“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain. This is the story of my wife and I’s first adventure to Europe; from Brussels to Paris we’ve fallen in love.

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to go to Europe. That’s the expectation when you spend your childhood listening to your stepdad talk about growing up in France and Belgium. He and his brothers would get in all kinds of trouble as they traveled and lived abroad. The stories my step-father told made Europe sound like this grand place, as I got older, art became a critical part of my life. Europe was a fantasy of sorts, and I had very high hopes for what I would experience once I visited.

Growing up in Montana was tough, and my love was art and was not well perceived. Don’t get me wrong lots of people were taking an art class in High School, let’s say I did paint any westerns. The impressionist painters had the most significant impact on my life. As a result, I spent a lot of time in the art room, and I desired to go to art school. My passion was for painting, drawing and (of course) photography was near and dear to my heart.

Today I have finally made it to Europe, granted it took many, many years. My wife Jodie also had a desire to see Europe, and Paris was on top of our list. So why (you ask) did it take so long to take that trip? For us, like many people, life happened. We ended up getting distracted being grown-ups- taking care of her and making a living for our family took priority. Not to mention, back in the 90’s tickets to Europe were expensive, I mean expensive. So that dream got put on the back burner. Years past we got older, and wouldn’t you know it? Ticket prices came way down. So this is my story, my story to Paris.

My wife enjoys the hunt for inexpensive for airfare. It seemed like daily she was trying to find us that trip to Paris. She wasn’t seeing what she was looking for cost-wise into Paris. A co-worker of hers is a very welled traveled man and gave her some excellent advice. He said we should look for airfare to the cheapest city that was close to the area we wanted to go. Once you got to Europe internal travel was a breeze.

With that in mind, she was off looking at Paris and all of the surrounding airport cities. Wouldn’t you know it, she found some first-class airfare for $550 a person from Seattle to Brussels. When she told me that I said, “Buy! Buy! Buy!” Just like that, we had airfare to Europe. Awesome we had our airfare, now what? Yes, it is accurate at the time we bought our tickets, we didn’t even have passports.

Now a couple of things about flying to Europe. Our flight out went from Seattle to Chicago to Brussels. Here is a suggestion Chicago turn on your air conditioner! O’hare was one of the warmest airports I have ever been in, Seatac is always the right temperature. Now one more tip, when you get to Brussels don’t waste any time and go (say) to the bathroom, because you just got off a long flight. We went to the restrooms when more then one plane has just landed. I’d recommend just getting into the line for customs they get long fast when multiple planes are unloading. So get down there quickly.

I think planning trips is one of our favorite things to do. My wife is great and finding cool hotels. We tend to stay at a lot of boutique hotels which are great fun. We planned to fly into Brussels spend the night and take the train to Paris. The train ride is about an hour and a half from Brussels to Paris. Our first hotel was The Dominican in Brussels. I highly recommend this hotel, it had a great feel and was so close to the Grand Place. From the hotel, it was maybe a 10-minute walk to the Grand Place, and from there was all kinds of cools shops and great architecture. If you want chocolate, then Brussels is the place to be. Our flight home was through Brussels; I brought home about 5 pounds of Belgium’s most exquisite chocolate!

After our night in Brussels, we took a cab to the train station so we could hop on head down to Paris. The Bruxelles-Midi train station is enormous, and we got there super early. Finding a place to sit around with all of your luggage was challenging. With assigned seats on the train, I’m not sure why we got there so early, to be honest. The train was fantastic, comfortable, and fast. I highly recommend using the train. When you get off the train in Paris, make no eye contact with anyone.

We got roped into leaving the cab line. The guy convinced us to go with him, so we ended up going through the basement of Gare du Nord to get to his “cab.” My wife was thinking we were going to die. Now obviously we didn’t get murdered, but our “cabbie” did get us lost. Either I didn’t say our hotel was by the Eiffel Tower or we were getting scammed. Our 30 euro cab trip ended up being a 100 euro cab trip. Lesson learned- go to the cab station and take a standard cab!

When we finally got to our hotel in Paris, it was great. Like I said we were by the Eiffel Tower, Hotel La Bourdonnais was at the top of Champ de Mars and one block from the Ecole Militaire Metro stop. Great location, tranquil neighborhood. The Rue Cler was a five-minute walk from the Hotel which is a very quaint street, with many Cafes and shops. Avenue de la Bourdonnais was quite busy in the morning during rush hour, but the rest of the day it was tranquil. The best part was the fact we could see the Eiffel Tower out our window! The rooms were small but very nice. I enjoyed this hotel; it was in a great location and with the Metro stop being so close all of Paris was at your fingertips.

