Le Tour Cliché

28 mai 2006 - Trip Day 2
(Ghent, Belgium)

The Heart of Europe

Our first couple of days in Europe were spent in the heart of it. Belgium is referred to as the Heart of Europe. It may be small but like the heart, it serves as the center of the European Union. We explored the historical streets of and Ghent looked over the archeological diggings where they found three medieval tombs in the process of excavating for a parking lot. The rains made it just a wee bit colder than I had packed for, so we made our way to their smaller version of Fifth Avenue, Veldstraat and bought myself a little cardigan to tide me over for this trip. The afternoon showers prevented us from exploring any further so we opted to stay indoors for the rest of the night for some dinner and drinks.

The next day was spent in and around Grand Place getting to know its history in the Hôtel de Ville, seeing the Manneken Pis and his hundreds of costumes. We had lunch at the famous Rue de Bouchers where we had some mussels, escargot and rabbit among other things. Of course, it would not be complete if we didn’t have the very well-known Belgian waffles to top off our day before we made our way back to Ghent.


31 mai 2006 - Day Trip 5
(In the TGV to the Hague)

Blog du Jour

Our days in Paris went by quickly. The weather forecast was not promising, but the showers were intermittent, short-lived and mostly happened when we were indoors. :) The sun, which the weather forecast said would not make an appearance, managed to show itself for a good part of the time – more than we expected anyway.

As expected, Paris did not disappoint. It is truly a sight to behold no matter the weather. In the short time we had, we managed to cover most of the Musée du Louvre, the Impressionists’ section of La Musée d’Orsay, La Notre Dame, Le Sacré Coeur, L’Arc de Triomphe and La Tour Eiffel. We also took the Bateaux Parisiens to wrap up our cliché little tour. We figured we would hit the sights and return later on for a more meaty stay.

One thing to which we had to adjust here in Europe is smelling like an ashtray after leaving a restaurant. There’s just no escaping the “fragrance” of tobacco in any place. The smoking ban in public places that has swept the US has spoiled us. I guess having L’Air du Tabac mixed with your perfume or cologne du jour is acceptable, so smelling fresh is something we simply gave up on.

Hubby and I decided that given the chance, we would live in Paris for a year or two. Its accessibility to other European countries is one appeal, as well as the way things are run. The US can learn much from the French when it comes to city planning – mixed-use development, transport system, etc. In turn, the French can maybe learn a thing or two about customer service. We had our share of snooty waiters who simply did not attend to us after seating. A couple of times, we left after fifteen minutes of twiddling our thumbs and watching others who came after us get service. Ça m’est égal – we just gave our supposedly generous “American” tip to the waiter in the next restaurant. One happened in Champs Élyseés, and the other near the Eiffel Tower, close to where we were staying so I’m not sure if location had anything to do with it. I find it curious that the ordinary citizens walking by are more helpful than those who are in service-oriented stores or businesses, who give you almost nothing but the basic assistance. However, our impression of French hospitality is not based on these few incidents. Many other occasions in both my first and second visits were très positif and that makes Paris still rank high in my list of favorite cities to visit.

While waiting to leave for the Netherlands at Gare du Nord in Paris, we noticed a lot of security personnel running around, as well as a camera crew clearing the center of the arrival area. When I inquired with one of the crew, he said they were filming a movie although it seemed to us that they were waiting for someone important to arrive because the cameras were pointed toward the platforms and security people were milling about that area. Just as the hum of activities seemed to be getting at a fever pitch, we were called to board the Thalys bound for The Hague. Too bad, I was really curious as to what was about to unfold. Oh well, maybe next time.

more to come...