Well, the title says it all...we are officially on the road again and instead of trains we decided to rent a car!! We priced out the cost of renting a vehicle for 14 days in comparison to multiple train trips and it actually turned out to be significantly cheaper. The main reason it was affordable for us, was due to the fact that my fiance's credit card offered complimentary car rental insurance (finally the yearly fee comes in handy)! So, with the help of the credit card insurance the grand total came up to around $325 Canadian (insurance can cost up to an additional $22 per day!). We ended up with a chocolate brown Renault Twingo diesel with a backseat just big enough to fit our backpacks. The freedom was exciting when we walked, keys in hand, out to our very own little car with France plates...we could go anywhere now. We could visit the castles, the vineyards or anything else that caught our eye.
The first 20 minutes were a little intense (especially after not driving for six months) and the French roads and signs were definitely different than home. At one point my fiance actually ran a red light and didn't even notice until I pointed it out, luckily we were in a small village! It's important to note that the road lights are not always located above the street as in North America but rather hidden to the side of you. Although you won't come across many because most intersections are controlled with large traffic circles that move the cars quickly and efficiently...just make sure to yield to cars already in the circle and signal when exiting.
Our 14 day road trip has already taken us through North-eastern France, Belgium, Luxembourg and currently Switzerland and every stop has been amazing. The auto routes were a little pricey across France at around 10 Euros per 100Km (regions vary greatly) but do provide an easy and fast route with clean rest stops. We drove to a small city called Bruges in the northwestern part of Belgium in the Flemish region. The historic city center is a UNESCO world heritage site (
http://whc.unesco.org/en/about/) and was truly beautiful!
We arrived later in the day when the sky was getting dark and the historic buildings were lit up, casting a romantic glow over the city. We wandered the cozy streets, sampling Belgium chocolates from several shops and admiring the unique architecture of the buildings.
We stayed at a wonderful hostel not far from the center called Snuffel Backpacker Hostel that had a kitchen, seating area, great Internet and best of all a true "Hostel" feel (many hostels are losing their charm and turning more into budget hotels). Bruges was my favourite stop in Belgium and is perfect if you're looking for that true romantic European city.
The next day we decided to ditch the auto routes and take small back roads instead so we could see the Belgium country-side. Since we had a car we took a detour through the city of Antwerp before staying in Brussels for the night. A few hours in Antwerp was nice to admire the dozens of diamond jewelry stores lining the street since Antwerp is the diamond capitol of the world!
It was a nice contrast to Bruges showcasing high fashion and the cosmopolitan side of Belgium. A great place to stop over for a few hours.
We managed to navigate our way to Brussels later that evening to our hostel on the outskirts of town. It's funny, the drive through the huge park to the hostel was one of my favourite drives so far! The dense trees all dusted in white was magical, especially when the old train passed us through the trees...at that moment I remembered just how beautiful winter can be.
Brussels was what I'd describe as a "Grand" city. Everything felt big and powerful from the impressive Justice building to the EU Parliament building, which I'd highly recommend to visit both.
(Brussels Skyline)
(Belgium Chocolates)
The historical center provided as many chocolate shops, waffle stands and beer stores as you could ever want and I indulged in all of them! We splurged and went for a sit down waffle at the Dandoy Tea Room (after much research was found to be the "best" in town) and enjoyed a traditional Liege waffle with fruit compote.
We had the restaurant to ourselves (the joys of the down season) and savoured the amazing waffles in peace. The waffle was light, tender and sweet and I loved the signature sugar crystals inside. The price is higher than the waffle stands in the street of course ranging from 4-8 Euros with options from plain, powdered sugar and even ice cream!
We of course had to sample the 1 euro waffle from the street for comparison and I found them to be a great snack as well. The street waffle was more sweet,dense and not quite as delicate in texture as Dandoys, but overall wasn't too bad and still would satisfy a waffle craving. However, out of all the gastronomic splurges you could choose from, the 6 Euro waffle seems to be one of the more affordable options in comparison to treating yourself to say moules & Frites at a fine restaurant. After waffles we set out for chocolate and after reading much about Pierre Marcolini, we decided to track his shop down. The discreet shop is located a short walk away from the busy historic core and looked somewhat small from the outside. As soon as you walk through the doors you are greeted with the aroma of rose scented cocoa infusion and rich chocolate. The interior design is fun with a huge disco ball in the center and brightly colored chocolates in the showcase.
