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Paris continued
What we did
Day 4

We returned to Paris (Gare Montparnasse) from Angers by TGV around 1pm. We quickly found our hotel and checked in. Then we took Bus #95 to the Louvre. Since this was a Monday, we expected the Louvre to be crowded because most other museums are closed. Because of that, we entered through the Porte des Lions entrance where we encountered no one except museum staff!

We have visited the Louvre on both of our previous visits, so we focused our visit this time on the Flemish & Dutch paintings, which are located in +2 level of Richelieu wing. We spent about 2 hours there, then stopped at the cafe in the pyramid entrance for an afternoon snack.

Recharged, we headed out to Jardin des Tuileries and walked all the way to Place de la Concord. We saw a Richard Serra work at the western end of the garden.

Next, we headed to Jardin du Luxembourg as DH has never been. We sat by the main pool and watched the kids playing with old-fasioned sailboats. We took the bus back to our hotel, rested for a while, then headed out for dinner.

Dinner We ate at Parnasse 138, which is listed as a favorite in Pudlo guide. We had a reservation for 8pm (we asked the hotel staff to call for us earlier in the day) and were seated promptly. I don't think we could have gotten in without a reservation as the place was full even though it was a Monday night. It definitely is more popular than many other restaurants that we walked past. They offer serveral menus of various prices, ranging from €15 to €23. DH had french onion soup, followed by sliced duck breast w/potato au gratin and hericot vert. I started with a smoked salmon over risotto, then calamari Provencale style. The food plus 25cl wine and 2 coffees came out to just €46. The food was very good and the price was right.

Parnasse 138
138, Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75014

Originally, we planned to go up Tour Montparnasse after dinner for a night view of Paris, as the tower is right across the street from our hotel. But by then, I was really tired plus we had a long day tomorrow, we didn't feel like paying €20 just to go up for a quick look and then come down, so we skipped it.

Day 5
After an early breakfast and check out, we went to Gare Montparnasse to take the train to Versailles. We bought the Forfait Loisirs ticket from the Transilien window (level 0) which comes with the r/t train ticket, Versailles ticket, plus a map of how to get to the Chateau from the Versailles-Chantiers station.

I know most people go to Versailles by RERC, but this SNCF train from Montparnasse is very convenient. The train takes only 14 minutes, and then it's a 15-min walk to the chateau.

We arrived at Versailles at 8:50am (gate opens at 9am) and were just so glad we arrived early. The whole courtyard is quite deserted which is nice. We were #7 & 8 in line to enter. We sprinted to the audioguide booth (included with forfait loisirs) and then to the State Apts. We did encounter 2 small Japanese tourist groups, but for the most part, it was quite empty at that early hour, including the Hall of Mirrors.

Currently, there is a Jeff Koons installation at Versailles, which poses some interesting contrast...

Our audioguide includes a brief commentary on the Jeff Koons work in each room, which I thought was a nice touch.

After the State Apts, we toured the Dauphine apts, then headed out to the Gardens.

We slowly made our way out to the Grand Canal, where we sat at a bench and ate a snack (leftover bread and cheese from breakfast). Then we walked to Grand Trianon

And onward to Petit Trianon and the gardens

My last visit to Versailles was 5 years ago. I never made it to Petit Trianon or the Hameau that time due to time contraints. This time we did (and our feet really felt the distance)! I very much enjoyed the Hameau as it is SO different from the rest of Versailles.

Finally, we made our way back to the Chateau, though not without a last look at the Orangery from above

As we exited the Chateau, we stopped at the cafe near the entrance and ate a very late lunch. 2 sandwiches and a drink cost €13,30. Altogether, we spent 6.5 hours at Versailles.

We took the train back to Gare Montparnasse. Realizing that we had some spare time, we tried to get a snack at the creperie on Rue Delambre that was recommended by quimbymoy in her recent trip report. Unfortunately, it was not open, so we went back to our hotel for our luggage and took the Metro line 4 to Gare du Nord, where we would take the Thalys train to Bruges.

We had plenty of time to spare at Gare du Nord, so we stopped by a cafe for some coffee and crepes. Then, we got some dinner to go from a kiosk (sandwich for DH, salad for me) and we ate on the train. We arrived at Bruges just before 9pm.

