A Weekend in Paris

Paris in May. At the last minute, we decided to just go... we got decent flights out of KLM and got out of Amsterdam late on a Friday night. The flight was very quick--50 minutes or so, and we hopped in a cab without waiting.

Welcome to Paris! Our cab driver was a crazy person--but then, it seems, so were all of the other drivers. For some reason, there are streets in this city that do not have painted lines on them for guiding traffic. Many times we passed on the left or right of cars while in a single lane. Parking at the intersections were fun too, as the cars seemed to line up more like kids at the start of an easter egg hunt, all waiting for the chance to go. Somehow, though, all these drivers managed to figure out who got to go first without any real issue. Realizing we were safe, Helen and I just sat back and enjoyed the drive--seeing some of the most famous sites of this beautiful town.

The Crown Plaza was in a pretty good location to get around, and everyone spoke English without giving us the attitude we were expecting. It wasn't the best hotel, and the people weren't the nicest, but it was close to a tasty bakery and close to a train station for a quick ride to the Louvre.

...ah, the Louvre. We had heard how great this museum was, but to me, a great museum was a lot like a great beer for a non-drinker. I really don't enjoy walking through museums. But, I was absolutely floored after 10 minutes of walking through this amazing place. Given some direction from our Rick Steve guidbook, we headed straight for the Venus de Milo. We were all alone despite getting lost a few times along the way. And then... there she was. All alone.

The crazy part was that we were walking by some of the most amazing art in history on our way to see this one piece. We decided to stick with the plan and rush to see the Mona Lisa, but I gotta say it was killing me the whole time passing up some of the art I had read about in school. Unfortunately, the French decided not to list much of the descriptions in English. There were plastic pages with type in English for some of the most famous pieces, but the majority were in French. On our second day we picked up an audio tour, but it just didn't do the trick.

Having spent about 8 hours in two days here, I'd suggest you bring an art history instructor with you--and plan to spend more time than you think you might want to. I was just shocked at how much I wanted to see in this incredible museum.

After spending Saturday morning rushing around seeing The Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa and taking a glance at the Marly Horses we decided to head out to see some of the other sites we always wanted to see... Notre Dame, Ste Chappelle, the Cluny museum... huh?! The Cluny!? Helen snuck this one into the itenerary while I wasn't looking.

What's in the Cluny Museum, you ask? Well, tapestry, of course. This museum was a bit different than the Louvre and other museums as this one let you get up nice and close to things like stained glass windows and tapestry. Yeah, tapestry. I followed Helen around for a few hours looking at rugs hanging on the wall. Sure, they were nice, but how does a museum get created on the basis of putting cloth up on the wall in a dark room? Beats me, but my wife could have stayed here all day just looking at them. Does this stuff do it for you?

Ok, so it is kind of a silly love affair with unicorns, but I'll admit that it is quite interesting to see these rugs after they've survived for 500 years. And were pretty detailed for having been sewn up in 1500. After another hour spent in the gift shop we were on our way.

One of my favorite stops of all of Europe was Ste. Chappelle. It wasn't all that impressive on the outside, although pretty nice. Luckily, a purchase of the Museum pass saved us over an hour in line by allowing us to skip right passed everyone and walk right in. Initially, it was a nice church, but a few steps up and we were in the most beautiful room with 50 foot high stained glass windows in all directions. I wish I could have taken better pictures, but I was able to snap a couple that I really liked.

After this little place, we walked over to Notre Dame and spent a good 40 minutes navigating through this beautiful church with hundreds of other tourists. There was no way to snap a picture of it since it was very dark, with the only light coming through the stained glass windows. We stopped by one that I thought offered a unique photo opp--as the window was partially openned. I really liked this church, but didn't recognize just how beautiful it was until spending more time at churches in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Oh, and we passed up the opportunity to climb the tower since both of us have not-so great knees and figured we needed them for some more walking.

Our dinner was at a touristy Italian place that we should have known better than to sit down at.. right along a very busy road with cars speeding by, making more noise than one needs while dining. This was a nice lesson for us that we have taken advantage of since leaving France. EUROPEAN DINING TIP: Eat at Cafes that are off a side street or away from the tourist destinations. Those places make enough money feeding you crappy food, while the places a bit out of the way seem to work harder at making tasty dishes. Or you can just eat at the Louvre food court. That was pretty good too.

