Happy New Year! This year, we ended 2015 by going to Europe, specifically London, Paris, Brussels, and Oslo. Here are the highlights of our trip, and yes, I know that most of the pics are of food. I figured if you really want to see another picture of Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Louvre, Palace of Versailles, etc., you can just Google it :) Wouldn't you rather see something you can't Google?
London
The English major nerd in me has wanted to visit England since so many dead white writers are either from England or have written about England. Touring Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was really cool in a nerdy way, especially since my ninth graders are starting to read Romeo & Juliet!
Another highlight was Tower Bridge, which is so much more interesting to look at than London Bridge in my opinion.
Another highlight was Tower Bridge, which is so much more interesting to look at than London Bridge in my opinion.
Paris
Doesn't Christmas in Paris sound magnifique? Well, it was all that and more. It's my new love. My middle school French teacher, Ms. Johnston, wouldn't be so proud of my inability to speak any French, but she'd be proud that I knew enough to spot what I want to order in restaurants.
Le Fous de L'ile is known for being a Michelin star restaurant that doesn't require you to sell off your first born in order to eat there. They offered a prixe fixe menu for Christmas dinner for $55 per person, not bad at all for dining in Paris considering you can easily find pricier options in San Diego.
It's like this street was made for me. A gelato shop and a bakery next to each other?! My foodie mind is blown.
Ok, I didn't just go to Paris to stuff my face. Yes, we visited the main tourist attractions including the Louvre, Palace of Versailles, Luxumbourg Garden, Tuileries Garden, Notre Dame Cathedral, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, and Basilica of Sacred Heart, but I'm most proud of walking the stairs up to the Eiffel Tour instead of using the elevator. Hey, those pastries aren't going to walk themselves off...and the stairs were cheaper which means more money for pastries!

You might have noticed that the picture above was taken during daylight while this picture was taken at night. No, it didn't take all night to walk up the Eiffel Tower. If you just want a great night shot of the Eiffel Tower, you can take the metro to Trocadero and look for the hordes of people who are doing the same thing. It's also free, since you have to pay to go up the Eiffel Tower. This awesome shot was taken by my partner in crime. If I had taken it, there would be people's heads all over the picture since I'm vertically challenged :(

It's the Mona Lisa. It's just, well, so much smaller in person. I felt bad for all the other neglected paintings, so I quickly moved on to give them some love. There's so much to see in the Louvre. I would recommend looking at the museum guide ahead of time to pick which floors you really want to explore.

After seeing Napoleon's apartment in the Louvre, my recommendation would be to go walk the gardens at the Palace of Versailles, but I could've skipped the tour of the actual palace. I felt a bit like cattle being herded through the palace because of all the people there. The gardens, on the other hand, are sprawling and so picturesque. They're also free (are you noticing a trend here?).
Brussels
I was channeling Anthony Bourdain's 24 Hour Layover since we had 24 hours in Brussels. It ended up being a good thing because you can easily knock out the tourist attractions in a few hours. So what did we do the rest of the day? We basically went restaurant hopping around Brussels.
Oslo
I didn't know anything about Oslo, Norway other than the fact that it happened to be cheaper to fly out of. What do I know now about Norway? It's a cold, rich, and smart country. Apparently, Norway is wealthy because of oil, but they're smart enough to set aside a fund from their oil profits to avoid Dutch disease (just Google it). Norway's political scene is quite fascinating actually, but there wasn't much to do as a tourist specifically in Oslo, so here's to another food tour.