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France/Belgium
  • Diana O
  • Diana O

France/Belgium

A 17-day adventure by Diana. Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 5, 2026
    Diana OFrance/BelgiumTraveler
    Finally used some of our Alaska miles.Room for my feetsies!Not good enough to poison myself.

    PDX

    July 5 in the United States ☀️ 28 °C

    Ryan was a very popular person on our British Airways flight, given he was the only person in our cabin with a working stream of the England/Mexico game.

  • Diana OFrance/BelgiumTraveler
    Espresso standing up!1I am as tired as I look, yes.

    Paris

    July 7 in France ☁️ 26 °C

    An arrival, but we're saving the rest of it for the end of the trip, since we also will be departing from CDG. Ryan looking particularly branded in ASU gear for our train ride to Marseille.

  • Diana OFrance/BelgiumTraveler
    A church from the 1320s.
    A church from the 1320s.A different church, a few blocks away, also from the 1320s.I fuggin' love a funicular.1Inside the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.It was COVERED in mosaics. Absolutely amazing.1Even the ceiling.Since it was up on a hill, the view of Lyon was great.Roman theatre ruins! ... being set up for a show later that evening.When in Roman Gaul...A clock inside a different random church. I LOVE OLD CHURCHES.The basilica from the river.Medieval Lyon.Lyonnaise salade, foie gras terrine with fig jam and sweet bread.Pig skin sausage with mustard sauce, veal head and tongue with vinegar sauce. Traditional Lyonnaise.The Rhône was very green.

    Lyon

    July 11 in France ⛅ 33 °C

    Lyon was nice but it was punishingly hot and everything closed on Sundays, even in the tourist areas. We visited several churches and some Roman theatre ruins that are still used as a performance venue.Read more

  • Diana OFrance/BelgiumTraveler
    Partial skyline of the Grande Place.
    Partial skyline of the Grande Place.More Grande Place.Moooooore.Old Lille.The Citadel is still actively used by the military for ???. We couldn't get much closer in.The Citadel had a lovely moat with lots of wildlife.An older gate of the Citadel.Beef stew made with beer and gingerbread. The Belgian influence is strong here.Rodin.Spring (left), Autumn (right).Inside the art museum.Vanity.Judith after cutting off Holofernes' head.Art from the 1400s.An old book written by hand on parchment.The same, but a Bible.Really worth the zoom on this one.Spectacles from the 1300s, with wooden carrying cases.A 300,000 year old tool found in the area.Large maps like this were used to plan battles.This gate separated the city from a leper colony back in the day.A (closed) bell tower.

    Lille

    Jul 13–16 in France ☁️ 29 °C

    I was a little fascinated by Lille, because it's a city of over a million people that I didn't know existed until I followed a random French powerlifter on Instagram several years back. It was easily the most livable of the cities we've been to so far, and we enjoyed their art museum, their citadel, and walking around taking in their Flemish-inspired architecture.Read more

  • Diana OFrance/BelgiumTraveler
    A medieval tower.
    A medieval tower.Brussels has three famous peeing statues and we stumbled upon one.Cow udder with cherry sauce. I was skeptical but it was SO good.Pork cheek for me, horse steak for Ryan. I tried a bite of the horse steak but felt bad. :(Comic book museum!I could watch this on repeat.Belgium invented French fries so we had to.They have a GOTHIC city hall. Why not me.Grande Place. Much more grande than Lille's.Vegan Belgian waffle for Ryan.The birthplace of Tin Tin.What's left of the old medieval city walls.A building from 1587.A church, which fell flat after the mosaic church in Lyon.EU Parliament, which was closed on a Friday.

    Brussels

    Jul 17–19 in Belgium ⛅ 26 °C

    Brussels seems to be polarizing online - I've seen lots of posts on Reddit wondering why anyone would ever visit there, and an almost equal number of posts of people who enjoyed it, wondering why people hate it. We fell into the latter camp, enjoying a comic book museum, their Grande Place (FAR more grande than the one in Lille), obligatory waffles, and a visit to the EU Parliament.Read more

  • Diana OFrance/BelgiumTraveler
    BONE MARROW
    BONE MARROWPicasso museum in the next few.A beautiful sandwich in the Jewish quarter.Vegan macarons. Ryan's first time having them! They're always made with egg whites.Linguistics museum.An SLP in his natural habitat.

    Paris

    July 19 in France ☁️ 23 °C

    Our second time in Paris was just as lovely as the first, and since we hit up so many of the usual tourist attractions on our first visit, we could afford to burn some time on some of the longer ones. We went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and visited a linguistics museum, as well as the Picasso museum.Read more

  • Diana OFrance/BelgiumTraveler

    Versailles

    July 20 in France ☁️ 22 °C

    Since we had extra time, we took a trek out to see the Palace of Versailles. Rich people behaving badly is my vibe, and even with being ransacked after the revolution, there was still plenty to explain why the Revolution happened to begin with.Read more

    Trip end
    July 21, 2026