after figuring out which train to get on, we got off at our stop. well, at least what we thought was our stop. trying to use an innate sense of direction (david’s, not mine. mine is nonexistent) we headed in one direction. we saw a beautiful building with exquisite architecture. we figured surely, that’s where we needed to be. wrong. this beautiful building turned out to be a school. a school that looked like the royal palace in aladdin. good choice, kids.
we did a quick turn around and dashed into the nearest starbucks to connect to wifi and figure out where we were. one more reason to love starbucks. city mugs (i collect these), coffee and free wifi. turns out, had we gone the other direction we would have been just a block away. whoops.
we had purchased a pair of museum passes that granted us access to a number of popular tourist locations which included an express entrance into the louvre. however, express entrance had a not-so-express line. turns out the museum pass is as popular as all the hot spots it grants you access to. so we waited with all of the other museum pass holders. the line was outside, but it moved quickly which was great. december weather in france is cold.
the louvre is enormous. we turned on some rick steve’s and followed a quick tour to the main attractions. some of the artwork is simply amazing. then, the hottest of the hotspots was up, the mona lisa. okay, is it a beautiful piece of artwork? yes. but you wouldn’t believe the amount of people gathered around this tiny little painting protected by a giant glass shield. it was a tourist madhouse with camera flashes going off left and right. the best part? as all of these people gathered around the tiny painting known as the mona lisa, pushing and shoving to get as close as possible, no one bothered to turn around and notice the masterpiece that took up the entire wall right behind them. which made me wonder. why the mona lisa? what makes it so special? is it the mystery or the hype? either way, i suppose checking the mona lisa off my bucket list is pretty cool.
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| at first we felt this |
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| then we felt this |
after our louvre adventures, we headed to the pont des arts bridge which was another surreal moment. it looked just how the movies portrayed it. david and i wrote our names on a lovelock “dbos and fizzle” along with the date “12.31.14” and found a place to secure it. shortly after, an adorable accordion player sat on the bench near us and started playing bella notte. it was a perfect moment spent wrapped up in the arms of my favorite guy. i could have lived in that moment, but it was new years eve and we had places to be. we later found out we had missed the memo to throw the keys in the seine river afterward. so, we decided to start spreading the love and throw the keys in other rivers we visit. that works too, right?
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| paris, france |
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| pont des arts |
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| dbos + fizzle |
after my love scene movie moment ended, we headed to our airbnb, packed up and squeezed back into the fearless puegot. on the drive we made a quick stop in the charming little town of ghent. this place looked like a movie backdrop. it was silent, impeccably clean and beautiful. it was a short stop before making our way to amsterdam for new years eve, but we shared a wonderful sushi dinner with great company.
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| ghent, belgium |
spread love everywhere you go. let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
mother teresa