Talking on the phone with my brother we summed up some European mentalities using fast trains as our metaphor:
In France the TGV runs at 250km/h on 250km/h track.
In Italy the fast trains run at 200km/h on 150km/h track.
In Germany the fast trains run at 150km/h on 250km/hr track.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Antwerpen
The Belgian border lies about 20kms from Lille. There are regular direct trains from Lille to a number of Belgian cities including the diamond capital of the world. Since Michelle and I are freshly engaged and we wanted to pick out a ring together we made a day trip, crossing Belgium in an hour-and-a-half train ride to visit Antwerp.
We found the perfect ring after half an hour (much sooner than expected) and wandered through the quaint streets and squares of Antwerp while waiting for it to be sized. Antwerp is the second largest city in Belgium but very navigable and with everything to offer - from French to Dutch, from expensive to cheap, from classy to dodgy - and of course the Belgium's trademark facades and gables.
We had a wonderful day, but numerous trips back and forth from the diamond area to the town centre for resizing (it still wasn't right after the first sizing) left us with there impression there is much more to see and do in Antwerp.
Not to worry. Looks like we're headed back in April in search of bands...
We found the perfect ring after half an hour (much sooner than expected) and wandered through the quaint streets and squares of Antwerp while waiting for it to be sized. Antwerp is the second largest city in Belgium but very navigable and with everything to offer - from French to Dutch, from expensive to cheap, from classy to dodgy - and of course the Belgium's trademark facades and gables.
We had a wonderful day, but numerous trips back and forth from the diamond area to the town centre for resizing (it still wasn't right after the first sizing) left us with there impression there is much more to see and do in Antwerp.
Not to worry. Looks like we're headed back in April in search of bands...
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Engaged in Paris
So here's how it went:
The French celebrate Toussaint (All Saint's) holiday with a week off school. This meant for the first half of the week I was looking after Noah and Lily-rose while Michelle went to Lyon to visit John (friend from Freiburg). On Friday I took the TGV (train) to Paris (250km=1 hour!) and met John and Michelle who arrived from Lyon an hour later.
We stayed in a cheap (and loud) hotel but were out most of the time. We had a wonderful weekend walking through Paris, seeing the sight, Montmartre, the Seine, Louvre, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triumph, Tour Eiffel, Quartier Latin and even made it to a flea market. Sunday we went to mass together in a church we'd found on our wanderings and Monday (Nov. 6) saw us enjoying a lovely lunch with the Cox family (Amanda Cox went to school with the Brauds) which came in a package with a bomb scare! A suitcase was left at the door of the restaurant and the Parisien bomb squad spent about an hour and a half taping off the area (while we lunched inside), redirecting traffic and pedestrians (while we lunched inside) and attaching a controlled-explosion explosive (while we lunched inside). They finally requested that we move back away from the windows and blew open the empty case.... great security guys - if it were a real explosive it probably would have been detonated at least an hour before!
After a long lunch we meandered some more before John had to head back to Lyon. We were very sad to see him go since we'd had such a wonderful time catching up, exploring and talking over the weekend.
After John left I took Michelle to Montmartre where we looked out over the city of lights and tried to find a restaurant with a free table. After what seemed like an age we finally found the perfect place. It was even full of Francophones and not the touristy-types one expects - Not an annoying Aussie or American in sight =)
We had a delicious French dinner over a few hours and then wandered back to the Sacre Coeur Basilica (Sacred Heart) where I proposed to Michelle around midnight. She said yes.
The French celebrate Toussaint (All Saint's) holiday with a week off school. This meant for the first half of the week I was looking after Noah and Lily-rose while Michelle went to Lyon to visit John (friend from Freiburg). On Friday I took the TGV (train) to Paris (250km=1 hour!) and met John and Michelle who arrived from Lyon an hour later.
We stayed in a cheap (and loud) hotel but were out most of the time. We had a wonderful weekend walking through Paris, seeing the sight, Montmartre, the Seine, Louvre, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triumph, Tour Eiffel, Quartier Latin and even made it to a flea market. Sunday we went to mass together in a church we'd found on our wanderings and Monday (Nov. 6) saw us enjoying a lovely lunch with the Cox family (Amanda Cox went to school with the Brauds) which came in a package with a bomb scare! A suitcase was left at the door of the restaurant and the Parisien bomb squad spent about an hour and a half taping off the area (while we lunched inside), redirecting traffic and pedestrians (while we lunched inside) and attaching a controlled-explosion explosive (while we lunched inside). They finally requested that we move back away from the windows and blew open the empty case.... great security guys - if it were a real explosive it probably would have been detonated at least an hour before!
After a long lunch we meandered some more before John had to head back to Lyon. We were very sad to see him go since we'd had such a wonderful time catching up, exploring and talking over the weekend.
After John left I took Michelle to Montmartre where we looked out over the city of lights and tried to find a restaurant with a free table. After what seemed like an age we finally found the perfect place. It was even full of Francophones and not the touristy-types one expects - Not an annoying Aussie or American in sight =)
We had a delicious French dinner over a few hours and then wandered back to the Sacre Coeur Basilica (Sacred Heart) where I proposed to Michelle around midnight. She said yes.
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