If you saw my Weekly Wrap post, you know that last week I was on vacation in Europe. If you’ve known me for a while, you know I am horrible at planning vacations, so when my son had an opportunity to study abroad this summer, one of my first thoughts was that it would make vacation planning easy! I even let him plan our itinerary, which is how we ended up spending the weekend in Brussels before we headed to Bremen where he is studying.
Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium
I could go on and on about my European vacation, but I’ll try to focus on five things for the Friday Five link up hosted at Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness.
Five Things About My European Vacation
1. The Grand Place in Brussels is gorgeous any time of day, but simply amazing at night, as you can see from the picture above.
2. Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels is similar to a high-end shopping mall but 90% of the stores are fine chocolatiers–most of which offer free samples.
3. When you watch the Tour de France on a flat section on the first day, the riders zoom by!
4. Most of the old buildings in Germany were destroyed by bombs in World War II, but many really old buildings remain, and provide unique insight into what life was like hundreds of years ago.
This is the Obertor (southern gate) in Neuss, which is one of six original gates in the wall that surrounded the city in medieval times. It was built around 1200!
5. There’s more to Bremen than I ever imagined! It’s location straddling the Weser River about 40 miles south of the North Sea made it an important city for trading and politics. We visited museums, churches–including one with mummies in a lead vault!–quaint shops on old cobblestone streets, parks, cafes, and a restaurant established in 1405.
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Do you enjoy planning vacations?
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Every one of these places is high on my list! Such a beautiful area.
We packed a lot into a few days!
Looks like it was a wonderful trip! I’m always impressed that those structures are still standing after all these years.
Did you try any Belgian beers?
Yes! Of course hitting up Delerium was top of my son’s list. I love the Belgian Tripels but can only sip on one!
I am still amazed at how beautiful it is there!
Sadly no I do not like planning vacations.
I would love to see some of those old buildings in Germany! My Nana grew up in Germany during the war.
This trip sounds amazing and so educational. Would love to check out all the free chocolate samples too! Thanks for sharing.
I have not been to Brussels in many years. I do remember lots of pretzels and chocolate though. Looks like you all had a fantastic time
and waffles, and fries …. good thing we did so much walking!
Very beautiful! While I consider myself good at planning vaycays, I would not even know where to begin when it comes to traveling abroad. But trips in the states? I’m good with that! I’m glad you had a great time. Have a wonderful weekend!
Looks like a fabulous trip (and I know this is just a tiny glimpse of it). I have never been out of the US (other than our honeymoon in Cancun and a brief over-nighter in Canada), so my (foreign) travel experience is definitely lacking. Our daughter went on a 2-week European trip last summer (just after graduating college), and still talks about it.
My son is an adventurous traveler – every once in a while I have to join him!
How beautiful. I have never been to Belgium- only passed through on the train.
We only saw a few of the sights in Brussels, but it was great!
I love planning vacations! Or just dreaming about them, can’t say as I really planned much for our last one — life was too busy, but it all worked out.
Sounds like it was a wonderful vacation.
I think I worry too much about needing to plan everything – I should just go and sort it out when I’m there. 🙂
I think it’s good to plan, but then be flexible. Some of the best stuff is unplanned!
So beautiful! Thanks for sharing your pics!
Absolutely beautiful pictures! I love European countries and all of the magnificent history they hold! That southern gate is just amazing …..and seeing some of the Tour de France riders??? How cool is that! Maybe one day ….
It was such a coincidence that we could get to see the Tour!
I was in a German coastal town during a cruise, and our tour guide showed us what the town square looked like after WWII. I think there were 2 or 3 buildings still standing, and they had to build up everything else. I love it when I see old old structures, and knowing all the history it has.
Yes, I love the history of old buildings, and imagining what life was like back when they were built.
It all looks so pretty and I love seeing the different architecture…looks pretty story book like to me 🙂
Sounds like a great adventure and you really got to see a lot!!
I’ve never been across the pond!
I’m lucky I’ve gotten to travel a lot, mostly just to Europe though.
It looks so pretty there! Great pictures, how exciting to see the Tour de France in person!
It took a lot of planning — that my son handled — but worked out perfectly.
Just to visit a place with that kind of history would be awesome. I love planning trips, from getting an airbnb to checking out what great local pizza joints are around, to seeing if the home team has a ballgame while we’re in town.
You sound very thorough! I can’t even get past Air BNB – too many choices!
Looks like you got to see so many great things! Sounds like an amazing trip.
You had me at fine chocolate mall.
nice! I obviously haven’t been keeping up very well with your blog or I’d have known you were slightly in the neighbourhood!