DAY 8

July 21, 2022 (Brussells, BELGIUM & Paris, FRANCE)

Leaving Amsterdam - until next time...

The two day journey in Amsterdam finally came to an end. This morning was check-out and on the road.

Unfortunately, I missed the breakfast this morning due to being up late last night getting Day 7 posted. It was fine though – my taste buds were getting a little tired of bread, pastries, egg, sausage and cheese. This was no Copenhagen hotel breakfast – but you can’t win them all.

So it was downstairs – making sure I had my belt that I bought in H & M yesterday – and around the corner to get on the bus.

Due to demonstrations and unrest going on in the transportation industry, we were advised not to take a train to Paris but to take a bus. This meant instead of a few hours, it would take about 6-7 hours to get there. Fortunately for us, this meant having the chance to go through another country – BELGIUM and pass through the city of Brussels. How lucky we were!

As we got to Brussels, we made our first stop at The Atomium – a huge monument shaped like an atom and is said to be Belgium’s version of the Eiffel Tower. We also passed the Royal Castle but it was so far off from the road you were able to just see it in the distance.

Onto The City Center...

Due to the narrow streets and traffic constraints, our bus driver had to drop us off a 5 minute walk to the city center. This allowed us to experience the sights, architecture of the buildings and smell the food that was being served on the sidewalks in the many cafes that lined the streets.

After losing a part of the group for a few minutes, we walked to the city square to marvel at the magnificent architecture of the buildings there including a church. There were also many side shops, cafes and restaurants where we spent about an hour looking around. The favorite of the group was the mini-market and the Belgian chocolates and Belgian waffles.

Another Pit Stop...

After another few hours on the bus towards Paris, we took a bathroom stop.

Despite being a public restroom facility, it was a little fancy with red and green lights outside each door which had male and female markings on it and a green/red push button inside when you closed the door so you know it was locked.

And all stainless steel fixtures. There was no sink in the bathroom, unfortunately and one sink outside on the side of the building – what an adventure!

Welcome to Paris!

Finally arriving at the Magenta 38 hotel in Paris after maneuvering the narrow streets in the city, we offloaded the luggage and went into the lobby. We soon realized that the true European style of hotel layouts is one that is very narrow. It was quite crowded to say the least. However, once everyone got into the one elevator three people at a time, we all got up to the rooms and back down again to head to dinner – a 5 minute walk around the corner.

A Hearty Parisian Dinner...or was it Bahamian?

By 6:30 we were at the restaurant. All doors and windows open, catching the breeze due to the absent air-condition.

First course – salad. Tomatoes, cheese, lettuce and olive oil with freshly baked bread.

Main course – braised veal with carrots and celery and white rice. It was something that you might see back home during a weekend dinner around the table.

Lastly – a chocolate lava cake with whipped cream rounded out the meal which was delicious and rich.

A short walk back to the hotel enabled us to walk off some of the calories we had just consumed.

The After Dinner Exploration...

You can’t come to Paris, have dinner and then go to bed. Of course not. You have to step outside of the hotel and go for a walk to the main square to see what is going on. And that is what I did – restaurants, cafe’s pastry shops and even a band was playing in the square made up of natives from Barbados – they were having church and saving souls!