The Final Stride

Our final day in Paris was definitely eventful, and we did tons of walking, but we saw lots of sights! We started the day off with breakfast in our hostel and then we took the metro to eventually find Notre Dame. Before then, we passed the bridge with all the locks on it, which was very cool, and we checked out Notre Dame from the outside. After that, we headed to the area by the Louvre and ate lunch in the Tuilleries, which was beautiful, and we really enjoyed it. We walked down the Champs de Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe before attempting to go to Versailles. The train ride was going to take quite a bit longer than originally expected, so we decided to stay in the city and had ourselves a super nice glass of red wine at a bar that had been open since 1776. We ate charcuterie at one restaurant and then ate real dinner at Hippopotamus, a chain that we ate at in Nice, as well. We headed back to our hostel after that and relaxed with our roommate, Sadie, who was from the UK for the night. Unfortunately, the Wifi wasn't working, but we got some sleep before our early morning train to Belgium.

The next day, Hannah and I caught the first train of the metro at 5:30 am and got to the Paris Nord train station bright and early for our train into Belgium. That went quite smoothly, but we had to wait a bit once we got to the Brussels Midi station. It wasn't too bad though, and we were picked up by Sigrid's lovely mother who took SUCH good care of us while we stayed with her family. We got some pastries at Paul, a bakery, and went shoe shopping, so Hannah could get some new shoes after they got relatively destroyed from the dust all over Paris. We ate at the Valentin's house and chatted, so they could catch up with everything going on with Hannah and her family. It was really nice and relaxing, and we got to take REAL showers, which was amazing, of course. Carl then took us to the Butte du Lion, or Lion's Mound, which was resurrected in the site of the battle of Waterloo. It really was pretty cool to see, and then we checked out Hannah's old neighborhood. We drank some Swedish ciders before dinner, and then we headed to a delicious restaurant where I got beef curry. Carl, Astrid, Hannah, and I went to the Snug, which is where Hannah used to hang out in high school in Belgium, and we talked for quite a while before heading home.

Our last day in Belgium was quite nice, and Hannah and I slept suuuuper late. We are incredibly exhausted on this tail end of the trip, and we stayed up for 20 hours straight the day before, but it was wonderful to get some rest in a comfortable and safe place. After getting up, we ate a delicious breakfast of pain au chocolat, strawberries, and bread with Swedish butter and wonderful jam. I will truly miss the food from everywhere when I get back to the States. Once we ate breakfast, Hannah and I went into Brussels and checked out the Grand Place. It was really beautiful and more understated than some other cities we have been to. I really enjoyed the city, cause it seemed so much smaller, but it was still quite cultural and beautiful. We saw the Manneken Pis, which is basically a statue of a peeing baby boy, which has significance to Belgium pride from a battle, but it was very interesting to see how popular this small statue is, cause it's very strange. Anyway, we looked at some chocolate and souvenir shops, and we also went to a super fancy chocolate store and a wonderful tea shop, with a guy who is so attentive and personal. It was wonderful. Got some nice gifts there :) We eventually headed back into Waterloo and ate dinner with the entire Valentin family, except Sigrid, which was super sad, but the family was great! I loved the intelligent conversation that we could have and the absolutely amazing food. I had truffle ravioli with mushrooms and incredible red wine and chocolate mousse. I was very happy. Astrid and her friend, Sophia, Hannah, and I went to a bar in Waterloo to watch the second half of the Belgium game against South Korea. It was really fun to watch with all the Belgians and see their crazy reactions. It was definitely different than any experience I've had.

Finally, this morning, Hannah and I got up to eat and get ready to head back to the train station for our FINAL train trip of our Euro adventure. SO exciting. I am very over trains. Anyway, we had to go through customs and everything as we headed into the UK, but our train into London went quite smoothly. We dropped our things off at our hostel, which is near Hyde Park and really nice, and ate really good food at a restaurant nearby with some really friendly waitresses! I love being in a country that speaks English. Honestly, it makes life so much easier. Anyway, Hannah and I checked into our room and then drank some tea from the hostel. We made friends with an Australian boy and chatted about literature a bit and then decided to head to Leicester Square to go to the TKTS stand and find a show to see in West End for tonight! First of all, the fact that the TKTS stand was approximately a 3 minute wait was shocking compared to New York, but I was also super excited, cause we got to see Once! We changed back at our hostel (good thing the Tube is super easy to figure out) and ate dinner at a lovely, small restaurant called Porcupine near our theater. As soon as we walked into the theater, the actors were onstage playing their instruments and singing. It was such a nice environment, and there weren't really ushers, which I liked. People are capable of finding their own seats. However, there were people taking drink and food orders, which was pretty cool. At intermission (or interval, as they call it here), Hannah and I went up to buy drinks on stage and take some pictures. The show itself was wonderful, and the lead guy had an amazing voice that I loved. It was a great production, and now we're back at the hostel getting ready for bed and our busy last day of sightseeing in Europe tomorrow! Can't wait to head home on Sunday.