Au revoir, Paris

July 16th - July 20th

Dropping our leased car off at the Charles de Gaulle Airport location was quite the challenge.  The address given to us was not correct and even after calling the location and receiving a new address we got lost.  It seems the location is at the end of a street that you are not allowed to enter (according to the signage).  Another phone call revealed that we should indeed drive up the wrong way to get to the gate which doesn't open unless you actually bump into it.  We decided from now on we will go to Orly to pick-up and drop-off as it is extremely easy and right off the A6 motorway. It also costs less for transportation in and out of the city.

Moving on...we checked into our cute room at Hotel Le M near the Montparnasse Tower and then took a metro over to the Marais for dinner at Eataly.  No reservations are required but I did one online anyway.  Most places really appreciate it if you make a reservation.

We always reserve a room with a terrace

Complimentary half bottle from the hotel

Montparnasse Tower

Because we store our gear in Paris at StoragePal, the next few days were spent buying new suitcases to store our bikes in and packing materials.  There is a fantastic store in Paris called Leroy Merlin that has everything from dishes, linens, appliances, tools, packing boxes, etc.  Once we accomplished all of our chores we were able to do a little sightseeing walking about 20,000 steps each day!  We went over to the Trocadero to view the Eiffel tower, beautiful even on a cloudy day.  We visited a portion of the Carnavalet Museum which is the Museum of the city of Paris.  It has a lot to see and learn about so we only stayed about an hour.  It's a free Museum so we plan to return and spend more time there.  We took the Metro to the Abbesses metro station (the deepest Metro station in Paris) to start our VoiceMap tour of Montmartre.  So much to see and do in this city!  We weren't able to get inside the Notre Dame this year but there were great displays all around explaining the refurbishment after the fire.  The inside looks so pristine after all the cleaning they did and the outside is magnificent.  The photos don't do it justice.  A couple of our favorite things to do is to stroll along the Seine and to stop at La Place Dauphine to watch the Petanque (bocce ball) players and enjoy a glass of wine.

Trocadero

Trocadero

Musee Carnavalet

Musee Carnavalet

The Wall of Love

One of the Wallace Fountains

The man who could walk through walls

Saint Denis

Sacre Coeur Basilica 

At Place Bastille

The new spire at Notre Dame

We of course had some great meals at Combo, La Coupole and Leon of Brussels.

Tuna Tartare

Lamb Curry was Mitterand's favorite dish

Our favorite neighborhood cafe

Saying goodbye to Paris is so bitter sweet but knowing we will return makes it easier!

Bruges, Belgium

July 13th - July 16th

Several years ago we stayed at a lovely hotel in Bruges so I decided to book the same place and even the same room as last time.  The Hotel Ter Duinen along a beautiful canal is a wonderful place to stay.  The hotel is comfortable, has great air-conditioning, fabulous breakfast and very centrally located.  Room #33 is on the ground floor located across from the breakfast room and very private.  We had a totally separate entrance in an alcove so we could keep our bikes just outside our door.

The entrance to our room

After arriving and getting settled we walked into the center, had a belgian beer (of course) and found a restaurant for mussels and fries (moules et frites), a specialty of Belgium.

We found some wonderful bike rides out along canals (go figure?) from Bruges to the sea.  The first one was through the towns of Damme and Sluis for 60+km and the second was another route out to the North Sea.  I was happy to be able to add to my windmill photo collection along the way.

In the town of Sluis

Walking through Bruges on our way to dinner we kept finding so many beautiful sites. One of the restaurants we ate at last time was called "Ribs and Beer" and was highly rated on TripAdvisor.  As we recalled it didn't disappoint so we tried it again.  Jay chose the smokey rib sauce and I tried their specialty which is a beer and chocolate sauce.  Both were very tasty and it was a treat to have something a little different than our usual fair.  A little taste of home.

A quick beverage before dinner

Ribs and Beer Restaurant 

On our last day in Bruges we walked to the center to find the waffle wagon because you have to have a waffle once while in Belguim. For our last dinner we had a more traditional meal at a canal side restaurant that we walked by everyday.  Jay had the flemish stew again and I opted for fish and chips.  To accompany our dinner we decided on Belgian beers which went well with our meals.  I have never had so much beer and so many french fries in my life!  🍺 🍟

The view from our dinner table

Tomorrow we are off to Paris to end our 2 month sourjourn.