A word about Transportation in Paris:

Although I have been to Paris 7-8 times before, this is the first time I used the buses in Paris. A huge incentive is based on posts on Fodors where several people are advocates for bus use in Paris. I myself use the buses in London a lot because I enjoy watching the streets, so I figure the same should apply for Paris.

After spending some time on the ratp.fr website, I got quite comfortable with it. It even has a interactive Bus map which is very helpful in planning bus trips. Overall, I find the buses more convenient than the Metro because majority of the time, the bus route takes me directly to where I needed to go, whereas the Metro would require a transfer (and a lot more walking).

But for traveling longer distances in a hurry, metro wins hands down (which is the same for London).

Next is on Days 2 & 3:

ANGERS & surrounding

Day 2
We left Paris in the morning and took the TGV to Angers, arriving at 11:30am. We stored our luggage at the train station (€6,50 for up to 72 hours) and walked into town.

Lunch We ate at L'Auberge Angevine, an ancient chapel converted into restaurant. Great ambience and good food.

We chose the menu du jour (€12 for 2-course; €15 for 3-course, including a drink). The main course was beef with a shallot sauce. It was presented beautifully and tasted great.

Next, we visited the Angers Cathedral - stiill with stained glass dating from the 12th century.

Our last stop was Château d'Angers.

We paid extra for the audioguide, which turned out to be way too verbose. However, without the audioguide, I don't know how one can make much out of the visit as there is very little explanation along the way. The layout and the visiting route was confusing despite having a map and the audioguide.

I was completely worn out by the commentary even before we got to the tapestries; which is the last stop of the visit to the Chateau. It is really a shame, because I was so tired by then all I could do was fall asleep in the dim tapestry hall listening to the audioguide.

I am never that interested in tapestry anyway, and I found this Apocalypse tapestries somewhat underwhelming. Well, the sheer size of it is impressive, but the color has faded significantly and they look worn out. To me honest, I much prefer the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Cluny Museum in Paris.

We returned to the train station, retrieved our luggage, and picked up our rental car from Europcar. From Angers, we drove 40km NW to a small town called Candé where we stayed for 2 nights.

The wedding venue was at Chateau de Challain, located 7km north of Candé.


Dinner That evening, we had a group dinner at Le Petit Manoir. This is probably the best meal on our trip. Sadly, the chef/owner had sold his restaurant, so even if it still exists in the future, it won't be the same chef.

He came up with a 3-course dinner for €40, each course with 3 choices. I started with seared wild scallops with a mousse made from foie gras and port wine. Just sublime. My main dish was baked lobster with thai spices. Dessert was "molecular tiramisu" with summer truffles. There were actually big enough shavings of truffle that I could have a good taste of it! This was our most expensive meal at €87,50 for 2.

Day 3
Initially, we planned to visit Saumur today. However, due to time constraints, we changed our minds as we didn't want to rush there and rush back. So, where to go? (I didn't have a guide book for this area!)

Fortunately, at our B&B, there were plenty of maps and brochures to give us some ideas.

After breakfast, we drove to Ingrandes, which is right on the bank of the Loire. After we parked the car, we found ourselves witnessing a huge parade of antique cars going thru the tiny, sleepy town. This kept us entertained for a good 15 minutes (they clogged up all the streets in town).

Next, we drove on D751 (along the banks of the Loire) to Chalonnes-sur-Loire. This is a slightly bigger town than Ingrandes. It has a nice path along the river so we took a walk.

Finally, we headed to Chateau de Serrant, located just outside of St Georges-sur-Loire.

We arrived at 12:15pm, which gave us plenty of time to visit the grounds before the scheduled 1pm English guided tour. This chateau supposedly is rated 3* by Michelin Green guide.

The grounds are beautiful and devoid of tourists. Another English-speaking couple joined us on the tour, so there were 4 of us. The chateau interior is quite nice (mainly Louis XIV, XV, and Napoleon style furniture). We also got a close-up look at the most expensive piece of furniture in the chateau: an ebony secret cabinet made by Pierre Gole, a 17th century Dutchman. According to our guide, there are only 6 such cabinets exist in the world today, and that cabinet alone is worth more than the Chateau itself. The tour lasted for 1 hour and we found it very enjoyable.

By then, it was time to return to our B&B to get ready for the wedding.

I was sad that we didn't get to Saumur this time, but at the same time, was glad we didn't try to rush our way there and back. Instead, we had a leisurely day in the area and Chateau de Serrant was a nice bonus.

