Free Weekend Experiences

Banner:  A picture from 7/02, inside of the Sainte-Chappelle. 

Left: A picture from 7/01 of Kevin, Pedro, and myself in front of the Eiffel Tower.

The free weekend (6/30-7/02) was a whirlwind of sights, sounds, and stories for me!

While most of my time was spent with Kevin and Pedro on our own trip to Paris, I started Friday (6/30) by exploring more of the history of Delft with Bryce. Mainly, we just wanted to see both churches from the inside (and also go up to the top of at least one of them). With my train ride to Paris happening in the afternoon, we had ample time to go to both and really take in a lot of the art and history they have on display inside both. After that, most of the day with travelling blues. Our train ride to Brussels, from which we had a bus booked to Paris, ended up getting delayed during one of our three layover periods. This put everything out of schedule and forced us to take a much later bus than we had intended. By 12:40am, we had finally arrived at our hotel in Paris. 

Despite getting in so late, we were eager to start Saturday (7/01) as early as possible, since it would be our only full day in Paris. And oh boy, we did a hell of a lot that day. From seeing the whole city from the top of Sacre Cœur, Kevin getting slightly robbed by two women pretending to be deaf, and Pedro getting cut in line for the toilette in three different places, the experiences we had this day were all over the place. The highlight of the day, for me, was the night bike tour we had booked a week prior. Not only did it let us see a ton of the city, but it allowed me to more thoroughly compare biking in France to our experience in the Netherlands. Plus, it came with an hour long boat tour, and ended just early enough to give us time for dinner before the Eiffel Tower lights would turn on. All in all, just a fantastic day. 

Sunday (7/02) was also an early start for us, since we knew that it'd be our last day. Despite 20 miles of biking and walking the day before, we continued to explore the city on foot. The one major "touristy" location we went to was the Sainte Chappelle, which of all the places I've been on in this trip had by far the most packed crowds. After that, we headed to the train station, and I got to have my first high speed rail experience aboard the Thalys to Brussels, and then finally, a separate train back to Delft.

Ultimately, our short trip to Paris was one of my favorite parts of this whole Europe experience, giving me some of the best stories and moments I've had all year. I'll never forget it!