France...

France= amazing!! From the city to the countryside... Learned about the history of the Eiffel Tower and Henry the 14-16th... Started our day traveling from Paris to Beaune a town south of Paris... Beaune is more countryside... They have amazing wine and the B&B we r staying in has an Amazing wine cellar with a hot tub which we will be experiencing tomorrow!! We visited the hospice de dieu, an old hospital that nuns ran from donations!! They were the nurses, cooks, pharmacists, you name it They did it all...

1. Dave and I on top of Eiffel Tower!!
2. Saw our co-worker nicki in Paris!! What a small world!!
3. Nurses kitchen at the hospice de Dieu..
4.&5. On our walk back to our B&B...

Beaune

Beaune Beaune Beaune.
This place has exceeded every expectation. The landscape is so lush and green. The town is medieval in architecture with copious wineries, chocolatiers,and cafes. Oh and the wine is superb!!!!
Our B&B is big, clean and sits on the hillside. We finally have a bathroom with shampoo and conditioner!!!
The coolest part is their wine cellar (ill take pics tomorrow). It's underneath the house and has plenty of delicious wine , but also a hot tub. Pure genius. It's a little creepy though. Dark, cavernous, and their are bats. Oh we'll. can't win them all.
So we are here till Thursday night. Tomorrow we will continue to explore the town on foot, test out palates with wine, and chill. Then Thursday we will explore the cotes d'or on our wine expedition.

Au revoir

Beaune 4/30

Good morning. This lovely couple is off to Beaune. This town is south of Paris close to Dijon. Wine country here we come

Eiffel Tower

Today was a long one. We grabbed some delicious Nutella crepes and espresso then hit the road. We took the metro into town and went to notre dame. It's the 850th anniversary. The place is so old and detailed, and so much history.
We then walked and shopped around the streets until hunger got us. We found a nice little Italian bistro and sat for two hours eating and drinking wine.
By this time it's about 5pm so we met up with our tour group for the Eiffel Tower.
OMG. The tower is everything you can imagine. We went up on all 3 levels, and learned about its history. We hung around till dark to watch the lights pop on. Truly a moment we'll never forget.
Oh...we even ran into our friend Nikki from Scripps. She is here with her husband on vacation. Small world!!

1. Connie on level 2
2. Connie at base ground
3. Tower lite up.

Good night

Goodnight from Paris.
D and Connie

Paris 4/28

We hit the road today, literally. We went on a bike tour that took us through the whole city, showcasing Paris' finest monuments. We saw the louve, notre dam, triumph tower, etc. absolutely amazing. Paris is as great as everyone says. So beautiful, so much culture, and breathtaking monuments.
After the tour, we hoped on the metro to the musee d orsay, this museum has priceless works from Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gaugan, and more.
Wow. I've been waiting to come here for years and it is everything I had expected.
1. Louve
2. Tower
3. Triumph arc

4/28 Sunday morning

Bon jour! We made it in to Paris late last night. The trip was pretty good, since we only got lost once. The street signs are just horrific. Half the time there isn't one, the other half of time is barely possible to view unless you are standing under it. Anyways..we went right to sleep to prepare for today.
We have an awesome biking tour today that will show us the whole city and famous monuments. Then we will explore the train museum.

Last day in Brussels

4/27. This is our last day in Brussels. Brussels was a great, but very tiring trip. The Belgium people never sleep. We have not made it through one night of continuous sleep. These guys party till 5 am every night.
We had do much fun though. Our beer tour was amazing. So many great beers and sights taken in. So.. Today we are shopping, sampling chocolates, waking and exploring until our train departs to Paris.
1. Church by our hotel
2. Dude rolling, then smoking a joint outside a bank, asking for money
3. Connie eating a true Belgian waffle, amazing!!!!!
4. The beautiful city square.

Brussels

What an amazing city. This city has blown me away!! It is so much fun. Great food, beautiful architecture, good vibe, and lots to do.
It was rainy and super cold today. So we bought beanies for 5 euros. What a life saver.
We arrived around 1, and immediately went to our beer tour. Great tour. We walked the city, heard the culture and drank many amazing beers. Our group was primarily Americans except for one Aussie (what do u call a boomerang that doesn't come back to u????!??
A stick!) anyways. Great tour, Grest meeting people.

Good night

Beer of the trip

Amazing beer. Will bring one home!!!!

Last night in Watou

We are wrapping up our last night in Watou. What a great time. We biked all day through the hop farms, cattle ranches and manure piles. The weather was amazing, high 60s and a slight breeze.
We just finished up cheese, salami, and bread dinner with two fellow Americans. Great to finally converse in a conversation, not just a word of broken Flemish.
Now, we are enjoying Watou's finest beer. St Bernardus 12. This is a smooth, slightly sweet, Belgium ale that has ranked 3rd in the world as best beer.
Picture 1 is Connie smelling a poperinge hop, at s local tavern.
Picture 2 is us hanging out at the B & B drinking st Bernardus beer.

Sampling all the St Bernardus beers, relaxing in front of this soothing pond ... What a great night! It's 9:10 And still light out!! Amazing place....

My sexy hubby :)

Watou

1. Enjoying a triple beer for breakfast, compliments of the house
2. Connie in front of the town church
3. Statue that represents and pays homage to brewers
4. A line of cars outside of St Sixstus brewery. This is the only way you can get their beer. You have to call ahead. Give them your liscence plate and order. They then tell you what time to arrive ( 1:30-4:30). They then will walk out and deliver the beer. Max is two cases of beer per 3 months. Crazy monks!!!!

Biking thru Belgium!!

Amazing day biking through Watou, proven and St sixtus... Dont think I've biked that much since i was a kid!! Legs r a little sore but loved the views of the countryside!!

Watou

We arrived in Watou. A beautiful middle of nowhere town in Belgium. This town hold two breweries that have won awards did best beer in the world, St Bernardus and The Abbey of St Sixtus. We look forward to lots of bike riding and beer drinking.

Heading to Belgium

We are up early and gearing up for Belgium. Amsterdam was a great kickoff to our honeymoon. We ate, drank, walked, and soaked up the city.

We are traveling by train to our B&B in the hop yards of Watou. We are very excited to experience some rural side.

Morning/afternoon 4/23

Flowers everywhere. Very pretty.
A bit gloomy this morning in front if the Van Gogh museum.
Finishing off a afternoon espresso

Red light District

Amsterdam is definitely the most forward, diverse, and happy city I've ever been to. The population is 700,000 and there are 600,000 bikes, which have the right away over everything.
We spent the day walking endlessly and touring the famous red light district.
We saw where Quentin Tarantino wrote pulp fiction, world famous sex museum, hundreds of coffee shops (the smoking kind), prostitutes, had triple hopped Duvel beer, almost got ran over 10 times, and much more. Amazing city