Heyooo ladies! We are back in business! Gosh I’m still tired and recovering from this trip! There’s a whole lotta info in this post– I’ve combined a Paris + Brugge Travel Guide all in one for you!
Okay so first things first— The flight to Paris. I’m gonna be honest, it did not go as well as I’d hoped. We decided to take a night flight hoping that Jo would sleep through the night on the plane. No such luck. She sleeps great at home and has been for months so I really thought she’d be fine. But reality sets in when she’s not in her comfy little bed with her noise machine. Instead she’s surrounded by a million people that she doesn’t know, coughing, sneezing, laughing and using bright lights. So no, homegirl did not want to sleep.
When we arrived in Paris we were all totally exhausted. We ended up taking a nap but I cut it short and woke everyone up (my little sister cam with us) in an attempt to fight the time change. We went out and got some delicious dinner and roamed the streets a bit. We stayed in St. Germain. St. Germain & St. Michel are fantastic places to stay in Paris. Both are nice and have lots of food options.
We did our thang in Paris for a few days, took the train to Brugge. I’d totally recommend country hopping by train rather than a flight if you can. It’s so much easier. No long security lines or waiting like you do at the airport. Brugge is so quaint and beautiful. We absolutely loved it there. Unfortunately my sister got sick so I had to take her to the ER in the middle of the night. Not awesome. I ended up having to take her again in France. Thankfully she’s fine but the ER trips were not so fun.
Fast forward to traveling home— Thankfully the flights home didn’t bother Jo as much. I mean, I wanted to have a mental breakdown but she did pretty good. I thought that we only had one layover buuut we had two. So in addition to getting up at 4am to get to the airport in Paris, we traveled for about 24 hours to get home due to our layovers. Never again. The tickets were cheap but maaaan it was not worth it. Thankfully she slept a lot and was fine, but both Jono and I were cranky + exhausted & just wanted to be home.
The next few days after we got home we pretty much just slept. Oh and watched The Great British Baking Show. It’s soooo good.
The trip was a lot of fun but I’ll admit that it was totally exhausting. We just didn’t have the chance to catch up on enough sleep having Jo there with us. She did great, but I don’t know that I’ll take a baby to Europe again… Just because it slowed us down as far as what we could accomplish in a day and also made it hard to catch up on sleep. With that being said, I am glad that we went and we’ll cherish those memories!
Anywaaaaay— You’ll find a list of activities + food suggestion below!
Paris:
The Catacombs. This was a fun one! They estimate that 6-7 million bodies were buried in the catacombs. You can get an audio guide to take you through and the history is very interesting.
Eiffel Tower + Carrousel. Obviously the Eiffel Tower is a must. They have built a wall around it and you have to go through security now to go under it. I’m not sure if you have to have a ticket or not. We just walked the park around it since we’d already been there before the wall. There’s also a carrousel nearby that we took little Jo on!
Notre Dame. This is such an amazing cathedral. The history behind it is absolutely amazing.
Palace of Versaille. The most luxurious + freaking huge palace I’ve ever seen. And the gardens go on forever! The lines are absolutely ridiculous here but if you purchase the passport ticket online you get to skip the line. It’s something like and extra $10 per ticket or something and it is totally worth it. We would have been standing in line for hours but since we had those special tickets we got to go right up to the front!
The Louvre. This museum is one of my favorites. The art collection that they have is incredible. They also have really famous pieces like the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace, The Coronation of Napoleon and countless others.
Angelina’s. The best hot chocolate you’ll ever have! My suggestion is to go for hot chocolate and pastries. The food is overpriced and not amazing… But the pastries + hot chocolate are so yummy!
Paul’s. This bakery is always a repeat for us. They have locations all over the city and you honestly won’t find anything better. It’s great for a quick breakfast or lunch. I honestly crave their pastries. They have lost f sweet + savory options!
Galleries Lafayette. This is the most gorgeous mall/department store. You’ll want to Google it for images. It has an intricate glass citing with ornate columns throughout the stories.
Amorino. It is by far the best gelato. Don’t even bother going anywhere else. They even have gelato filled macaroons! I’m drooling just thinking about it…
I reeeeally wanted to do a romantic dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower but you have to book it like 6 months in advance & I was not on top of it.
I’ve hear incredible things about Laduree Bakery but we just didn’t have time to go. I’ll definitely go next time!
I’m really sad that we didn’t get to do the Tuileries Garden + ferris wheel. We just didn’t have the time. Looks amazing though!
Sacré-Cœur was also on our list but we didn’t make it there. It sounds like it has a really interesting history and I’d love to make it there next time.
Brugge:
Chez Albert Waffles. Best waffles in Brugge hands down. We ate a waffle with homemade whipped cream, Belgian milk chocolate and strawberries every day. One day we had it twice. No shame!
Go.Fre. They are right crossed the street from Chez Albert’s and they serve waffles on a stick. So yummy you guys! They dip them in chocolate and put whatever toppings you want on. Very rich and very delish.
De Vlaamsche Pot. We had a delicious meal here. They serve Flemish stew (I tried the chicken one and it was delightful) and they have pretty good fries. I ended up ordering a garlic shrimp plate and it was so good!
Chez Vincent. The best fries in Brugge you guys! Plus they have all sorts of traditional dipping sauces. I also got fried chicken on a stick and it was dang good.
Sissy Boy. Kind of a weird name but the store was really cute! It was like a European Anthropologie!
Markt Square. It’s like a scene from a story book. The square has lots of restaurants and is pretty much the cutest thing you’ll ever see.
Canal Boat Ride. Please, please, please take a boat ride if you go to Brugge. It’s like 8 euros so it’s totally affordable and it takes you through the canals. It’s so beautiful and really interesting to hear the history.
I would have liked to have gone in the Belfry of Brugge. We walked by this but didn’t end of going in. I’m pretty sure we were all starving and planned to go back later but didn’t have the time. It’s a beautiful bell tower though!
Well I think that’s it ladies! Let me know if you have any questions! I would 100% recommend going to Paris and Brugge!
xoxo,
Karlee
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