+Walked around Bruge one last time, went to the windmills at the city wall and then back through the main square + Went back to the cheap sunglass store we spotted yesterday that had the only pair of sunglasses that would fit over Amy’s glasses and, after much reassurance that Amy didn’t look ridiculous with giant sunglasses from Brian, especially since Europeans generally like big sunglasses, she bought them. She was still really self conscious when she wore them and kept giggling. That probably attracted more looks than the glasses did. + Then, practically spent the whole day trying to get out of Belgium. From Brugges to Brussels, no problem, just took the train, but form Brussels to Paris! Could not get to Paris directly because we had the option of paying 80 euro for a full ticket or wait until night time 10PM to get Eurail Pass tickets, so tried another way, take the local train back up to NorthEastern Belgium to Lille and take the TGV from there. It still only got us to Paris 2 hours earlier than the direct from Burssels train, but it was worth it. We still had to buy the full ticket to leave earlier, but it was a lot cheaper than the Brussels to Paris train. + Tried various methods through the phone to try to top up the cell phone, but no success (02 was asking for a UK credit card, Vodafone didn’t even have the option), just bought a Belgian phone card instead, 2 euro per minute to call France! + To make things worse, they had a lingerie fashion show in the middle of the train station, which, of course, attracted large numbers of males to clog up the passageway. Had to cut through the ticket office to get to the other side + To make things even worse, there was never one place to get all the information we needed. Offices kept sending us across the train station (through the lingerie fashion show) to another office, which would send us back to the other side to yet another office. This wasn’t very fun + Finally got to Lille to wait for the TGV from Lille to Paris + Amy goes out to venture for food, finds a Quick (Belgian fast food chain that sells chicken wings!) and sees a picture of a giant hamburger and thinks that it would be nice to get one for Brian, who was waiting in the station with the luggage + Amy comes back to the waiting room in the train station with a big bag full of food, tells Brian excitedly, “I got you a BIGGG hamburger!” Brian opens the box, it is tiny. Brian bites into it. It isn’t fully cooked. Amy feels bad and gives him half her cheeseburger, which was about the same size. It looked a lot better and bigger in the picture, Really! + Met up with Severine and Patrick at Paris Gare du Nord + They showed us to their nice apartment in Courbevoie in La Garenne Coloumb + Took showers in peace and slept on their fold out furniture! Thanks Severine and Patrick!
Tip: Reserve for French high speed trains. Always. Especially on a Friday.
