Returning from Paris
So I’m back from Paris. When I uploaded a picture of my luggage to Flickr yesterday and wrote, “Coming back with more than i left with”, I guess it meant more than I thought. Apparently I developed a case of shingles while in Paris (this is not pleasant, but I’ll spare you the details). Despite that, spending the week with Kat was really great. Among many things, we saw a couple of movies, had dinners on top of Pompidou Centre and at Kat’s friends’ apartment, had drinks on the observation deck of Montparnasse, and walked around rather stunned (maybe just me) at La grande épicerie. The dinner of homemade crêpes (northern style, with beer in the batter!) at Betty and Loic’s apartment were particularly excellent, and way better than my meal at Pompidou.
Earlier in the week, we took a train to Brussels (with an interstitial jog between train stations in Lille) to spend a couple of days with Leo (and friends). On Saturday, we rented a car and made a beer pilgrimage to the Trappist Abbey of Saint-Sixtus of Westvleteren where we enjoyed snacks and a couple of rounds of what is regarded by many as the best beer in the world. Highly recommended for anyone who likes beer, but do yourself a favor and rent the GPS along with the car — there is absolutely no way we would have made it without the GPS (and a bit of help from the locals in Vleteren).
