Beer me. AKA Belgium!

Getting back in the swing of things here in Paris, where spring has sprung as of last Wednesday (to quote Andrew, who determined the seasonal change using only his nose: "I can smell things coming back to life"), and winter vacation has drawn to a close. It was a VERY cool sensation to return to Paris with the sense of coming home, after 10 days of a whirlwind of traveling.

Anne and I, les jumelles (twins) for life, hit the road railroad tracks together for the itinerary of Lille-->Brussels-->Bruges. Lille is a cute student city in Northern France on the border with Belgium, or as I like to call it, Beertown. We couchsurfed with Olivier, a student there, who showed us some good beers and helped us make a tartiflette, aka a heart attack on a plate (ham, cheese, white wine, potatoes, onions=literally all the ingredients). We chose Lille because it was the location of a chocolate convention that weekend! See below:

Tartiflette!

We spent just one night in Lille and said goodbye the next night after the chocolate convention and a bit of exploring, catching the train to Brussels. It was late when we arrived so we just slept, but we started the next day of right, strolling in the Grand Place and having a healthy breakfast of waffles and beer (that was the moment I knew we had chosen a good destination). Also, chicken curry +cheese stuffed inside a waffle? Amazing. Better with a beer, followed by a waffle covered in Spéculos and whipped cream.

Vat of beer we saw on our spontaneous brewery tour! Did you know brewery tour tickets include a tasting afterwards? We think our tour guide was drunk.

Another good Brussels discovery: kriek, aka cherry beer. It's awesome and pretty and so deceptively strong

Grand Place, Brussels

The Basilica outside our hotel window!

The Caro+Anne adventures continued in Bruges, the "Venice of Belgium," a tiny city full of romantic canals and general cuteness. And old people. I very much felt as if I should have been on my honeymoon. There's literally a "swan lake" with real swans in it, next to the "lake of love." We couchsurfed again with Emilio, a great host despite the very evident language gap (his Spanish and Flemish to our French and English= general confusion masked by abundant smiling and nodding).

Bruges by night

And by day!

You can't make this stuff up

 

After Bruges, Anne went back to Paris, and I went on down to visit Xtina in Lyon, France, where she is studying for the semester. Apparently, I brought the sunshine with me. It was a great way to end the trip, with a beautiful weekend and a great high school buddy who I have missed dearly. Just like old times, except...in France. Life is awesome.

Hill=painful to climb up, but makes for a killer view. Lyon's marchés along the river are so pretty :)--and prices are soooo much better than in Paris

The "Eiffel Tower" of Lyon. Good effort?

A church whose interior matches the beauty of the outside. It knocked me speechless

The great balcony of Xtina's room, the AM of my departure

It was amazing to have some time to travel, and to have the chance to knock off a couple of firsts: traveling alone with a best friend in Europe, leaving France for the first time this semester (Flemish=utterly incomprehensible to me), and traveling on my own in Europe! Everything worked out great. I can't wait to continue my travels (I have some very exciting trips coming up in the coming weekends, starting with a girls' weekend in Bourdeaux this weekend), but I am also feeling the pressure to take in as much of Paris as possible. I cannot believe it is practically April!! Time flies when you are eating too much cheese studying abroad!!