Angers, OTOH, didn't do it for me. I didn't think the town was that picturesque (compared to say, Amboise). And deep down, I guess I prefer the fairly-tale chateaux over the real fortresses.

The next morning, we drove back to Angers to drop off our car, then took the TGV back to Paris.

[A funny side note. While we waited for our train to Paris at Angers station, we decided to buy some sandwiches from a take-out place at the station, so we could eat for lunch on the train. DH voluteered to go (neither of us speak French). Moments later, he returned with a tray with the sandwiches, plus a cup of hot tea. DH never drinks anything hot (except his morning coffee), so I was puzzled by the tea. It turns out that for some reason, when he asked Parlez-vous anglais? somehow it was interpreted by the staff as he wanted hot tea. How that happened I had no idea! And of course, he didn't know how to ask for a bag to-go, so he ended up with a tray!]

You may wonder why we didn't just rent a car from Paris and drive to Angers from there, instead of taking the train.

The reason is simple: DH does not enjoy driving in France. We had a rather bad experience last year driving in France, so this year, I decided that we'd limit the driving to a minimum. I made sure I reserved the smallest car possible (navigating thru the narrow streets in small towns is not easy), and we got a decent Hyundai i30. I also bought a Garmin Nuvi specifically for the trip to help navigate as well. With all this preparation, the driving was much less stressful this time.
(I want to make sure this is a positive experience for DH, so that he will continue to agree to drive in Europe in the future.)

TGV & Thalys
Thanks to the knowledge on Fodors, I was able to buy PREMs tickets for the TGV and MINI fare tickets for the Thalys train. Without it, I would never have known about these discount tickets and how to book on voyages-sncf.com.

In the end, our Paris-Angers ticket on TGV was €25pp one way (~50% off regular price). Our tickets Paris-Bruges on Thalys was €25pp (~70% off regular price). Altogether, we saved over €200 on tickets.

Day 8

After breakfast by Freida & Benno at the B&B, we left for Ghent. Frieda & Benno had pre-arranged a taxi for us, and the image of them standing by the door waving goodbye to us in the cab is one that I won't forget for a long, long time.

At the station, we bought a VIA ticket (€13,30pp 2nd class) - one ticket from Bruges to Brussels but allows a stopover in Ghent. The price is the same as 2 separate tickets (Bruges-Ghent then Ghent-Brussels) as ticket prices in Belgium are calculated based on distance.

Once we arrived at St Pieters station in Ghent, we stored our luggage at the lockers. IIRC, there are 3 sizes and the medium size is big enough to store our 2 rollaboards (€3,50 for up to 72 hours). As the train station is far from the center, we took tram 1 from the station. There are ticket machines at the tram stop; €1,20 per ride; ticket has to be validated by the machine on board the tram.

The first attraction we visited was St Bavo's for the Ghent Altarpiece by the van Eyck brothers. It is located in a side chapel inside the cathedral. The audioguide is lengthy but good information. If you listen to every description (which we did), it takes about 50 minutes.

Next, we stopped by the tourist info (right beneath the belfry) to get a map of the city, then we climbed the Belfry.

Initially, I was going to climb up the stairs. But as soon as I walked up about 10 steps, my thighs were burning already (from climbing the Belfry plus 20km cycling yesterday), so I took the elevator up. DH insisted on taking the stairs himself. We took the stairs down.

Next door to the Belfry is St Niklaas Church. We popped in for a few minutes... not much to see. From there, it's a short walk to the old harbor and the Graslei. We randomly picked a canal boat company for a cruise (all of them charge the same for the same duration).

The canal cruise is not nearly as scenic as the one in Bruges, because many houses along the canals have been rebuilt, so you'd see 400 yr-old house next to some ugly concrete ones from the 20th century. Nonetheless, it's still quite enjoyable and our guide is very animated and knowledgable. Also, the view of the Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts) from the canal is far more impressive than from the street level.

After the cruise, we ate lunch at de Foyer Brasserie, located on the first floor of the theatre next to St Bavo's.

It has a huge outdoor balcony/patio with great view of the Belfry. We picked 2 daily specials: pan-fried plaice for DH and Sole Meunière for me. Both dishes come with mashed potatoes and vegetables. We were very pleased with the quality of the food although this place was more expensive than I had originally thought. Our lunch was €50.

