Alright, alright, here is my first attempt at catching up on
some of the blogging I’ve missed in the past month!
Ashley was here during the last week and weekend in August,
and her visit was so welcome and wonderful! It was great having someone to
explore the city with during the day while Jason was at work, but mostly, it
was just great to see my best friend again :)
While she was here we visited Brugge, a large city north of
Brussels, Lille, a small town in northern France, and Amsterdam again, because
it was somewhere she’s always wanted to go. It was quite a packed week of traveling and
exploring. The pictures tell most of the story, so be sure to check out our
facebook albums of Brugge, Lille, Amsterdam, and Brussels!
First things first: Brugge! I’ve actually been there twice
since I last posted; once with Ashley and once with Jason a few weeks later.
It’s such a beautiful town with gorgeous buildings, more horse and buggies than
cars, and lace shops everywhere! As soon as we realized there was a Belfry we
knew we had to climb it (good exercise, great view!), and I ended up climbing
it on both visits to the city! Both times we got the pleasant surprise of the
bells striking on the hour when we were about a foot away from them! Only a
slight shock…
Probably the most amazing part of Brugge was the Basilica of
the Holy Blood. A church that houses what is said to be the Holy Blood of Jesus
Christ on a cloth and preserved in a jeweled phial. They have this beautiful
altar built and a Priest that stands by the phial the entire day while visitors
may approach the altar and place their hands on it. I really have no words for
how amazing it was to approach the Blood of our Lord with my husband and place
our hands upon it together. One of those moments I won’t soon forget.
Onward to our weekend we spent in Lille, France while Ashley
was here. We didn’t know a whole lot about the city before we went, but we thought
a small French town would be a nice switch from the more touristy destinations
we’d visited so far. As funny as it sounds, one of my favorite parts of the
city was our hotel room! It was the cheapest hotel we’ve stayed at, but with
the most personality! This was also the first time Jason and I experienced a French
mass! The Eglise Saint-Etienne was a wonderful little church and the Priest
greeted us so warmly when we came in. He also sang parts of his homily, so even
though we didn’t understand much, we were still pretty captivated. Later that
evening, en route to Lille’s Citadel, we happened upon a bright and booming carnival.
Seemed very similar to the carnivals that come and go in America, only with
Crepe stands everywhere instead of funnel cakes! We had dinner at a funky restaurant “L’Omnia,”
which, apparently, used to be a 19th century brothel? The décor was
so classy and traditional with chandeliers everywhere, but also super modern,
so the place had great atmosphere, which is usually what we look for the most
in a restaurant while we’re travelling! For dinner, Jason and Ashley got stuck
with some ferociously stinky cheese as an appetizer (wimps, I thought it was
good, you just had to plug your nose…), but the rest of the dinner was
fantastic and reasonably priced! But as we were walking out, all you could
smell was that cheese everywhere, ha! Ahhh, the French…
Sunday was kind of a funny day, because, like most European
cities we’ve been to, almost everything closes on Sundays. So we spent some
time at a few of the Sunday morning markets (one of them so big it would put
the Madison Farmer’s Market to shame!) and spent some time in the huge Lille
Cathedral. As soon as we left the church, however, it started to downpour! So
we quickly ducked into the nearest (open) café, Morel et Fils, had some delicious
gourmet hot chocolate and played cards for the rest of the afternoon until we
caught our train back home!
Overall, it was so wonderful to see a friendly face, and it
has us even more excited for all of the potential visitors we have coming in
the next few months! I can’t believe our four month anniversary just passed
this week, the wedding still seems like it was just yesterday! And our flight
back home to the states is still scheduled for December 11th, so in
just two short months from now we’ll already be back home! Crazy! But we can’t
wait to see all of you again :)
In love,
The Newlyweds
(Stay tuned for another post coming soon about Italy, I am
DETERMINED to get caught up!)
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