My Europe Adventure // Stories and Photos

When we decided to book our Europe adventure it started with just being a trip to France. We originally were going to fly in and out of Paris and spend some time travelling the rest of France after exploring all of Paris. Once we decided to add a stop in London, to visit our friends Abby and Blake, the plan quickly evolved in a few more trains and a few more cities. Our France trip became our London-Paris-Brussels-Bruges-Amsterdam Europe Adventure!

We flew into London (after a quick stop over in Reykjavik, Iceland) and dropped our arguably-overpacked bags at our friend’s place. We spend three days exploring the city, mastering the tube system and saying cheerio to the Queen. In the evenings our local tour guide, Blake, would literally walk us around in circles to find the best dinner and drink spots. It is possible that his sense of direction is a little off, but he makes up for it in commitment to his search.

We caught the high speed train from London to Paris and arrived in the city of love in what felt like no time at all. Saying our Paris apartment was small would be an understatement… perhaps itty-bitty would be more accurate. Having said that, it was perfect! Our little spot was on a pedestrian only walking street that was lined with dreamy pastel-painted homes.

While in Paris we walked almost everywhere. Through the shopping districts, up the Arc de Triomphe, and along the Pont des Arts (love lock bridge). We ate macaroons at the top of the Eiffel Tower, people watched from cafes, and quite possibly indulged in too many crepes (but really… can you eat too many crepes?).  We caught a show at the Moulin Rouge (returning home at 2:00am) and then met the amazing Raphaëlle from Laparvenue at the Pont Alexandre III for a photo shoot at 6:00am the next morning.

We even took a little excursion to Palace of Versailles one morning and tried not to get lost wandering the massive chateau and the beautiful grounds.

We wished adieu to Paris and made our way to Brussels. Our apartment in Brussels felt like a mansion compared to our adorable little spot in Paris (and by mansion I clearly mean a simple 1 bedroom). While in Brussels we did what you would expect… ate Belgium chocolate for breakfast, Belgium waffles for lunch and frites for dinner. After the amazing photo shoot with From Brussels with Love blogger Ruxandra we celebrated with a delicious dinner at Fin de Siecle (honestly the best meal of the entire trip).

When we emerged from our sugar coma (remember all the chocolate eating?) we hopped a train to Bruges. There we explored the canals, cobbled streets and medieval buildings that make up Bruges. We stayed a lovely little place called Hotel Biskajer which had the tiniest elevator (we could hardly both fit into it with our packs on). In Bruges we found a couple nice spots that just begged to be the backdrop to a photo shoot – obviously we had to oblige so keep an eye out for that post soon.

Amsterdam was the final stop on our trip and it was my second favorite city (with Paris taking first place). We stayed on houseboat Janna docked on the Amstel Canal. The houseboat owner, Coleta, was fabulous and gave us some great exploring tips for Amsterdam. The boat was amazing and such a great base camp for exploring. It had two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and bathroom. Coleta and her family lived on another boat right next to us and they made sure our boat was well stocked with maps, travel info and much more.

It was a little sad to pack our bags and board the plane back home (although I was very excited for my own bed and the opportunity to do some laundry). It was a perfect trip with my favorite travel companion.

I probably shouldn’t end this post before thanking my amazing husband for carrying my camera gear around Europe, giving me one of his sweaters when I didn’t pack properly for chilly Amsterdam and making sure I didn’t get caught between closing train doors. I couldn’t image exploring the world with anyone else!

And since no trip is complete without a ridiculous amount of selfies…

xo Brittany