There is a narrow staircase that leads up to a second level where you can admire even more chocolates and put together a take home bag of assorted treats. The chocolates were decadent as expected and they offer many classic flavors such as chocolate ganache or more luscious options such as a whisky truffle made with 12-year-old Glenmorangie single malt Scotch. I would recommend a visit to this chocolatier while in Brussels not necessarly just for the chocolate (as their are many fantastic chocolatiers around the city) but more for the unique chic atmosphere!
I loved Brussels and was so pleased to find it was as grand as I'd always imagined the city to be.
(Make sure to visit the beer stores and have a sampling as Belgium beer is amazing!)
One last comment I must add on Brussels, is the EU Parliament building. When you approach the monstrosity from a distance, you can watch it rise high up over the surrounding park like something out of a sci-fi movie. I'm not sure why exactly, but I felt like I'd reached a futuristic world when we finally got to the entrance. The building is enormous and extremely modern just as you'd expect the European Union capitol to be. A visit to the Parliament is a must while in Brussels, and the little jaunt it takes to get there is worth the time.
After an amazing few days in Belgium we headed back into France to visit the world-famous champagne region. Although winter-time, we still wanted to visit the vineyards and champagne houses and sample some of the prized liquid gold. We stayed in a Reims hostel and used it as a base for exploring the region, as hostels were hard to come by in the smaller towns. To be honest, Reims was quite uninteresting and not very charming. It included the classic European shopping street lined with the same clothing and cell phone stores and had a very plain feeling.
An hour or two is sufficient in Reims I found and probably the most interesting activity is to visit some champagne houses located in the city (make sure to make an appointment first). We drove the following day to a nearby village called Epernay which is in the heart of champagne and has most of the champagne houses.
The "Avenue de Champagne" is a glamorous street lined with prestigious nineteenth century mansions housing the headquarters of famous Champagnes such as Moet & Chandon and Perrier Jouet! You can enter the mansions for cellar tours and tastings (many by appointment only) throughout the year, although mainly in summer and understand more about the production and underground cellar networks.
We took a tour and tasting at the George Cartier Champagne house for 8 Euros and even ended up completely alone on the tour (once again I love the down-season)! The cellar was fantastic and we learned so much about the famous drink and why it costs more than other sparkling wines. The producers in the Champagne region must follow strict rules and regulations in the production such as all grapes being hand picked (which is unheard-of in France now), only two pressings can be done and a certain mass of grapes can only produce a certain yield of juice. These regulations ensure Champagne is always of the highest standards and remain above the rest. The 100km network of cellars beneath Epernay was amazing and learning how they were used during World War II was fascinating, we even seen old carvings on the walls from soldiers.
As much as many people think Champagne is a joke, over-priced and only expensive because of the name I still feel the way I always have...there are very few things in life that remain special and sacred without impostors and I've always loved how champagne is that one glamorous thing that represents celebration and happiness. I like how champagne is special and not attainable for everyday consumption. The people who make this famed drink are masters of their trade and take every precaution to ensure the final product is perfect...there are no short-cuts or value brands with Champagne.
My favourite activity we did in Champagne was drive aimlessly around the country-side. There are "Champagne Touristic Route" signs that guide you throughout the valley through beautiful champagne villages and between vineyards.
The snow dusted vines had a magical look as we drove between them and I think winter offered a unique view of the region. The small towns we drove through were postcard-perfect with dozens of signs for Champagne and tastings (summer). I always wondered if the region of champagne was solely formed around the beverage or if it was just what the region was best known for, but after exploring many villages I think it's safe to say that Champagne
is life in that region and everything
does revolve around the growing, production and selling of it.
The region was perfect and everything I thought it would be. I would like to visit again in the summer to see the vines while they are green .
