EURO TRIP 
 – Leuven, Belgium – Paris, France

Hey fellas, nice to be back writing after vacuum for several months (or year maybe).

Well, I wanna share about my journey to Europe last year in 2013. I’m considering myself lucky as I visited Europe twice last year…

First journey was in April 2013. Had been planning this trip since December 2012, lots of paperwork needed to get my visa (I sponsored to go to Europe, so a bit complicated) and went to Jakarta for the visa interview and finally get it approved… I’m set and ready to go!

City Hall of Leuven

Oude Markt - Longest bar in Europe

Flew from Bali to Bangkok (lay over for 5 hours) and continued to Brussels arrived at around 9AM. Very ecstatic after seeing a familiar face waited in the arrival gate to pick me up. Stepped out from the airport you can definitely felt the typical European weather – Cold and Grey – what a surprise!  Just like what I imagine… lol

We drove to my friend’s apartment (where I spent the whole stay during my vacation in Belgium) located in Leuven, around 30 minutes drive from Zavantem. This city is also known as the student city as one of the oldest universities is located here called KU Leuven.

After unpacking, we directly discover the city on foot. This is relatively a very small city; you might reach the whole area within 30 minutes by car. The city is very clean and well organized. It has the longest bar area in Europe named Oude Markt… Lucky me, the weather was really nice and sunny so we hang out there to have some beers. Oh yeah, just so you know Belgium is a great producers of beers (I stayed there for almost 3 weeks and still can’t taste all of them – not even ¼ of the total).

Groot Begijmhof, Leuven

The next day, we went to visit the UNESCO World Heritage “Groot Begijnhof” which also located in Leuven. It is a well preserved and completely restored historical quarter containing a dozen of streets in the south of downtown Leuven about 3 hectares (7.5 acres) in size. As the weather was really nice (rarely happened here) so we decided to kill the afternoon drinking and trying many other beers at the city center.

The next day, we headed to Paris – France. The city of Love that everybody dreamt of… Spent 5 days 4 nights there, we’ve visited all trademark of Paris! Left from Belgium with a fast train to Paris only took 2 hours with Thalys. Arrived at Gare Du Nord we went directly to Tourist information to get a free map and a special train pass for 5 days (so its cheaper). We already had a hotel reservation so we only need a direction how to get there. We were trying to avoid travel with taxi as much as possible (to avoid the cost) so we try to get there by metro….

Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

What a first impression, we stopped at the wrong station. After a while we managed and get to the hotel safely. Did the check in process and we went out again to discover the city. Which site did we visit first? Of course The Eiffel Tower… My heart was stop beating after that magnificent tower appeared in front of my naked eye!  As an Asian guest who visited Europe for the first time, I took out my camera, strike a pose (or many poses) and smile… What I was thinking that time took some amazing pics and uploaded to Facebook! I think the weather is really become our best friend, the sun shining bright (like a diamond) and its not too cold. We hang around there enjoying the magnificent view with a cone ice cream in our hand. Then we walked along the Seine river in the direction of Champs Elysees, the most famous shopping street in Paris (or maybe in the world). I was like a crazy person when walking through it and started singing Joe Dasin’s Champs Elysees… It was an awesome feeling. I couldn’t afford a thing but I still very happy that had a chance to visit. In the end of this road another trademark of Paris awaited ahead, Arc the Triomphe. Been seing it on the TV or magazine and finally I can be there it was just simply amazing thing.

Musee de Louvre

 Second day in Paris, very excited as we were going to see Musee Louvre where you can find one of the most famous painting in the world ‘Monalisa’ but of course I was too lazy to discover that museum (which can take the whole day). Well just some pictures are enough J We continued walked trough a beautiful garden headed to Obelisk, the monument that shipped from Egypt. Not really interesting and we hopped on a metro and went to Montmatre… The most beautiful church that I ever seen, the Sacre Couer which located on the top of the hill. To get there you might go by cable train or by the stairs and of course we took the stairs instead… And it was really worth a visit, the view from up there was picturesque – amazing!



Sacre Couer at Montmatre

Third day, we and some friends met up in La Defense, the business district in Paris. We just walked around the area and took some pics (of course). Feel bored then we went to Le Marais; a historic district in Paris, France. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance. After, I insisted to make a short visit to Gallery La Fayette which the biggest mall in Paris. My intention to go there not because I want to do some shopping (besides, I can’t afford it) but went up to the roof top and took gorgeous pics of Eiffel tower…. The view was like this.

Rooftop of Gallery LaFayette

In the evening we met up with my best friends (we used to work in Miami together) and we managed to go to club and party hard…. It was a great fun!!!



Breakfast in America

Woke up late the next morning, we planned to have breakfast American style, and a friend suggested to go to ‘Breakfast in America’… That was really a good choice! Everything I loved was I there, bacon, egg, ham, potato…. So complete and blended in one big dish!!!

That was a great way to start the day!

Feeling full, we took a metro to Père Lachaise the biggest cemetery in Paris and where the lead singer of The Doors – Jim Morrison was buried! We were too lazy to visit any other places that day so we just hang out and have some drinks. This was our last night so we decided to visit Eiffel tower again in the evening (as I heard) it’s really beautiful. And we made the right decision – it was magnificent!!! One of the most beautiful views I ever seen.

Notre Dame

Chateau Versailles

The next day we need to catch our train back to Brussels but it was only late afternoon, so we still have time to visit 2 other landmarks of Paris. First, we went to Chateau de Versailles - The Castle of Versailles. The location is a bit further out of Paris so we need to take another train (can’t use the metro pass that we bought on the beginning) and it took like 1 hour to get there. Its definitely worth a visit....The gates were made of gold... Its just ridiculously good. And that famous garden was beautiful. Spent some times there then we back to city and visit one of the most famous church on Earth, The Notre Dame. The building is simply great and the details inside were insane... You need to get on a long queue before you get in as there are always many tourists who want to visit this site... Then we spent the rest afternoon there admiring the beauty of the building!!

Yet, time to go back！

We went back to Gard du Nord and took the Thalys in the direction to Brussels!

Paris checked!!!