Exploring Belgium and Luxumborug and Random Thoughts

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your comments. Since our last post we finished up our time in Paris with a trip to Versailles (we didn't do the state apartments but visited Marie Antoinette's housing area and rowed a boat down the Grand Canal in the gardens). We also went to the Modern Museum of Art (at the really cool Centre Pompidou) and we checked out the Notre Dame cathedral and Ste. Chapelle. Overall, Paris was an amazing city with great food and nice people.

Then we went to Luxembourg for a 3 hour walk of the sites. It was beautiful because a lot of the older part of the city is in valleys. It rained on us a bit. If you ever go - go buy food in the grocery store!! Cheapest I've ever seen in my life! (Work girls- I got a ritter bar for 84 cents!!). Also, even though Luxembourg city is really small, we still managed to get lost.....which is good because we have a nice streak going of perpetual "lost-ness".

Yesterday we arrived in Brussels to meet my Dad's Cousin, Donna, (whom he has never met to my understanding). She took us on a walk around the city. She was a great guide and is one of the coolest people ever. She showed us around the Grand Place (Belgium's big public square) and she took us out to dinner too! We greatly enjoyed getting to hang out with her.

Well, it has officially been over a month since the beginning of our trip and we are continuing to function but we miss the smell of clean clothes.........anyway, here are some of our random thoughts so far:

-Everyone in Europe smokes and many of them smoke while working. Our favorite has been two ambulance drivers smoking while the emergency lights were flashing and they were getting someone to the hospital (note: try not to have a medical emergency in Rome). Our second favorite is the lady helping us at the Athens post office light up her cigarette as we approached the counter and then have her help us as she takes the first few drags.

-After five countries (Greece, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg), the French people have by far been the most hospitable and the friendliest....even the bums say please & thank you.

-Coming to Europe in the low (least busy) season has some advantages. You get the benefit of random holidays and lesser crowds.

-Nobody here really cares about breakfast.

-Lots of people in the country still burn trash. It's always fun to watch for fires as you sit on the train.

-There must have been some international law between 1100 and 1800 that stated if you lived in a town of more than 50 people you were required to build yourselves an enormous religious cathedral.

Okay, that's all for now....

Thanks for reading,

V & P