Okay I am finally back and have more than 10 minutes on my computer to summarize this past week!
First of all...... my new favorite place:
Friday morning, I woke up super early and went to Versailles. It was absolutely gorgeous, however no one told me that summer in France is basically early-March weather. Wearing the warmest clothing I brought with me, I was literally shivering in the 50 degree rain. Regardless, we still managed to spend over half of the day outside, touring gardens etc. We actually probably walked about 10 miles come to think of it - since my professor took us by foot through all of Marie Antoinette's farmland, Petite and Grand Trianon, every open room in Versailles, and strolling/picnicing through the gardens.
Freezing rain :(
Alright sooo after Versailles, I headed home on the RER and prepared for my next day trip, to Brussels! Brussels is a beautiful, and surprisingly international. Obviously with the EU and all it makes sense, but it was kind of funny to see the juxtaposition of Subway, Indian, Moroccan, and Vietnamese food chains, and Pizza hut with a backdrop of grand old churches and ornate buildings.
These two lower pictures are buildings in la Grand Place, which is basically a big square full of architectural gems (churches, museums etc) and sprinkled with waffle and chocolate shops.
If we cut to the chase, I spent the entire day eating. First, I was greeted by Brussels' amazing waffles.
Followed by lunch at an amazing/authentic brasserie - oddly enough they didn't serve any beer! But I had what I have been craving for weeks - Moules Frites. Yum yum yum...
Unfortunately, a nice local explained that these probably were not even totally authentic as you can really only get Belgium's unbelievable North Sea mussels in July and December! But nonetheless, I had muscles in Brussels which made me happy enough.
Since we couldn't have beer with lunch, we immediately visited a great spot with a gigantic beer selection and enthusiastic/knowledgable servers. I only went with blonde beers (of course..) but my friends tried different amber, brown, and even fruit flavored beers (a hot pink/red cherry beer to be exact.... tasted like pure grenadine.)
Oh also... thought that this was funny:
Anyways, we continued on in the afternoon after about 5 rounds at the outdoor pub place by visiting a museum of Brussels' history, then going to I would say about 30 chocolate shops. Literally you cannot walk a block without running into at least one chocolatier - it is paradise.
Oh and of course we couldn't leave without first stopping by Brussels' most famous and frequently visited statue, the Peeing Boy.
Apparently he gets put in a different costume every day, and we saw a ton of his former outfits in the Brussels' museum. He gets outfits sent from literally every country! Best dressed statue I've ever seen.
I took a late train out last night, and then met up with some friends and went pub-hopping just to complete my day of eating/drinking/obesity hah.
I intended to go to the Prix du Diane at Chantilly today (big fun horse race!) but my transportation got messed up to the races so I have spent the afternoon snuggling in my bed, doing work for AdviseHer, and watching Marie Antoinette.
Promise to be better about updating next week!
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