Thalys (TGV) to Paris
We hopped on the train early Saturday morning to catch the Thalys to Paris in Liege. Sometimes you can get pretty good deals on Thalys tickets, but we were not fortunate enough to catch one of those deals. We purchased our tickets when we arrived in Liege and I was feeling pretty stressed about the dent it was making in our bank account. Two round trip tickets from Liege to Paris was about 300 Euros. Yikes!!! We ended up spending more on our train tickets to and from Paris than we spent on all of the rest of rest of our vacation transportation combined (including travel from Maastricht to Barcelona to Rome to the Cinque Terre to Pisa and back to Brussels). But it was worth it. We had a very enjoyable time together in Paris and it was so nice to see Eric's Uncle Jacques and Aunt Martine, as well as his second cousin Frederique. In between catching up with the family, we relaxed in the local cafes sipping cafe au lait and munching croissants, an expensive pastime we quickly learned. On Sunday Morning, we grabbed coffee on our way to meet Eric's second cousin. We each had 2 cafe au laits (a total of about 12 ounces of coffee) and one croissant. When we got our bill, I just about fell off my chair. It was 20 Euros, which after conversion at the exchange rate of about 1.5 totaled $30. "Just pretend this is our honeymoon" Eric kept saying to me. "We're probably never going to get to do this again so don't worry about the money because it's worth it for the experience." Well, I tried not to worry and to just enjoy the experience, but we made sure not to let it happen again anyway.
Jacques Thunnissen Guided Tour of Paris
Eric's Uncle Jacques met us at our hotel Saturday afternoon and he took us on a walking tour of Paris. I have now had the luxury of taking two guided tours of Paris with Jacques and I have to say it is such a treat. I think Jacques should start his own business guiding tours and sharing this history of the city he refers to as "The most beautiful city in the world." You can't help but to share his love and appreciation for the city as you walk though its streets and talk about life and landmarks.
Eric, too, really enjoyed his uncle's knowledge and company. It was the first time he had been to Europe on his own and the first time that he had seen Jacques on his own too. Throughout his childhood and adolescence Eric's mom, Annette, took the boys to Europe to see their family so it felt familiar for him, but he said it also felt very different because we had to rely on ourselves to get around. Eric did a great job though. He said he didn't really remember any French, but it seemed to come back to him and just flow out. He struggled every once in a while to recall a word, but I think if we had more time in France he could have been conversing fluently with the locals.
After our tour, we joined Jacques and Martine at their apartment for dinner. It was a fabulous dinner and the conversation was even better. I really enjoy sitting back and listening to Eric's family chat. Conversations are full of history, politics, current events and catching up. I could tell that Eric was really glad that we had found a way to see them. We both were.
Brunch with Eric's Second Cousin
We met up with Eric's second cousin Frederique, her husband and their beautiful daughter for brunch on Sunday. Frederique teaches linguistics at a Parisian University. After brunch we took a walk together and visited her university and a local zoo. It was a very enjoyable time. The accompanied us back to the metro and gave us directions for how to get back to the Thalys train station before we said our goodbyes.
The Metro
Eric and I found ourselves commenting on how much we loved the metro so often that it makes me laugh to think about it now. But it is true, we love the metro. To us, it felt like the best invention since sliced bread. We never once got lost or felt confused about how to get from one place to another. We also noticed the metro trains ran so often that we never felt like we were wasting our time waiting. We both wish that Minneapolis and St. Paul would build a metro system like the one in Paris (or even a more extensive light-rail system). The day they do, we'll be trading in our cars for bicycles and train tickets because it's such a great way to get around and get more exercise that we do right now.
We headed back to Maastricht late Sunday afternoon so that I could be ready for my last day at work on Monday. We were sorry to be leaving, but looking forward to all of the other adventures we still had ahead of us.
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