Paris

We had a great time in Paris!

DAY 1 VERSAILLES (Wednesday)

We arrived on Wednesday and we went to Versailles in the afternoon. It was beautiful! Here are some pictures:

In the evening we went to visit friends from Philippe who lived in Versailles. He is French, She is Spanish and they met in London :-). Funny story. We had a good dinner and Phil enjoyed seeing his friends back!

DAY 2 PARIS (Thursday)

Thursday morning we went to the Moulin Rouge, Montmartre with the Sacre Coeur and we ate Mussels at the Place du Tertre.

Then we went to the centre Pompidou

Then we passed a little museum with comics about the European Union

THen we saw the hotel de ville and the Notre-Dame.

Then we went home for nap as we were exhausted. In the evening we went back to Paris for a boat trip with my parents, me, Philippe, his sister and his parents. We arrived and we went to look at the water and suddenly someone screamed... it was my sister Ellen!!!! What a surprise! She came with Niels with their mobil home and they came for the boat trip as well! This was so cool!

We did a great trip with the boat. We saw the Eifel Tower, Place de la Concorde, Le Grand Palais, Le Musee D'Orsay, beautiful bridges and much more...

DAY 3 PARIS (Friday)

On Friday morning we went to visit the Eifel Tower. We went to the top and the view was amazing. Again some pics;

THen we went to the Place de La Concorde where we met with my sister and Niels. Phil, I, Ellen and Niels took the bikes and we followed our personal guide (Phil).

We went for a nice little french restaurant for lunch

Then we went for a little walk and then we jumped on the bikes again

Then we went to the Parc De Luxembourg to chill out in the chairs with a nice view and in the sun

Then we went to Le Louvre with the bikes;

After a long, but beautiful day we went back home.

DAY 4 Family (Saturday)

Saturday "on a fait la grasse matinee". We slept a bit longer and at lunch time the grand parents of Philippe came over. In the evening we had a good diner outside with everyone!

DAY 5 Family (Sunday)

On Sunday there was a birthday party of the other grandmother of Philippe. They have such a big family!!! 

After the party we went to Paris again. We first went to the Place des Vosges and then we took the bikes to the hotel de ville

Then we went to the Seine to see the sunset from the border with a view on the Notre Dame:

Then we went to the Place de Republique to meet another friend of Philippe with who we had diner.

DAY 6 PARIS (Monday)

On Monday I went to Paris with my parents. Philippe stayed home to start packing. First we went to the Arc de Triomphe and we took all the stairs to have a nice view:

Then we took the Velibs (Velo's en Libre) and we rode over the Champs Elysees. We went over Le Pont Alexandre were we took some pictures.

Then we rode past the Assemble National

over the Pont de la Concorde and over the Place de la Concorde, past La Madeleine

and to the Opera for a stop. Unfortunately we were too late to visit the Opera, but the building on itself was already amazing.

We had a quick lunch and then we went to the Gallerie de la Fayette, a big shopping centre in a beautiful decor

On the top floor there was again a very nice view

Then it was time to go back home....

Paris was great! It is a beautiful and "gezellige" city. I had a great time with mine and Philippe's family!

J'ai aussi beaucoup parle en Francais et ca commence a aller meilleure!
A la prochaine!
Jessie & Phil

Belgium

TRIP - DAY 1 BRUSSELS

Saturday Morning we woke up at 5.40 to start our trip. The taxi picked us up at 6.20 a.m. and brought us to the Robina train station. Then we took the train (1h and 45min) to Brisbane international airport. We were one of the first people to check in but there were some problems as we had checked in for the first flight online, but not for the other flights as it was not open yet. It took half an hour to check us in, but it worked!

At 12.15 the plane departed,  an 8 hour flight to Singapore. In Singapore we had 30min to do sth in the airport while they cleaned the plane and filled the tanks. We ate something quickly. Before we stepped in the plane they checked the handluggage AGAIN. But no problems of course and the second trip could start, 7h to Abu Dhabi. We arrived in Abu Dhabi at 10p.m. local time and the plane to Brussels left at 2a.m. We slept on the grounds to kill the time and because we were exhausted and we surfed a bit on the free wifi. In the last plane we both slept a lot and at 8am we arrived at Brussels. My parents, my sister and my uncle were waiting for us in the airport.

We went to my aunt and first we had a good shower! Finally, after 30h of trip. Then we had  a good breakfast. Koffiekoeken! 

At 11am we went to the “Midden Afrikaans Museum” in the Parc of Tervuren were we did a little walk. 

Then we went to my Grandmother (mum’s side) who is in a rest-house. I gave her a little Koala bear. She was so happy to see me and she had a good day! She could understand almost everything we said and she realised that I came back from Australia! She was so cute. 

Then we drove to the Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark. This is a monument that was built for the 50 years existence of Belgium. 

After Het Jubelpark we went to “Het koninklijk paleis” or “Palais Royale” to take some pictures. 

Then we went to the other side of Brussels to visit my other grandmother and an aunt. I have showed some pictures and we have talked a lot! They were so happy to see us! At 5pm we were exhausted so we went back home. But first we went to the Atomium, a monument that was built for the world expo in 1958. It has 9 big balls and it reflects a close up of a crystal. At 9pm we were exhausted and we went to bed. 

DAY 2 - BRUSSELS

We woke up at 5am. Stupid JETLAG! We could not sleep anymore! So we made the table for breakfast for everyone. I went to the dentist for a check up as this is very expensive in Australia for international students. Then we drove to Brussels to meet with my VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels) friends! I missed them and I was very happy to see them back! Bieke, Jill, Marloes, Kim, Jesse, Corinne; Thanks for coming! 

We took the bus to the city centre and we made a walk. First we saw “de Beurs” / “la Bourse” and then we went to the “Grote markt” / “Grand Place”. 

Then we went to the statue of Manneke Pis, then back to the “Grote Markt” and then to Janneke Pis. 

Next to Janneke Pis there is a cafe were they sell 2004 different beers. Everyone tried something special and we took a chocolate beer extra but no one liked it. However, the other beers were good! 

Next we went to the Rue des Bouchers, little streets with restaurants next to each other. Then we walked to “het Justitiepaleis” / “ Palais Justice” were we took a glass escalator. On the top there was a nice view over Brussels. Then we took the bus back to the VUB. Philippe and I were so exhausted that we did a little nap in the room/kot of one of my friends. We needed it, otherwise we could not survive the day.  After the nap we went to the VUB for the Cantus, a “studentikoos” (for students) activity where people sing songs together and drink a bit. During the first break we left and we went to a cafeteria to meet Melissa, my old roommate. We took the last train back home. After 2min in the bed we fell a sleep... exhausted again. 

DAY 3 BRUSSELS - ANTWERPEN

I had a meeting with someone from the VUB during the lunch and Philippe went to the car museum, plane museum and war museum at the Cinquantenaire, which is not far from the university. 

Then we went back home and I met Femke and Zyncke. Together with Phil we went to Antwerpen. We went to Antwerpen Zuid first and we started on a terrace of a cafe. Then Kristina Joined us. We took the tram to the Groenplaats and we went to the “Grote Markt”, we saw het Steen, the Carolus Borromueus church. 

Then it was time to eat and we went to Spaghettiworld where Lynn and Jonas met us. We had a good pasta and we talked a lot! 

We missed each other and I was happy to see everyone back! Then we went back home and we went to bed. We decided not to leave to Paris at 6am (before the traffic jams) because we needed a good long night. So we had a good long night.