The 2nd day (Sunday) we headed back to the Louvre, deciding to spend the entire day there. This time we went to see all the stuff we had rushed passed the day before. We both believe another week is necessary to really enjoy this place--and both agree we need a lot more information to really appreciate it.

After we had had enough Louvre (well, we were exhausted) we had a bite in the foodcourt (this was some good food), we went walking around to see some more sites before heading home on KLM. Before leaving, though, I really wanted to see Napoleon's apartment here. This man had a real impressive taste in the gaudy, but you really can't blame him--it was very impressive. If gaudy. Seriously, though, can't you imagine this room with a nice 60 inch plazma right there where the mirror is? I mean if he were alive today, he'd defintely have a plazma right there.

I really did like seeing all the rooms here, not sure how much of the stuff was original or not (since the guided tours never seemed to speak English when were nearby). But I could see myself living in this little section of the Louvre.

After the Louvre we headed out to the food court area to grab a bite. Did I mention how much Helen liked here Lasagne? Good Italian food in a food court of a musuem really makes you want to go to Italy and order some Italian food!

We had to end the day doing something besides museum stuff so we walked around town just a little to wear ourselves out. Frankly, we were worn out already, but had only a few more hours left to see Paris. We swung by the Pantheon, which I didn't even know existed, and found the paintings in here really neat. And big. We also stopped by Napoleon's Tomb to complete our Napoleon tour. The tomb, here, looks small, but if you look closely you can see the little people walking in the background (click the image to enlarge it). Oh, and we did go by the Armory that was really what I wanted to see here--and it was a real waste of time. It was, unfortunately, mostly a tour of the armor during Naploeon's time, rather than what I had hoped--some sort of comparison of armor over time. Oh well, I'd have to wait for my trip to Germany to get a good armor comparison.

To end this long blog, let me just say that we had a really good time. Everything was truly amazing, but 2 days were not enough, unless you skip the Louvre. Or just spent the 2-days at that one place. We loved Paris, but it really wore us out. Our legs were like rubber, our feet were sore, and our bodies were aching. But. we really enjoyed it, just the same.

Day trip to Brugges

After a couple of weekends hanging out in Amsterdam, I took a friend's advice (Thanks Keith) and got up early on the 7th of May and grabbed a train to Bruge (Brugges) Belgium. The train took off from Amsterdam Central in the early morning...A good hour or so later I was in Antwerp (Antwerpen) and hand to quickly (and I mean quickly!) change trains to the one headed to Bruge.

The train station in Antwerp was very nice, and I thought I had plenty of time--before looking at the schedule board and realized there was a whole 3 minutes between trains... I snapped this picture in the station while I still thought I had a leasurely walk to the other platform. Seconds later, though, I was running!

The ride through Belgium was quite nice and the final stop in Bruge was a bit strange. For some reason I had expected to be dropped off in some medieval town, but the train station was pretty ugly, and the road right out side was more like any busy road in Europe, complete with a traffic light. I picked up a 25 cent map (thanks Rick Steve) and followed the crowds towards the Market area.

As I got closer the town grew more and more beautiful. It really was a gorgeous little town that had escaped centuries of war in Europe. The main site I had walking towards town was the huge clock tower that seemed to keep an eye over the town. The strees were all coblestone--making a passing car sound more like it was going to run you over if you didn't dive off the street. Then it drives by at 10 mph and you feel silly for darting out of its way (luckily I only fell for that once and few people were there to see me, besides the driver).


As I got into town, the little shops started calling my name. Chocolate shops were everywhere... and Lace shops. But these weren't the same as the Lace I saw in Amsterdam... pretty little shops selling all sorts of lace tablecloths, napkins, and art (if you hang them just right, and really like lace). The shops were really neat but I was more interested in seeing some of the beauty of the city.

I was getting hungry, so I headed to a little pub recommended by Rick Steve's guidebooks. It was a little place called "Herberge Vlissinghe" that was built in 1515. I went there just to see what it looked like, and ended up having an amazing plate of spaghetti. Man that was one good plate of Spaghetti! I will remember that (and the cup of awesome hot chocolate) as one of my best meals in all of Europe. yum.