Luxembourg was the next country on our list starting in Luxembourg city. We stayed in a modern, hotel-style hostel close to the old town. The city was amazing and had such a unique layout. The city is built on cliffs with houses filling the ravines below. A beautiful train bridge runs across the cliffs and there are even remains of the ancient fortifications surrounding the city and you could stand and admire the view for hours.
You feel the touch of royalty in the city especially when admiring the Grand Ducal Palace, which is still the official residence of the Grand Duke. The Palace is beautiful and I imagined being of royalty and gazing out the palace windows myself.
You will also see an impressive selection of luxury cars parked outside as well as a guard. Although I don't have pages to write about the city, it is amazing and my only recommendation is to just walk around and enjoy as it's truly beautiful.
The following day we made a day trip north to the Vianden Castle. It was a spectacular castle perched on a hill above the rest of the village and preserved to its original beauty.
Admission was a bargain at 6 Euros a person and allowed you to wander the rooms on a self-guided tour. Once again, as it was low-season we had the entire castle to ourselves so it was fantastic to wander the old castle walls in silence.
The restorations on the castle were wonderful and there is an informative room dedicated to the restoration process and how it looked when they started. Highlights of the castle for me was the bedroom with the 'princess' bed and also the colourful chapel.
After the castle we still had lots of time in the day and a full tank of gas. My fiance saw a road sign reading, "Deutschland 1km", and within a split second we had the car screeching towards the exit to Germany!
Really, how could we be that close and not just hop over for a few hours? We had fun driving aimlessly through the German countryside trying to decipher the German roadsigns and advertisements and eventually decided to stop an hour east in a town called Bitburg. We wandered around the streets, admired the famous Bitburger beer's Copper vats, and even stumbled upon a small market held Friday and Saturdays down an alley. We could make out the end of the hand painted sign to be something resembling the word market, so we wandered down the street. We found a little hall with a few local vendors offering fresh sausages, kirsch, cakes and some vegetables.
I was so excited when I approached the butcher stall because there before me were the German wieners!!!I know, a little strange....but for me, coming from German heritage, these wieners were a common food as a child as well as when I would visit my grandparents. I guess you could say I am a little nostalgic about the wieners...I'm laughing as I type this as I know most people are nostalgic about the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies or fresh baked bread. Anyways, I bought two with a huge grin on my face (after accidentally speaking French to the man!) and then made my way over to the cake stand. The cakes were piled high with creams, mousses, nuts, shavings and fruit and we managed to finally choose a slice after drooling over the options for several minutes. It was deliciously custardy with a moist cake and the best part was the way the woman was all business and cut the slice with an electric meat carver!!! (Such a good idea!) That evening on our way back to Luxembourg we stopped at a grocery store to get some dinner and beer (grocery stores usually stock the same beer as a tour or gift shop at half the cost) and found we were in the autobahns of food retail! The isles were incredibly long and you had to continue down to the end before moving to the next isle...it was the grocery circuit!
The strangest part was there would be random items placed within produce or food boxes...like firewood in with the fruit. It was a bizarre store that provided good entertainment as well as 0.5 L bottles of beer for 24 cents!
The last town I will write about on this post is Strausbourg...aka "Capitol of Christmas"(As we are still in Switzerland currently). What a magnificent city!
Very picturesque with the timber framed style architecture built along the river with beautiful bridges and a stunning Sandstone Gothic cathedral.
The cathedral was so enormous that it took several minutes of just staring to finally absorb the magnitude of its presence. I would recommend anyone who visits Strausbourg to take a few minutes and put the camera in the pocket and with your own eyes just observe the absolute beauty of this cathedral. There are many shops offering typical Alsace region products and many beignets (donuts) which are delicious! Strausbourg was a perfect mix of German and French influence, making it so unique to other French cities.
I also discovered the most fantastic beading and crafting store called
La Droguerie, right in the city center. Inside were walls of beads, ribbons, yarn, jewelry accessories and anything else you could think of. It was an amazing store that really excited the creativity in everyone who walked in.
