What do you say when one of your oldest friends asks you to come visit them in Belgium and take family photos while you're there? That's an easy answer ... YES!
It all started at Pier 1 Imports in Colorado Springs, 2012. Catherine worked there and said hello as I browsed with a pocket full of wedding gift cards. I can count on one hand the number of visits we’ve had since 2013, but kindred spirits never lose touch I spending the week in Europe with Catherine and her family was nothing short of spectacular. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can’t even express how wonderful it was to not only see you in person, but also to explore new places with you!
April 18th was spent in Brugge where took Catherine’s family photos. Belgian waffles are street food here (and totally delicious!!), the architecture is the cutest and there’s more chocolate shops than you can count!
Friday, April 19th :: We ditched rainy Belgium for sunny Palma de Mallorca where we stayed at a really cute hotel and enjoyed a traditional Mallorcan meal. Shout out to my two years of high school Spanish for helping us bridge the language barrier with the chef lol The number one reason Catherine wanted to come to Palma - learning to cook paella. We had a private class that started at a beautiful market and ended with a delicious meal on her patio surrounded by lemon trees. I put this new skill to use as soon as I got home by making paella for my family and in-laws - it was almost as good as it was in Spain! Palma is gorgeous and the ice cream is so good, I’m not ashamed to say we got it twice in one day. It was a super quick trip and definitely worth it! We shopped till we dropped and flew back to Belgium on Sunday morning, April 21st. Quick switcharoo of bags and we zipped off to our next stop - Paris!
4/21 :: Welcome to Paris! T we arrived in time for lunch at Catherine’s favorite café, beef burgundy and frog legs followed by crème brûlée h walked around all over, so much to see! Dinner at another sweet café before heading to our hotel, just a couple blocks from the Eiffel Tower.
4/22 :: I can’t even say enough how special this day was. Doing all the touristy things with Catherine and photographing it all along the way. This bread-lovin girl was a big fan of the French cuisine, continental breakfast after sunrise photos at the Eiffel Tower (how many selfies with it are too many? Asking for a friend…) before heading out to put our bags in the car… just kidding, got distracted and ended up carrying them around all day.
We walked something like 25k steps around Paris and soaked in every moment, but to be honest, it was the flower shop and a guy walking past with baguettes that made the reality really sink in for me. I’ve never been one who’s dreamt of traveling, even booking this trip felt so surreal… let’s just say, dreams can change
I might have caught the travel bug!! But for now, I’ll relive all these soul-sinked moments as I go thru hundreds of photos from a perfectly wonderful time with an old friend ... my cup is runneth over… thank you, Cat!! A silly highlight of a long day - having to dump out her entire bag to find her car keys. We were tired, our feet were sooooore, but this made for a good laugh. Followed by Paris traffic at rush hour and almost running out of gas because we couldn’t find a place to fill up ... girl, no moment with you is dull!! Plus, a double rainbow sighting on the way back to Belgium!!
