Brussels, Ghent, and Paris

Our trip began Thursday evening with a train ride to Paris. We got to Paris late and left Friday morning, so we stayed at a hotel near the train stations. We have had great experiences in the past with Rick Steves recommended hotels (Hotel le Bayeux, Hotel Turenne, Hotel du Champ de Mars, Bed and Breakfast Arles, etc.), but not this one! Never again will we stay at the Sully Hotel! Our room had wallpaper peeling off the walls, questionable bedspreads, a big stain on the floor, holes in the bathroom walls, and mold in the shower. YUCK! We actually left earlier than we needed to Friday morning just to get out of there! Rick Steves might be getting a letter from me… who knows, maybe management changed since his last book?

Getting ready to leave!

(trust me, it was worse than it looks in the picture)

Our short train ride to Brussels flew by and before we knew it we were there and meeting up with DeeDee. It was a beautiful day in Brussels! We did the Rick Steves Grand Place walking tour and Upper Town walking tour. Here are a few of the highlights:

St. Michael's Cathedral

Notre Dame du Sablon Church

Place du Petit Sablon

Tour d'Angle, part of the 13th century city wall

it is evidently good luck to rub this statue of a former mayor (who, by the way, in 1356 bravely refused to surrender the keys of the city to invaders, and so was tortured and killed)

Friday night we had dinner in the Bundys’ beautiful home. DeeDee made a Flemish specialty, Carbonade. Saturday morning we ended up hanging out at the Bundys’ apartment for a while and then took a train to Ghent. It was cold and rainy, but it was still neat to see the Old Town.

Saturday night the Bundys took us and Lia, another girl staying with them for the weekend, who teaches English in Liege, and Rey, Lia’s boyfriend who lives in Brussels, to their favorite restaurant near the Grand Place. It was delicious! Sunday morning we walked around St. Catherine’s, the “village within the city.” Not much remains of the old fish market than just a lot of fish restaurants. We enjoyed seeing St. Catherine’s church- it was really different than other churches we had seen. We went inside for part of the mass, which was interesting.

We also saw another interesting church and part of the old city wall.

Sunday afternoon we headed back to Paris and went to the Orangerie Museum. We really enjoyed it!

That last painting, called "Les Trois Soeurs," reminded us of the Bumpus sisters. We decided that the top right sis was Elizabeth, to the left was Meggie, and on the right, Caroline.

Next was supper at Le Pain Quotidien,

and then waiting in the COLD train station for the last train to Lyon of the night.

We didn’t get back until 12:30, but we were able to get really cheap tickets by taking the late train.

Click below to see our other pictures from the weekend:

Brussels, Ghent, and Paris

The next 4 weekends will be packed: the Hendrixes’ marriage seminar in Lyon, the Ladies’ Retreat in Aix-en-Provence, a trip to Nimes and Uzes with the Hendrixes, and then our big winter break trip to the Netherlands and UK.