Europe, Part Six: I said YES

As I said in yesterday's post, we abandoned our bus tour and just starting walking in Paris. We could see the top of the Eiffel Tower and were walking toward it.

Alas, we came to the Seine River and there was a beautiful view (again, I don't think my pictures portray how beautiful it was due to the dreariness, but we didn't see the sun the entire time we were in Europe).

Just believe me though, it was gorgeous.

I stopped Jeremy and told him we need to have a picture here. There was a nice looking couple taking pictures of each other, so I asked them if they'd like me to take a picture of them together. They said yes, I took the picture and they offered to take our picture.

So here I am, leaning on this wall trying to pose and looking at the people with my camera for the picture. I can't figure out what in the world Jeremy is doing because I'm looking forward, but I can feel that he's not cooperating.

That's when I said, "You're wasting their time!"

I turned toward him saying, "What are you doing?!"

And he was down on one knee...

His exact words, or the best he and I can remember were:

"Because we're in the most 

romantic city in the world,

Will you marry me?"

& I said yes!

I was SHOCKED, but so happy! Right after I said yes and encouraged him to stand up, I looked around and TONS of people were staring at us. I was briefly embarrassed, but I got over it pretty quick.

This was the happiest moment of my life. I am the luckiest girl in the world to be able to spend the rest of my life with such an amazing man.

Earlier in the day, while walking, we had passed a cute little pastry shop and stopped for some bread and a treat, which we saved for later. It worked out perfectly, because after we got engaged, we sat on a bench under the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed our heart-shaped cookie.

Tomorrow: Back to normal, America blogging.

[If you have the time today, could you send a few prayers or positive thoughts my way? I have a 2nd interview for a big girl job!]

Europe, Part Five: Paris, France

Pardon my brief hiatus. 

[Life was temporarily kicking my behind, but we're back on track now.]

Anyway, it seems like a long time ago now, but on Thursday, we headed to Paris. Jeremy's mom kept Jacob, so it was just Jeremy and I.

While we ended up loving the city, the day did not get off to a good start. Kind of like we enjoyed London, we decided to purchase a bus tour for Paris: WRONG.

Paris is just not the right kind of city for a bus tour. When you're 3 hours into seeing Paris and you're not impressed, something is wrong.

Alas, at some point, we ended up ditching our bus tour, walking around everywhere. While walking, we really got to experience and enjoy Paris.

That's when we fell in love with Paris.

This is the train station where we arrived in Paris from Brussels.

Waiting for the bus... which we seemed to do for quite. a. while.

Louvre

Arc de Triumphe

We ditched our bus tour after it dropped us off at Arc de Triumphe. From here, we walked.

This isn't far from Arc de Triumphe and when we became sure walking wouldn't be a problem: we can see the Eiffel Tower, now let's just walk toward it.

And so we did.

It was an amazing sight.

[You may notice a few pictures that might have been expected here are missing. That's because that event gets its own blog post... tomorrow!]

From there, we took ourselves on a walking tour which I had printed online. It starts at the Louvre and ends at Notre Dame.

I feel like the pictures don't do it justice (maybe because of the dreariness going on), but this is the beautiful Cite Island in the middle of Paris where Notre Dame is located.

On our walk, we found this random bridge with locks everywhere. We had no idea what it meant, but I've since discovered that it's a romantic thing: couples put the lock there basically promising to come back together one day. How sweet!

Then, we got to Notre Dame. It was beautiful. I have pictures of the inside, but I can't even post them - they don't do the place justice.

This is the place in Paris where all distances are measured. 
It's also our feet, right smack dab in the middle of Paris.

Tomorrow: I'm engaged.

Europe, Part Four: London, England

On Tuesday, the three of us took a short train ride under the English Channel to London! 

We spent the day on The Original Bus Tour, which we were very pleased with. They were funny, full of facts and very helpful. 

We caught the bus at Victoria Station.

We explored around Big Ben/Parliament/Westminster Abbey.

 Jacob found some construction. Surprise, surprise.

More construction! He told me later the diggers were his favorite parts of London.

Then, we went to see Buckingham Palace. We had to tell Jacob it was where the King and the Queen live, because he was upset at first when I only said the Queen lived there.

Down the road from Buckingham Palace, near the Guard's Museum, he found a tank, which Jacob proceeded to explore.

We ate lunch at Sherlock Holmes Pub. Jeremy had fish and chips. Jacob and I did not.

But Jacob did fall asleep with his sandwich in his hand.

We wrapped up our bus tour at Tower Bridge.

From there, we took a half-hour river cruise which was included in our bus tour and then enjoyed some wine and dinner in Victoria.

London was a success and I can't wait to go back and explore more!

Tomorrow: Paris

Europe, Part Three: Brugge, Belgium

Brugge was an unexpected excursion we took in Belgium. The morning of our second day in Knokke, where we planned on catching the train back to Brussels that evening, Jeremy's Uncle Bernard told us he had to be in Brugge (about a 20 minute drive) that afternoon. He asked if we'd like him to drop us off and then we could catch the train from there instead.

Why not?

Because of the unexpectedness and last minute-ness of us going to Brugge, we didn't have a plan. We literally got dropped off in a random spot and began walking around and exploring.

I absolutely fell in love with Brugge.

[Brugge clearly loves me, too.]

The lack of plans was fantastic.

The exploring was wonderful.

The city was fabulous.

[Jacob (obviously) loved the construction going on in Brugge.]

If I lived in Belgium, I would equate Brugge to the Hill Country in Texas: a place where I'd love to disappear to for a few days and forget the rest of the world exists (mind you, I've never been to the Hill Country, but that's my impression).

Tomorrow: London