We walked to Patershol district, which still contains some medieval buildings,

then back to Korenlei and Graslei. We stopped by the Toll House bar on Graslei No.11 for a drink, supposedly the smallest bar (perhaps the narrowest bar) in Ghent. It is formerly a toll house for the ships on the canal back in the 17th century. Right next door at Graslei No.10 is one of the oldest buildings in Ghent, formerly a grain warehouse dating from the 13th century. Nowadays it is home to the Ghent outpost of Belga Queen.

After the beer, we walked to Korenmarkt to catch Tram No.1 back towards the train station, but got off a few stops early and walked to the Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Museum of Fine Arts). This attraction is by far the most underwhelming/disappointing stop we had on our entire trip. It has lots of paintings by not-well-known Flemish artists and by Jacob Jordaens (a pupil of Rubens). The only truly famous paintings it has are 2 by Hieronymus Bosch.

We were there for about an hour, then we walked thru Citadelpark back to the train station. We retrieved our luggage and took the next train to Brussels. We arrived in Brussels at around 7pm.

Brussels
Since we spent more than what we anticipated at lunch, we opted for a dirt cheap dinner in Brussels. I recall a street near Hotel Amigo that is full of Döner Kebab joints. On the way there, we passed by Grand-Place so we stopped for a while. The sun was about to set so the evening rays were shining on the buildings around Grand-Place, making them all glowing with a warm orange color.

I easily found the street I was thinking of, which is Rue du Marche aux Fromages. We randomly selected a Döner Kebab shop (the one called "Athens"). Even though these are cheap-eat joints, they are still full-service and offer tables on the sidewalk (and inside as well). DH had a mixed-meat served w/salad, and I had a falafel pita. Total was €15.

After dinner, we went around the corner and stopped at Gaufre De Bruxelles for dessert. DH had a Liege waffle while I had the Brussels one.

Then we went to the bar A la Mort Subite where DH tried their signature brand, Mort Subite (which means Sudden Death), but with the raspberry flavor. It tasted very sweet, and the raspberry flavor pretty much masked any beer flavor, so after that one, he ordered a Grimbergen Dark which is an Abbey beer.

Total # of beers consumed today by DH: 5

[I have trouble putting photos up today. I will add them later when I am able to.]

Where we stayed
Hotel Floris Arlequin
17-19 rue de la Fourche

Cost: €63,75/night inclu breakfast (booked thru hrs.de as its rate was better than the hotel website)

I actually stayed at this hotel 2.5 years ago the last time I was in Brussels. I didn't like it too much then, but I like its location (just 2 blocks from Grand-Place). When I saw this unbeatable rate, I just couldn't say no.

Well, it turns out that the Floris group had taken over the hotel since my last stay, and gave it a complete facelift. The decor and furniture looks much better, and more importantly, no more cigarette smell in the rooms. Here's the link to my Tripadvisor review.

What we Did
Day 9
Our first stop this morning was the Fine Art Museums. We reached it by way of Mont des Arts stairs so that I could point out the Old England Building (now the Musical Instrument Museum) to DH. The Old England Building is a beautiful art nouveau building full of wrought iron.

We arrived at the Fine Arts Museum just before 10am (opening time) and there was a line to get in. The big attraction was the Bruegel to Rubens exhibition which was closing that weekend. 50+ paintings from the Queen's collection were shown in this exhibition. The regular admission to the museum is €5, but with the exhibition it was €9 (still a bargain as the show will be in London next month and the admission is £8.50).

One of the highlight of the show is being able to see Bruegel's Massacre of the Innocents (Royal Collection) side-by-side with a similar one painted by his son (Brussels' collection). At the end of the exhibition was a film documenting the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992, and the restoration work. The movie was narrated in English, with Dutch and French subtitles. Unfortunately, they turned the sound off, but it was still an interesting film to watch.

After the exhibit, we first headed for the Modern Art section (as it is next to the exhibition hall). There still aren't that many Magritte paintings on view, but they are currently building an annex to the whole museum complex which they will call the Magritte Museum, opening in 2009.

We returned to the original building where the Ancient Art is shown. They have moved the paintings from their original galleries (which are closed for asbestos removal) to new ones, so everything looks a bit different to me compared to my last visit. Anyway, all the "biggies" are still on view including the rest of its Bruegel collection and Death of Marat by David.

