The Reunion Tour Continues

One week down and one to go.

I started my trip with the intentions of staying in Ireland for a large chunk of time but schedules conflicted so I found myself scurrying to put something together on the fly that would take me to new places and see as many friends as possible. Thankfully two of the groups of people I wanted to see were in the same country and I was able to see all of them over the 3 days I spent in Ireland. And of course we did what you do when you’re in Dublin, eat & drink.

I then jumped over to Brussels, I didn’t really see much of the city while I was there but I got the feel that it wasn’t really that nice of a place, with the exception of Cook & Book, a cool restaurant/bookstore where I had some damn good meatballs and frites. It was rainy and cold but I had gotten in touch with a friend who lives in France so I made plans to see as much as possible in 1 day in Paris.

It was a beautiful day in Paris and I could not have asked for any better weather at this time of year. I spent the day surrounded by the Notre Dame, the smell of old books at Shakespeare and Company, the works of Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir at the Musée de l’Orangerie, and of course a frightful cold atop the Eiffel Tower. It was an overall extremely productive day in Paris considering I only had one day to see everything I wanted. And have an eclair and some crepes of course!
My next train took me to the beautiful, medieval Bruges. I absolutely could have spent a few day here at least. I didn’t realize how small the town was until I walked the majority of it on a 2.5 hour walking tour that i managed to squeeze in as soon as I arrived in the morning. The town is stunning and rich with history and beer, not too bad of a combo, especially when you get some history during your Belgian beer tasting. I had a great time just walking around and taking in the sites, seeing what I wanted to see with no real agenda because they are all relative close to each other. I even stopped in to the Church of Our Lady Bruges to admire Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child.

But all good things must come to an end and now I am ready for my next adventure, visiting some with my Thai travel buddy in Germany. I have been in 4 different cities in the last 4 days so it will be good to be stationary for a little while and not constantly on the move hopping from city to city. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get some laundry done!