BENELUXury

The last weekend was a fun filled one, we had a party from the city of Lyon, for all the foreign students in Lyon. Yes, thats true, the city (the local government) here threw a party with DJ, drinks, in a nightclub for the foreign students, even offering us free invites and a complimentary drink.

NOW THATS WHY WE LOVE FRENCH UNIVERSITIES !! :-)

So that was a great start to the weekend... a day of rest on Thursday followed by the party and a 06.20 AM train to Amsterdam.... hehehe... even we didnt know why we did this.


ON our way up North we crossed Belgium where we decided to stopover at Antwerp for a couple of hours and enjoy our first taste of waffles, which ofcourse are a Belgian speciality.

The trip truly began with the visit to Netherlands, and a night in the city of amsterdam. Amongst other things whats most popluar there is the RED LIGHT DISTRICT which we just had a glimpse of. Otherwise the city has some great night life and awesome pub culture. Though again we had to steer clear of the cannabis vending "cafe".

The next day we headed to Belgium again and visited Brussels, getting a quick glimpsse of the Mannekin Pis (yes Pun Intended) which is a 1-1.5 feet bronze statue of a 2-3 year old boy PISSING!!! YES YES
PISSING!!!

and believe me almost every tourist to brussels visits the Mannekin pis to top it all we also heard that they have in the city somewhere a pissing girl and a pissing DOG! however I think I had filled my quota of urinating idols.

The main square was absolutely amazing with great architeture all around us and we also walked past the Royal palace which was shut for the Public.

The rest of the time was spent visiting the area which is a huge shopping district similar to the Champs Elyss in Paris. It was great to see huge brands vying for my wallet (though it didnt have any money) :-P

Next we hoped onto an hour long ride to Bruggs which Is the highlight of pur trip and was easily one of the best cities I have visited on this Euro tour. A small place, a quiet place, great food, canals and Italian restaurants give it a huge Italian flavour. To add to it they have great chocolateries which dressed their windows with the most amazing artwork all made from chocolate ofcourse!

Next day saw us leave early and run to catch the train to Luxemburg and 4 hours later we were there at the GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBURG!
bang in the centre of Luxemburg city, only to know that the whole city and its shops would open at 2 pm.


We checked out the Royal Palace and the Town centre which are great pieces of architecture no doubt. AT 2 on the second, we started barging into the shops, picking up perfumes ( my friend bought many) and I just tested a couple of dozen :-), buying candy and eating at the Oberweiss pastry and chocolate shop. IT has the most amaxing choclaote mousse pastry with a mix of chocolate sauce, chocolate mouse, macroons and biscuits in the centre.. something that I dont mind goingback to Luxemburg for!!

All in all it was a smaller weekend and the cities we covered desrved more time by all means, however I feel I did justice to each city I visited and that the BENELUX countries are surely a great place to spend some quality time with friends and family.