Our trip to Europe

Marie, the baguettes!

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Amsterdam

Amsterdam is 100% as cool as you imagine it would be.

I watched a funny video about the weather in the Netherlands (very rainy), and it showed people flocking outside the minute the sun comes out. Look how packed the park was on a mid-60-degree day! It reminded me of the first day of nice spring weather in college and how everyone would flock to the quad.

This baddie was toting two daughters (with a third right behind her) while wearing stilettos and clutching a tiny purse.

The people/biker/boater-watching was superb!

Farmer’s markets / fluffy poffertjes / side streets begging to be explored / visiting one of the largest flower gardens in the world

TULIPS

We ate rijsttafel (rice table) for the first time and loved it so much, we immediately reserved a table at another Indonesian restaurant for the following night.

I mean, COME ON.

Bruges

If at this point you haven’t yet bought your plane ticket to Europe, let me introduce you to Bruges. Bruges is pure magic. It’s romantic and charming and extremely picturesque. It smells like chocolate and waffles and sounds like the clip-clopping of horse-drawn carriages.

We went inside many chocolate shops, as one does in Bruges, including Neuhaus, a brand of Belgian chocolate my husband sells (he’s the buyer and Director of Operations for an independent grocery store in D.C.). He got to chatting with several of the store clerks about his job, and a fellow customer came up and said, “Excuse me, where did you say you worked?” He said, “Rodmans,” and she said, “I live in Silver Spring, and I’ve shopped at Rodmans for decades!” Small world.

Our first night in Bruges was one of my favorite nights of our trip. We had a delicious, lingering dinner, walked to get ice cream, and marveled at how stunning the city looks at night. We passed a door to a church left slightly ajar and overheard a choir practicing.

We crossed a bridge…

…turned a corner, and discovered this delightful square.

I let out a happy sigh, prompting Andy to suggest we sit down and have a glass of wine together. Yes, please! One of the many delights of our trip was having the freedom to stop for a cappuccino, glass of wine, or ice cream cone whenever we so pleased.

Paris

My Paris dream involved Andy going out in the mornings to get croissants and delivering them to me in our hotel room. Andy’s Paris dream was to assemble an epic picnic by gathering items from a boulangerie, fromagerie, and charcuterie. 🤩 He made both of our dreams come true—he bought a baguette and croissants from La Pâtisserie Cyril Lignac each morning and toted the baguette around like a true Parisian (see pic below). Vacation Andy in Paris was très attractif.

On our first full day in Paris, we walked from our hotel in the 8th to the Louvre, across the river to Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame, and then gathered items for our picnic in Le Marais. We ate at Place des Vosges, poked around the neighborhood (meaning I went into shops while Andy stood outside patiently), and took the Metro back to our hotel, where we donned our hotel robes, opened a bottle of Sancerre, and ate chocolate croissants in bed before going back out again for more exploring and a late dinner. It was a vibe. We did the same routine again the next day, except we walked from our hotel to Montmartre, ignoring Google Maps to walk down any street that seemed particularly charming (so, all of them). We picnicked on the steps of Sacré-Cœur, the perfect spot for people-watching and enjoying the view of Paris, and I thought I would die from happiness.

Side notes:

If I were to win the Masters, baguette with salted butter would be on my Champions Dinner menu. (Flown in from Paris that very day, of course.)

We didn’t end up purchasing meat from a charcuterie for a variety of reasons, but the grocery store packs were perfect. The fromagerie sold the board you see in the pic, and we asked the clerk for disposable knives. A wedge of Brie (not pictured) was less than 2 euros. 😮

Highly recommend saving up your Marriott points and staying at one of their properties in Paris. We used points for three nights at Prince de Galles.

18-year-old Laura would be thrilled to know that 20 years later, she’d be holding hands with her blue-eyed crush all over Europe—and that he’d still make her laugh and give her butterflies.

❤️