Day Seven - Paris to Bruges

We got up at 6am to finish packing and spend a little more time in Paris. We hadn't been to the Eiffel Tower since the evening of our arrival, so it seemed appropriate to visit early in the morning of our departure.

If you aren't going to go up the Eiffel Tower, visit early in the morning. No one is there. We even beat the hords of crazy vendors.

The Eiffel Tower empty, a beautiful sight.

The quiet, early Saturday morning Parisian streets are most romantic, and it was really the best possible way to cap off our incredible visit to this wonderful city. Goodbye, Paris.

We took a train out of Gare de Nord to Bruges, arriving at 2:30pm. We settled in at the Etap Hotel, conveniently located right next to the train station. What a bargain of a hotel. It's clean, quiet, and cheap, cheap, cheap. The fifteen minute walk to the center of town is worth the money you save. Plus, it's a pretty walk.

I fell in love with Bruges while watching the movie, In Bruges. This might be my favorite movie that came out in the last five years. The actors are so well cast (Colin Farrell definitely earned that Golden Globe), great screenplay, the story is commercial, yet the movie has a smart, arthouse vibe. The film is dark and lovely, just how I like my movies.

However, in the movie, in the beautiful town square, there was no bumper car ride that blared effin' Katy Perry all damned day. I thought it might just be for the weekend, but no, it was still there on Monday. So we didn't spend too much time in the square.

The stupid carnival crap is on the right. But the Bellfry is lovely, no?

We wandered around the quaint streets to De Republiek. Large bar, low lighting, filled with an eclectic mix of people, most of them young. I had spaghetti bolognese, which was huge and I think I ate all of it. Loaded with parmesan.

Hubs had the house pasta which was with shrimp and a tangy sweet and sour sauce. Really unique.

2 pasta dishes + 4 beers = 36 Euros

But, we're in Belgium now, so it's all about the beer. I love beer. No, let me rephrase. I love good beer. And it's all good in Belgium. Every beer has its own glass. And its not like there's 5 kinds of beer. There are hundreds. I find it all very impressive. Best beer of the night was Achel Bruin. And okay, I guess they don't have a glass for every beer, becuase they cheated and served it with an Orval glass.

A couple beers, a little buzz. Little snack? Sure, why not? Back to the Bellfry to the two competing  Belgian fry stands. These are from the stand on the right.

We found so many good ways to end our days in Europe.