 4:15am, I was about 30 seconds away from getting out of bed and knocking on their door.
"What inconsiderate f*ckers!" I hissed at Dan.
Fortunately for them, and for us, they decided to finally go to sleep about 4:20am. That gave us an hour of quiet sleep until the streetcleaners came out, which I had managed to sleep through last night. Our hotel was in a prime spot of town, but it really could do with some double-glazing!
Dan had to jump on his computer in the morning, as he'd received an alert about upcoming German train strikes, and that our trips from Eindhoven to Berlin, Berlin to Hamburg, and Hamburg to Copenhagen had been affected and now needed rebooked.
We made it on the train with no issues, and shortly after lunchtime, we met Dan's friend Patricia at the train station, who had come to pick us up. They hadn't seen each other in about 16 years, and Patricia and her husband had kindly offered to host us for the weekend.
Rather than do typical tourist sightseeing, Patricia took us to her workplace, and also showed us some of the amazing projects she'd been working on (she has her own office interior design company). The area where she works is in the place where the Phillips company used to have their factories, and it is now undergoing revamping, with some pretty impressive buildings!
After that, we then went to her husband Bram's company, which is nano-technology, and very cool to see. We were also very lucky to get to see inside a clean-room (through the window, of course!).
We went grocery shopping on the way to their house, and for dinner we were treated to a traditional Dutch celebratory meal called gourmetten. This was where we all cooked our own meal at the table, on two hot plates with grills. We had omelettes and pancakes, as well as five different types of meat!
It was really yummy, and lots of fun, and because it took a long time to cook the meal, there was lots of conversation happening. We had so much fun, we all forgot to take pictures!
Once the kids had gone to bed, we adults stayed up talking and having a couple of drinks; it was a wonderful evening and we felt very welcomed. Tomorrow we will skip the sightseeing in favour of spending more time with Patricia and her family, maybe even learn some Dutch!
(Incidentally, I know the heading of this post is a bit of a misnomer since it has 'France, Belgium, and The Netherlands', and we've only been to an underrepresentative portion of each country; unfortunately time is not on our side, and if we want to see more of Europe, we have to see less of each country).
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