Lovers In The City Of Lights | Part 3 Celebrating Five Years Exploring Paris And Beyond

5 years. They have gone by in a flash. And yet, at the same time, it feels like we have been together for 100 strong. Life together is hard work but it is more amazing than we ever imagined it could be! Marriage is such a gift from God. Neither of us would be able to achieve our full potential without each other. It’s a beautiful, symbiotic relationship. We need the Lord and we need each other more than we could possibly know.

If you’re just joining us, start by reading part 1 here and part 2 here!

And here’s part 3!

Day 8 | Brussels

Ok so not all of our plans went perfectly. Exhibit A: getting on the wrong train in London. And our day in Brussels is probably Exhibit B. And that’s mostly because we weren’t even supposed to be there! See, on day 8, our original plan was to visit the small city of Brugges, Belgium with a connecting train in Brussels. But by this time in our trip, we were starting to feel the low energy notifications in our bodies. So, while we were on the train, we made a decision that we would just get off in Brussels and explore there for the day!

Here are a few of the highlights from Brussels! (Side note: we don’t have quite as many photos from Brussels because we felt a little unsure of our safety and we thought taking photos might just send up a red “we are tourists!” flag.)

Let’s start with the best! We stopped at a little place called The Waffle Factory on the streets of Brussels. We ordered the most amazing waffles we have ever eaten! They are made from dough, not batter. HUGE difference! Oh and then they smother the entire thing in silky smooth Belgian chocolate! It was so, so heavenly!

Other highlights include finding a cute little Belgian lace store and, Alyssa’s favorite, finding a Christian Louboutin store! At first Alyssa just wanted to take a picture of it, but Ryan insisted we go inside and see it. He’s such a sweetheart! So we went in and met the most wonderful associate of all time who spoke English like a champion. Then Ryan took it a step further and asked if Alyssa could try on a pair of shoes, knowing we wouldn’t buy them and informing the sweet lady of that fact. Now, trying on a pair of shoes might not seem like much, but new Louboutins can be an average of 800-1000 dollars!

Needless to say, we didn’t have any extra boxes in our luggage on the way home, but it sure was a great experience to try them on!

Day 9 | Strasbourg

As tired as we were, we hopped out of bed (ok hopped is being generous) the next day, got on yet another train, and headed to Strasbourg, France to meet with some dear friends, Titus & Jessica and their brand new son, Lucas! Although we chose Strasburg because it was the midpoint between them and us, it turned out to be the cutest little city!

We loved our time with this little family. It was nice to be around someone we knew! And we can’t wait to get back and see them again soon!

Days 10 & 11 | Paris

We spent our last two days relaxing (somewhat) in Paris. And by relaxing we mean, doing a session at the Eiffel tower, exploring more of the city and walking a ton!

We got up at sunrise to take a few pictures of Mateo & Anna at the Tower. It was early, but that’s the only time to get this beautiful light and there were a lot less people. And besides, these were our last few days in Paris and we could sleep when we got home!

As we were walking the streets on our second to last day, we came across this man selling watercolor paintings of Paris. As a general rule, Ryan is not a big fan of Alyssa buying paintings off the street. Something about them not being very well-done and not matching in style from one to the other. But these were so, so good that even Ryan was on board with getting one! It will definitely be going on the wall in our office as a reminder that continued hard work can lead to more amazing trips and memories in the near future!

Well this is where our trip comes to a close. We will never, ever forget the memories we have made in the City of Lights. And maybe someday we will be back. But as we celebrate our 5 year anniversary this year, we know that even if the memories fade in the future, our marriage will remain strong. And that is the part that truly matters.

And that’s the end of part 3 and the end of our anniversary trip recap! Thank you so much for joining us on our journey! We hope that you felt like you were there in some way! Follow along with us and see much more from our trip on Instagram!