Our first night in Paris we took a dinner cruise on the Bateaux Parisiens. Again this is a must do. I highly recommend you go; this experience was fantastic. The food is excellent. The boat cruise was even better. I suggest you do this on your first night in Paris. It is a unique way to see a lot of the major sites of Paris from the river. Their website has a map to show you the exact route and what you’ll see along the way. You start at the Eiffel Tower make your way down to Notre Dame and then back. Just remember- very romantic scenery with delicious food.

Our first full day in Paris we decided to go to Notre Dame which is fantastic. You cannot even imagine how big and how beautiful that building is. The amount of history you get to walk in and touch and see is almost surreal. I’m not the most religious person, but I believe in spirituality and the goodness of people and their connection with others. This building is indeed an artistic masterpiece. But beware it is busy; there are lots of people that come to the Church. But don’t let that discourage you from going. Its a truly magical place as are most things that are Paris.

After we left the Notre Dame, we went over to the Sainte Chapelle which again is one the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I cannot even begin to explain how beautiful all of the stained glass is. One of the most magical places to see in Paris go. I genuinely mean it. It is falling apart almost entirely; literally, pieces of the outside are breaking away. But I’m sure they will do everything in their power to save the stained glass. Each panel is a part if the Bible in the picture form. If you are fortunate and the sun comes shining in the cathedral, it blows your mind.

Now to make this first day a real treat or a real pain we happen to be in the area of the Hotel De Ville. Why is that interesting? Well, Emmanuel Macron was being inaugurated which was cool. But also they were closing down the bridges, roads, and the metro. We were a quite a ways from our hotel the, the sun was coming out, and it was getting hot. We started to panic a bit, feeling like we needed to get off the island. Later we looked back on the whole thing and not sure why we didn’t just sit down at a cafe and watch the entire thing. It’s not like we were not on vacation or anything. Lessons learned I guess.

After the Notre Dame/inauguration fiasco the next day we went to the Louvre. Going to the Louvre is another must. I recommend you buy your tickets online. You can pick your time and the day; I would suggest you select the earliest time possible. The museum opens at 9:00 so choose that time and get in line at 8:00. You will thank me for it.

For myself the Mona Lisa was what I wanted to see the most, and if all possible the three ladies of the Louvre were next on my list. I was first in line, and I got into the museum first. So I left my wife behind and took off to the Mona Lisa. I got there so fast that I was by myself with Mona for about 30 seconds until my wife arrived. We then had the whole area to ourselves for a minute or two. It might have been one of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life.

Indeed it was a moment I will never forget. Now the rest of our time was viewing the Grand Gallery. Again we pretty much had the area to ourselves. After walking around we got tired, so we went to one of the many cafes in the Museum. After some coffee and pastries, we headed down to Venus de Milo.

On our way, we passed by The Winged Victory of Samothrace, which is one of the most impressive sculptures in the Louvre. The sheer size and of course the beauty is hard to describe. This sculpture is number two of the three ladies of the Louvre. From there, you walk through an impressive area of many neoclassical sculptures. One of my favorite sculptures- the Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss is in this area.

Finally, we made it to the Venus de Milo. By this time the museum had become quite busy. The good news was that Venus was number three for us in the three ladies of the Louvre. The area was full of people and you had to work your way into the front. If you are at all going to take a picture, make it quick. I had lined up for a shot and got elbowed from a couple of little ladies. So I lined back up and took the chance. Unfortunately, it became too busy for my wife and me, so we left soon after.
We did go out to the gardens and enjoy the afternoon. Which is very nice it was getting fairly warm that day. But when you are sitting in the shade in the Louvre gardens eating a Pain du Chocolate, life is good.

Now my wife and I are big Disney fans; if you have read any of my other stuff, you will know this. So being so close to Disneyland Paris we just had to go. With Paris having such a great subway system getting to Disneyland was a piece of cake. Or it should have been. There is one line the RER A Line, the problem is there are multiple stops and not all of them go to Marne-la-Chessy train station.

Plus you need to buy a special ticket for the Marne-la-Chessy. We did not read the signs very well or get the proper ticket. I had purchased a 20 pack of metro tickets, they get you on the train but does not allow you through the gate out of the station and, luckily, a lovely attendant lets us through, but as we walked away, I’m sure she was shaking her head about the uninformed Americans.

(Part one of two)

(If you like the these photos check out more here.)