Chocolate Heaven

The next morning we headed to Brussels for the day. Our flight to Rome left that night out of Brussels, so we figured we would do some chocolate shopping before. When I went to church in Brussels back in October with my sister and friend, the Bishop of the ward gave us the best advice ever- to visit the Neuhaus Chocolate Outlet, where you can sample as much free chocolate as you want! He said if you leave without feeling sick, you haven't done your job. I must admit, I was a bit skeptical. How could there really be a chocolate outlet that gives unlimited free samples? Sadly it was closed that day because it was Sunday, but I now knew where I would go next time I was in Brussels.

Well the Bishop wasn't kidding! We arrived to the Neuhaus Outlet not sure what to expect. I was hoping it wouldn't be a disappointment since I had told everyone we needed to go. We walked in and it looked like any other chocolate shop, except in front of almost every display, was a tray of samples. A row of about 30 open chocolate boxes lined one of the walls. It was a dream come true. I went around quickly trying everything to find my favorite, Big Russ was so excited he couldn't stop giggling, Susie was trying to find gifts to take home, and Rusty was just doin his thing, sticking by his favorites. 

If you are ever in Brussels, and like chocolate, this place is a must! It is about 30 minutes outside the city, but depending on how much you can eat, it'll save you at least 20 euro :) 

Family in France

Rusty had a home volleyball match on December 28th. When I saw the schedule at the beginning of the season, I was bummed there was a match just 3 days after Christmas...there would be no going home for us, and maybe not even much traveling. In Finland we had two weeks off and were able to go home, which now seems crazy, but this year's schedule actually ended up working out perfectly because Russ and Susie were finally able to watch Rusty play in a professional match! 

While French fans are no rivals to Greek fans (shirts off, body paint, lit flares in hand), Russ and Susie did get to experience the drums and chanting of the "Blue Eagles" and the post match "VIP party". The VIP party is basically just free snacks and drinks for the players, their family and friends, and supporters of the club. All the teams in France put one on after every home match. As long as they have desserts, which they usually do, I'm happy ;) 

It was so great to be able to show Russ and Susie around our temporary home. They even went into parent mode and hung three paintings we had been meaning to hang on our walls for months! My friend surprised me with them because I had mentioned I needed stuff for the walls. How nice is that?! We don't have a hammer, so they improvised by using a pot haha. Finally our walls aren't bare!

I spy Big Russ

Paris to Chantilly

Day 4: December 27th 

Hotel des Invalides & Shopping 

Rusty took the rental car, so we needed somewhere close enough to our hotel to walk to. Russ wanted to check out the Hotel des Invalides and Susie felt like shopping, so we sent Russ out on his own and strolled the streets. 

Chantilly, France

Rusty got back to Paris to pick us up around 4pm. We wanted to head out before traffic hit, so we decided to stop somewhere between Paris and Cambrai for dinner. I looked at a map on my phone and saw that Chantilly was about an hour away and was on our route. I had been wanting to go there to see a castle so the decision was easy, plus everyone was getting in the tired/hungry zombie phase...you know, when it's been a long day, you haven't eaten in forever, and making a decision on where to go and what to do next seems impossible, so I knew I had to act quick ;) Rusty entered it into the GPS and off we went.  

As we were driving in, the castle was the first thing we saw. It was stunning. Sadly it was closed, so we weren't able to go inside, but it was so pretty I was happy just being able to see the outside. 

The town was so quaint. There were paintings of horses on walls to celebrate the annual horse races that are held at the castle. I would love to come back and see them. We stopped in a cafe, which didn't end up having much food, so we all had soup as a snack and planned to eat dinner in Cambrai. But we ran into another problem since we didn't get back to Cambrai til about 11pm- both the food places we wanted to take Susie and Russ to were closed. We went into an open bar which also didn't end up having much of a menu, but, we noticed the people there had brought in food from other places. Right outside were a couple food trucks, so food trucks it was!

Eating food truck burgers and fries in a random bar may not have been the best meal ever, well except for the fries, those are actually really good. I guess we do call them french fries for a reason...although apparently it's a big debate whether northern France or Belgium created them...but enough of my fry tangent haha, our dinner in Cambrai was another unforgettable memory we can add to the list!

How cute is this window display?

Paris Travels Continued

I soaked up the rest of our time in Paris. It's a world of it's own, and it's such a beautiful one! The architecture, the Eiffel Tower, the river with it's many charming bridges. I have never thought of a city as 'romantic' until I came to Paris. 

Sadly, Rusty had to leave back to Cambrai for practice the day after Christmas. He got to spend the first half of the day with us and then it was au revoir. This trip to Paris was so great because it was so much more relaxed than normal. I didn't have to rush around making sure I got to see all of the sights. My only goal was to make sure Susie and Russ were enjoying their trip, so I happily obliged to sleeping in, having breakfast in bed, and daily (Crio Bru) tea time. 

Day 3: December 26^th

Arc de Triomphe

One of the LDS missionaries here told us that we can get to the top of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe free with our French visa. So we brought our passports, thinking all the tedious visa paperwork was finally going to pay off, only to find out that you must be 24 years or under- ugh, the downside of getting old ;) 

The Louvre

I can't figure out the layout of this place for the life of me. Susie and I got lost for an hour, which was fine since there are things to see everywhere you turn, but it can get frustrating if you are trying to get somewhere haha. How French of them to make it confusing for tourists. 

              

We didn't pick the best day to go up, it was rainy and foggy.

The Louvre 

Mona Lisa draws quite the crowd