Bonjour!

Last weekend some friends and I traveled to Paris, France and later to Brussels, Belgium for the weekend and two school days. This was the first and most spontaneous trip I've ever taken before in my life. So, I was a little nervous about it all before, but I'm so glad we went. I had an amazing time!

We got to Paris without a plan of what to see. All we knew is that we wanted to see as much of it as possible because none of us had ever been there before and we only had two days there. I'd say we did a pretty good job of seeing all of the things Paris has to offer. We went to all of your typical Paris tourist sites; the Eiffel Tower, Lourve, Musee d'orsay, Versailles, the Garden of Luxembourg, Arc of Triumph and Champs-Elysées.

After visiting Paris, we took a five hour bus ride to a neighboring country, Belgium. Two of the girls I was traveling with have a friend in Brussels, Belgium so we went there to visit and stay with her. I really did not have a clue what Belgium or Brussels had to offer us. All I knew was that Belgium was famous for chocolate and waffles. While in Brussels, we saw some really cool architecture and buildings around the city. While there, I also learned that Brussels is not only the capital of Belgium but also of the European Union. Interesting, eh?

So I figured I would give y'all a top ten list of Paris and Brussels instead of boring y'all with every detail of our trip...

10. Ryanair. A cheap European airline that got us to and from Paris and Brussels. There are no perks to this airline--you don't even get a complimentary drink or snack. And I'm pretty sure they don't have a first class section. Regardless, they got us to and from places for a cheap fare so we like them.

9. Paris Metro system. It got us around the city every day and night. Not to mention, it was inexpensive and somewhat easy to follow. If you are ever in Paris, use it but just don't lose your metro ticket. It'll cost ya.

8. Garden of Luxembourg in Paris. It is a park filled with people, young and old. It has many paths, tennis courts, playgrounds, the Statue of Liberty, benches and greenery. For lunch on our first full day in Paris, we had a lovely little picnic on one of the benches in the park. I love to people watch so I loved looking at all the different people in the park. And you'll never believe this.... but WE MET ANOTHER AGGIE!!! Yes, it's true! We asked a man sitting with a friend near the Statue of Liberty if he would take a picture of us in front of it. He started to talk to us and asked us where we were from. He informed us that his friend that he was sitting with actually studied at a university in Texas, called Texas A&M University. Suzanne and I immediately freaked out and told him that that's where we go to school! He called his friend over and we chatted with him about A&M for a bit. He's from France and studied abroad at Mays Business School for a semester. Aggies are everywhere. Gig 'em.

7. The view from the top of the Arc of Triumph. We went up there at night and saw the entire city of Paris with all of it's beautiful lights.

6. The Eiffel Tower. It may be cliche, but it is a site that everyone should see. At night at the top of every hour, the tower sparkles for five minutes. It's pretty cool.

5. Crepes. Yuuummmmm. Paris really does have the best crepes. I think you can get one with almost anything you want in it.  I got three or four crepes the whole time I was in Paris and I think the best ones I had were just at a little carnival crepe stand. Gosh, those were so good.

4. Belgian waffles. Like the crepes in Paris, there are also several waffle stands in Brussels. You could put an array of items on top of the waffles, such as strawberries, bananas, kiwis, chocolate, nutella, whipped cream, etc. I chose to put strawberries, bananas and white chocolate on top of mine. It was so delicious.

3. Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium. It is a beautiful plaza in the center of Brussels. It's surrounded by beautiful architecture and buildings. I think I read in my Rick Steves travel book that it was one of the best plazas in Europe. We loved it so much that we sat down in the middle and had a picnic.

2. Versailles. I had always heard about Versailles but I had no idea that it was going to be this pretty and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the palace and learning more about King Louis but I think we all agreed that we enjoyed the gardens surrounding the palace more. The trees were trimmed so nicely and looked perfect and there was grass everywhere. We spent hours walking around and that day we walked over 43,000 steps (thank you, pedometer)!

1. Going to the Louvre and Musee d'orsay. I loved having the opportunity to look at a lot of the pieces of art that I studied in high school. Seeing them in person felt so surreal to me.

More life updates coming soon!

Hasta luego sweet friends!