We were at the museum for probably 2.5-3 hours, so it was time for lunch. We popped in the Museum cafe to check options/prices, and decided it's not that cheap (€6 for a small wrapped sandwich, €20 for hot main course) and options are few, so we left. We ended up in Sablon, and after looking at the menus at various places, we ate at Le Pain Quotidien.

DH ordered their sandwich of the day special, which was fresh goat cheese, sundried tomatoes w/olive pate. I had a soup of the day (not 100% sure what it was but I think butternut squash), and a lemon tart. Lunch was €26,60.

Art Nouveau afternoon

We walked back up hill towards Rue de la Regence and took tram #92 to Horta Museum (€2 per ride). We got off at the Ma Campagne stop. We first headed to Hotel Hannon, which is now a photography gallery. It charges an admission for the exhibition, but honestly, we just wanted take a peek of the interior decor. When we entered, the staff lady was busy chatting with a couple, so we just stood in the foyer looking at the ceiling, stairwell, stained glass. A few minutes later (the staff was still chatting), we left.

Next, we visited the Horta Museum - still amazes me on this second visit. We then did a walk-by of several more Art Nouveau houses, including:
Rue Africaine 92 (by De Lestree; 1903)

Maison Hankar at Rue Defacqz 71 (by Paul Hankar; 1893)

Rue Defacqz 48 (by Paul Hankar; 1897)

Rue Faider 83 (by Roosenboom; 1900)
Hotel Tassel at Rue Paul-Emile Janson 6 (by Horta; 1893)
Hotel Solvay at Ave Louise 224 (by Horta; 1894)

Once we got to Ave Louise, we decided to slowly stroll back to town as it was a nice Saturday afternoon (~1.5 miles). We reached the Palais de Justice and took the glass elevator down to the Quartier Bruegel, full of antiques and furniture/interior design stores.

We made our way back to Sablon and bought some chocolates from Neuhaus and Wittamer as gifts. We also bought 6 pieces from Wittamer for ourselves (~€0.60 a piece). As we made our way back to our hotel, we passed thru Grand-Place, and there was a huge folklore festival going on - with folks wearing traditional garb, and of course, plenty of beer tents. With me twisting his arm, DH tried 2 more brews: Grisette and Delirium Tremens.

Dinner that night was at the touristy Chez Leon. I'm not embarrassed to admit that we ate there. Rather than randomly choosing among the 50+ restaurants along Rue des Bouchers and Petite Rue des Bouchers, I felt more comfortable with Chez Leon's reputation.

DH chose the moules "a la plancha" -a huge plate of mussels with some calamari and 2 enormous prawns. I ordered the Leon Formula, which is a large bowl of mussels (650g) plus a beer. Of course, both of our dishes came with frites. Our dinner was €46.

Our final Bar on this trip was Falstaff. It is a beautiful Art Nouveau brasserie but also with some elements of Art Deco, which makes it very unique. Prices are a bit higher here, but the setting is well worth it. The last beer DH had in Belgium was Karmeliet Tripel.

Total # of beers consumed today by DH: 5

Nikki- The Waldorf Montparnasse has rooms of various sizes - and priced accordingly. Since we were only there for 1 night, I booked the cheapest, hence smallest, double room. Like I said in my tripadvisor review, it's probably not advisable to book the smallest room if one is staying for more than 1 night. For us, a small room isn't a huge problem, but sharing a full-size bed is. (We are used to our king bed at home!)

It was actually raining in Paris when the plane landed at 7am. But by the time we arrived at Gare du Nord ~9am, the rain had stopped. It was partly cloudy for the rest of the day. We were very thankful as we wouldn't have been able to visit Pere Lachaise if it were raining.

We had a really good time on this trip. Paris is beautiful as it always is, the 2 days in Angers & Loire Valley were relaxing, Bruges is just absolutely charming, and Ghent/Brussels are bustling and entertaining.

We do not speak Dutch, and we know about 10 phrases in French. Language was never an issue on this trip (except when DH got hot tea which he didn't ask for). All the French people were willing to speak English, and of course the Belgians all speak perfect English.

Almost every French person we encountered was pleasant and courteous. This includes hotel staff, restaurant waitstaff, ticket counter staff, train conductors, shopkeepers, staff at take-out kiosks. In my view, having visited Paris 4 times in last 5 years, I feel that the French has gotten friendlier with each subsequent visit. Exactly why I'm not sure.