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2016-12-31 01:01
in France, Ntrips, Paris, Trips
After meeting Mathias in Paris, we went to spend the afternoon in Paris. We started with Musée des Egouts. We got to learn how most streets in Paris have an underground street for sewers and the machiens they use to clean all the crap that accumulates in the tunnels:
old Paris during Roman times
early plan of the underground sewer system
the big balls they use to clean the tunnels
After that museum, we walked to the Effeil tower:
new orthodox church built recently
Android Nougat in front of Nougat. Well done Mathias :)
A later day, we walked by the Xmas store displays:
And yet another day, we walked La Coulée Verte, a nice green path through Paris using the right of way of an old train line not in use anymore:
Then, we finished with Place des Voges and Victor Hugo's house:
There are also plenty of art stores there:
And that was it for this year, not too much, but then again we spent a bunch of our time in [Belgium this year|/perso/belgium
After a partial day in Ghent, we took an evening train to Bruxelles, checked in at l'Epicentre, our B&B in an authentic historical narrow building that was challenging to get into with luggage, but the location was hard to beat and our host was super nice and helpful.
it was 'fun' to get our luggage up the stairs :)
On our way down, we walked by grand place, beautiful, and went by the famous manneken pis on the way too:
The next morning, we had breakfast at our B&B and headed out for a walk while everything was closed (nothing opened before 10:00, sadly, making the day kind of short). We ended up at Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Cœur à Koekelberg when they opened at 10:00 and went to the top for so so views due to the fog not having quite lifted yet:
every city seems to have a ferris wheel now :)
finally we made it to Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Cœur à Koekelberg thanks to uber, still foggy at 10:00
We then went to the atomium, which I figured was a bit of a washed out attraction during low season, so I didn't worry much about lines. I was wrong, there was a 2H+ line to get in. Even with line optimization, it took us a while to get up. The main line was to get to the top, which had reasonable views. Then you had a different entrance to see just a portion of the balls, the other ones were not in use anymore, which was a bit of a shame, but the remaining ones had some expos inside:
escalators or stairs between the balls
part of the expo recounted when Belgium still had an airline, Sabena (since then bankrupt)
nice plane food back then
Once done with mini Europe and Atomium, much later than I had planned, we took another uber to the Comic Book Museum. Belgium is probably the capital of the world on commic books, especially in variety, I grew up with them:
Hergé is famous for the great job he did with Tintin, but he was just one of many
the museum pointed out that the first comic strips actually came from the egyptians
I also loved the schtroumpfs (smurfs)
After the museum closed, everything was closed, so we went back to Grand Place to see the light show on the buildings. Click on the video for more:
We then walked around to see the little Xmas houses and get dinner:
During our short time in Bruxelles, we saw many chocolate shops, as well as beer shops, and those were only a very small sample:
beautiful Galeries Royales St Hubert, filled with shops
The next morning, we went to the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History, which was nice enough to open at 09:00:
And nearby was the European Parliament, where we went to visit Parliamentarium:
We then used the little time left to see Mont des Arts, Place Royale, and Église Notre-Dame du Sablon before we had to head back to the train station for our fast train back to Paris (just 1h15) and have a reveillon dinner with my dad:
After finishing breakfast in Holland after our family gathering, I drove back to Beligum to Ghent (barely one hour) and found the nearest parking lot where we could leave the car for the day.
Sadly it was foggy, so we didn't get great views from the towers there, but we still had a good time enjoying the views, little Xmas houses, and another canal boat ride:
Sint Michielskerk
Saint Nicholas' Church
sadly, not much of a view from the top of those churches, bummer... (Belfort and Saint Bravo's Cathedral)
So, we went to Saint Bavo's Cathedral while hoping that the fog would lift:
They have a very nice triple panel painting, which you can see closed and noon, and opened the rest of the time:
We then went back to Belfort tower, but the fog didn't lift
Sigh...
Music box that actuates the bells of Belfort
Ghent was full of little Xmas houses. We went to see a few:
chocolate tools, yummy
Just like Bruges, the canals were nice to see and do a ride on:
narrowest house in Ghent
From the canal ride, we went to see Castle Gravensteen:
just like the rest of Ghent, the view wasn't fantastic due to fog
Before long, it started getting dark, got a few pictures:
We then went back to the train station, drop off the rental car, and took a train to Bruxelles:
Since we were going to Holland, close to the Belgian border, I figured we should take a few days to visit Belgium. It was only 4 days, not enough, but then again, that's what we had. We started early on December 26th with a Thalys high speed train to Bruxelles and a connection to Bruges. We got there in only 2h20 or so.
first time I've seen X-Ray machines before boarding a train
Once in Bruges we went directly to our B&B (Saint Sauveur, Bruges), run by a super nice French lady who gave us loaner bikes so that we get around more quickly (mind you Bruges is very walkable, but bikes helped us get around a bit more quickly, especially when we went to the edge of town).
Most people do Bruges in 2-3 days, we did pretty much all of it in 26 hours :) (and that includes waiting for things that only opened at 10:00), delaying us quite a bit:
Saint Salvator Cathedral
Church of Our Lady
Then, we went to walk around:
We then did a boat tour, a good way to look around:
The main plaza was next, starting with Belfy Tower, which we climbed to the top after a 30mn wait in line:
music box for the bells
We then did the rest of the main plaza and the museum there:
Next, we went to the chocolate museum, where we had only 35mn before it closed (everything closes early):
We then went to visit the bruges story museum, which thankfully closed after 17:00, unlike everything else:
Main Plaza looks great at night too of course:
We then went out for dinner to conclude our day:
The next morning, we had to wait for museums to open. One of them opened at 09:30 instead of 10:00, how nice:
We then biked to the city gate:
And we finished our trip by visiting the French Fry Museum (which of course are not French, but Belgian):