After lunch, I walked through town snapping up pictures of everything that looked neat. One little corner road offered a wonderful 360 degree view of a tall church next to a quiet canal and old stone bridge. It was a spot I would come back to a few times that day--each time a larger group of folks gathered around. I took a load of pictures, but these two might be the best that shows what I liked most about it.

I could have walked through this little town for hours, but I really wanted to see the Michelangelo's Madonna and Child at the Church of Our Lady, which was in the church you see in the picture above (to the right). Apparently, the people of Bruges were quite wealthy in their day and were able to purchase one of the few Michelangelo sculptures outside of Italy. The church was very quiet and very beautiful. The statue was just inside to the right, and I was able to snap a few pictures since there weren't very many people here. I wonder if the people outside knew this was in here.

I would love to have gotten closer, but luckily a trip to Paris and a visit to the Louvre wasn't far off (of course I didn't know how amazing that trip would be while standing in this little church). A quick run up 366 steps in the Bell Tower later and I was ready to sleep on the train back to Amsterdam. I would recommend the view at the top of this 700 year old tower, but those with bad knees might want to pass. My knees were very tired by the time I had climbed up and then down them. But the view of this little town was stunning, but there wasn't any real good way to snap a photo of it. This is one I liked, but sure wish I had brought my wide-angle lens.


A quick hop down all those steps and I was back on the ground wandering aimlessly through town looking for something else to take a picture of. There were plenty of shots that I thought would look much better with my wife in them. A trip back was required and so I headed back to the train station to grab a late afternoon nap (run through Antwerp train station) and another nice nap before making it back to Amsterdam for a dinner with a co-worker and friend (Steve).

I'd highly recommend Bruges to anyone--Keith was right, this was a great little town worth a day's visit. I didn't really even explore much of the town--no chocolates, no lace, no tapestry, no canal cruise, and no dinner. I would be going back with the wife (Helen). She likes horses and swans. How could you go wrong with that? I had no idea that it was the shops that would cause her to fall in love with this town--but more on that in the next blog.

Amsterdam Arrival

Arrive in Amsterdam on a beautiful sunny day. The day after the biggest party in the Netherlands, Queens Day.

The hotel room wasn't available so I was forced to walk the streets aimlessly for several hours, armed with just my camera. I had a blast walking around seeing the city start to wake up. The first thing I noticed was the central train station (Amsterdam Centraal), an old building that was huge and offered rail travel to almost anywhere In Europe.

After having a look there, I walked down to Dam Square--the town square that sits just behind the royal palace (that, apparently no one lives in--the royal Dutch family lives in The Hague). What a site for an American from Atlanta. A big huge area where they apparently had a concert or something. Later, I find out just how big of a party I missed...

Things I noticed that were interesting to me:

1) Sidewalks were mostly layed stone or bricks. Back home, we just pour concrete everywhere, but here they spend time laying bricks which adds to the character of the city.

2) The smell of pot coming from any of the many "coffee shops" scattered around, and mostly situated on the side streets.

3) Portable urinals were all over the place, with a few really interesting non-portable ones. There was one that was a metal curtain that wrapped around in a 6 figure (not closing off the bottom "o" part of the 6. You walk into it and pee onto a 18 inch stone slab that was laying at angle. Convenient, maybe, but gross, definetely. Also noticed, there weren't many options for women--and not sure the stone slab thing would be that easy to use.

4) McDonald's doesn't serve much breakfast at breakfast. They had an Egg McMuffin and orange juice, but the rest of the lunch menu was available at openning. Many people were eating Big Macs and Frys.

5) The canals were really cool. Almost anywhere you walk downtown you pass a canal. From what I understand Amsterdam made many of these themselves, but the system is so elaborate, you could jump in a boat and manage to get 20-30 miles away to the Airport or other towns south of Amsterdam. In town, they are about 7 feet deep, and I've yet to see any one swiming in them. Guess they aren't that clean.

6) Shopping, so far most of the shops tend to be selling clothing of some sort: leather, t-shirts, dress clothes, etc. There are several Souviner shops, and many restaurants. I walked into a huge department store thinking Helen (my wife) is going to love it. Until I looked at the prices... ouch. I guess I'll stick with C&A (the low-priced clothing store).

The next day, Sunday, I meet up with a co-worker who had been there a few days, and we go snapping photos of the town.