Brussels - Chocolate, Pomme Frittes and Comics

At the end of our stay in Paris, my mother headed back home to Georgia.  Luke and I then continued our journey to Belgium.  

We spent 3 days in Brussels with a family of four. Their home was super comfortable and the family was very hospitable.  One evening we all went to eat true Belgium pomme frittes (french fries), which to be honest, tasted like normal french fries with mayonnaise.  

During our time, we visited the Grand Place, which was beautiful as all of the buildings were very ornate.  

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Checking Off Touristy Places in Paris

We had a huge checklist of places we wanted to visit in Paris with not nearly enough time, but we were able to manage to check Notre Dame, Pere Lachaise and the Louvre off the list.

Notre Dame was lovely, and its size was quite massive.  It was probably not my favorite church that we visited in Europe (my favorites were St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican- of course and St. George's church in Prague, which was simply more ornate and beautiful than words could describe), but Notre Dame was definitely impressive.  Saw Notre Dame - check!

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Ahhh Paaareeeee

I finally have a consistent connection to actually be able to upload pictures.  Time is going by so quickly and I have so much left to blog about here in Europe.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Ahem, well our next stop was Paris.  We spent a week in Paris in an amazing apartment that allowed for me to actually cook for a change.  After eating out all the time, I was hankering for a good home cooked meal (bonus: I got to go to the local market to buy fresh ingredients to try out).

While in Paris, we did many typical touristy things including visiting the Eiffel Tower (of course).  We went up to the top of the tower and drank champagne as we enjoyed the views.    

My little guy enjoying the view

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The Land of Mustard

We decided to pick a small city in France so that we could relax/recover from our time in Italy.  We also thought it would be interesting to explore what a small city is like in France, so we decided on Dijon.

This mustard was awesome - it has basil leaves in  it.

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A Delightful Day in Florence

After we had seen Rome and had our fill of pasta and pizza, we spent a day in Florence on our way to France.  In Italy they have a saying, "il dolce far niente" or "the sweetness of doing nothing".  It represents that time is not something that can be spend, wasted or passed, but that it simply just IS.  Every moment holds the possibility of goodness.  

I have always thought of this whenever people talk about or describe Italy, but quite honestly, I never felt this or noticed this when we were in Rome.

In Florence, however, I could sense a more laid back and relaxed city.  I could easily understand this phrase and see how it could be applied here.   

When we arrived, we had absolutely no idea what to do or what to see.  We leisurely explored the streets, visited another amazing European church, saw the statue of David and found a quaint small restaurant to eat at.  While we sat and ate, they had the Beatles and Frank Sinatra (the waiter was sure to point out to us that Frank Sinatra was Italian) playing in the background.  We never felt rushed to see/do anything.  We found our way around and marveled at whatever came our way.  

We only spend perhaps 10 hours in Florence, but instantly I could tell that this was a city that I would be more than happy to return to.  

Duff man says oh-yeah!

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Visiting the Vatican

What was probably my favorite day in Rome was our visit to the Vatican City.  We were able to see St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum.  It is definitely something wondrous to see.

The churches in Europe are amazing and it is interesting to see how each country has a different style of architecture, but they are all elaborate and have amazingly high ceilings.  It's a form or art in itself.

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Mama Mia!

Once we were able to escape from Venice, we found ourselves in Rome.  We explored the city some and saw many of the beautiful monuments scattered around the city.  Of course, we did the typical touristy stuff:  visited the Colloseum, Vatican city, and ate pizza and pasta.

But, what also made this part our trip different is that my mother met us there to visit Italy and France with us!

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