Christmas in Amsterdam, Belgium beer and waffles, and New Year's in Paris!

The last two weeks have been such a dream.  We both remember thinking at different times, when going through the daily grind of life in the US, wishing we could ‘one day’ take some sort of super cool vacation to Europe, well, it's an awesome feeling to get to live out some of our dreams this Christmas.  It’s not that we really needed a vacation from our job, but … we had two weeks off from our “tough” schedule for the Christmas holidays, so couldn’t let that time go to waste.

Nancy gets credit for piecing this Christmas wonderland vacation together -- we were destined for Amsterdam, Belgium and a week in Paris.  It was great because we actually had two of our friends from Atlanta flying over to meet us in Paris for New Years.  Official shout out to the one and only power couple of the Virginia Highlands, Liz and Mike Stanton.

Not quite our exact route... but you get the idea.

We spent four days in Amsterdam, and it quickly became one of our favorite cities in Europe.  The city is beautiful and the people were cool, a great vibe throughout the entire city.  A lot more to offer than hookers and weed...  All of the canals, crooked buildings, sea of bicycles (dangerous at times), Boom Chicago comedy shows, Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh museum  are the things that stood out to us.  We spent our first Christmas together in Amsterdam; it was a very special way for Nancy and I to share this holiday.

Tasting some 'local' beer at the Heineken Experience.

Christmas Eve morning... heading to go on a walking tour of the city!

The traditional Dutch clogs.

We ran into this guy wearing the Georgia beanie right after a Christmas Eve service we attended... incredible! He wasn't affiliated with UGA in any way, he only knew the bulldog was the mascot of "some university in the United States"... we did our best to set the story straight!

Posing with Santa!

The Anne Frank House.

Lots of crooked buildings.

After Amsterdam, we spent the next three days in three different cities throughout Belgium -- Brussels, Ghent and Bruges.  Brussels, the unofficial capital of Europe and the EU, was somewhat disappointing, but Ghent and Bruges were incredible and we quickly forgot about lackluster Brussels.  The weather wasn’t great in Belgium, but the Belgium beer and waffles more than made up for the lack of sunshine.  Sidenote:  We are now professionals at drinking Belgian blond beers.  I venture to say we tried over 25 varietals between the two of us, in our short 72 hour span in the country.

The beer list outside our first bar in Brussels... needless to say it was hard to make a decision!

The main attraction of Brussels... Mannekin Pis.  A disappointingly small statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain.

Colorful chocolate fountains of Mannekin Pis.

Mussels in Brussels!

The Christmas markets were a highlight of traveling over the holidays.

Eating a Belgian waffle "like a local"... with only a little butter and powdered sugar.  Apparently it is 'very American' to put whipped cream and other toppings on your waffle.

Ghent was incredible because of the amazing skyline, created by numerous  spires, clock towers and cathedrals.  Enhancing our night in Ghent were our accommodations -- were lucky to get a room at the Ghent Marriott right along the Lys river – incredible.

Oh Belgian chocolate... how could we forget to mention you?!? 

Bruges was a small little town, full of one and two story buildings, and endless canals criss-crossing the city.  They also filmed the cult movie classic “In Bruges” here, with Colin Farrell.  It was a city I’ve always wanted to visit, so I was glad we had the chance to swing through it, before heading to Paris.

The Bruges Belfry.

A little overpriced... but we climbed the 366 steps to the top for some pretty awesome views of the city.

We were really looking forward to meeting Mike and Liz at our hotel on the December 30^th.   It was such a cool moment when we finally saw them face to face, it was great to see more familiar faces from home.  Liz had been to Paris several times before, so she unknowingly signed-up to be our tour guide for the three days we were together.   Paris wasn't as easy to navigate as I would have expected.  Not traveling-wise, but all of the French people and their fierce pride for their language and culture, made it “interesting” at times.  I made the mistake of speaking Spanish (how dare I!), instead of French, and the bus driver ripped into me, and quickly let me know that “we don’t speak Spanish here, thank you very much”.  Duly noted, sir.

Our midnight New Years celebration was absolutely epic and unforgettable.  Mike and I were enjoying our spirits, while the girls were drowning in wine.   Is it okay to say that?  As midnight approached, we meandered down the fully-packed and fenced-off Champs Elysees (street).  Around 11:45pm, they took down all of fencing and allowed the crowd to flood onto the streets.  So, here we found ourselves, four Americans in the middle of one of the most famous streets in the world (at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Metro stop, no less),  looking down towards the Arc de Triomphe, with the Eiffel Tour rising on our left.  I will never forget all the of the lights in the trees synchronized with the countdown to New Years, staring down the street towards the Arc de Triomphe, while the crowd screamed in anticipation.  Then as everyone begins to scream “Bonne Année” (Happy New Year’s in French) at midnight, the Eiffel Tour literally begins to sparkle with it’s hourly light show.  It was an amazing way to ring in the new year!

Group shot in front of the Sacre Coeur - beautiful!

Todd and Mike bought a baguette to "feel more Parisian" - then they decided to carry it around for an ENTIRE day...

Jumping picture in front of the Eiffel Tower at sunset... the colors of the sky were unbelievable!

Liz and Mike brought some great NYE party favors with them to Paris =)

Todd and Mike decided they wanted to "dress up" for New Years.

An unforgettable New Years with great friends!

Champs Elysees on NYE

In front of the Louvre.  We got some strange looks for this one!

After Mike and Liz left, we spent the rest of the week being super-tourists, but the best part was spending the last four days with a bookguy I met on a trip to Egypt in 2008.  We stayed at his apartment, which made Paris much more affordable and it was nice to hang out with a local in his neighborhood.  We met some of his friends, so now we have an awesome group of friends in Paris and ready to go back anytime.  Thank you Jonathan Hababou!

Another crazy thing was reuniting with a “long-lost friend” I met one night in Prague in 2007.  He was from Paris and we kept in touch sporadically, I sent him a Facebook message and the next thing we know, he was cooking Nancy and me a French dinner with his girlfriend in their Parisian apartment.  Getting to experience Paris with the locals was a very memorable part of our trip.  Thank you Fabrice Desprats!

Now, we are back in Linares before our next visitors arrive … put your hands together for a warm welcome … the sender of the best care packages in the world … setting foot in Europe for the very first time … my parents, Bill and Sharon Perzel.  We are hoping for a busy Spring full of visitors, my parents are coming for two and half weeks, Nancy's parents will be visiting for 10 days in April, Nancy’s brother, Matt, and later we are hoping to have several more friends coming to visit!

It’s always refreshing to return ‘home’ to Linares, to appreciate the simple, slower-paced life.  It reminds us, how simple things can be in life, if we only allow it.  I don’t think we are ever bored, and it’s not ‘slow’ in the sense that there isn’t anything to do, only we get to spend much more time doing what we want to do, not doing something that we constantly feel the  “need” to be doing.  It's always the perfect reset and recharge for the next big adventure.