Bastille Day Fireworks

Bastille day is arguably the biggest holiday in France. It marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille which lead to the birth of the modern French nation. On Friday, there were fireworks about 2 minutes from our apartment in Levallois. In fact, it was a surprisingly good fireworks display (the best I’ve seen for a “suburb” for sure). However, it was the “big” fireworks the following evening at the Eiffel Tower that were particularly impressive. Prior to the show, there were hours of free concerts including Victoria’s own Nelly Furtado (which, unfortunately, we missed by just a few minutes). Following the concerts, just around dusk, the Eiffel Tower was lit up with lights and fireworks which lasted over half an hour. It was great. For me, it was particularly cool that they played the music from Star Wars during part of the fireworks - as a child, I couldn’t have imagined hearing Star Wars and watching fireworks under the beautiful setting of the Eiffel Tower. Impressive. In total, there were around 1/2 million people watching the fireworks.

Another highlight for me was that I was able to find a nice spot to set up my tripod and get some pretty good shots. Right next to me were some professional photographers, so I even got some free tips!

Southern Spain

Ross and Carlee were planning a trip to Europe, so we decided to take a trip together to the south of Spain for a week. It was an awesome trip, with lots of interesting and new personal news. Ross proposed to Carlee while we were in Gibraltar (she said yes!!!) and this was Nadya’s first trip pregnant, so all of those things made this a particular memorable vacation.

We rented a car, and stayed at a timeshare in a small town called Nerja. What a intriguing little town; the locals were extremely friendly, and they seemed happy and ready to party all the time. Every day, we took a trip out to a different nearby town including Malaga, Seville, Granada, Gibraltar and a number of hill towns.

Ultimately, it was a great trip. Lots of quality time with good friends, lots of sightseeing, and even a nice balance of relaxation thrown in.

Bruges

Bruges
Originally uploaded by SaurabhA.

Dates: March 24th to 26th, 2007

At the last minute, Nadya and I decided to rent a car and drive out to Bruges for a relaxing long weekend. After a few very exhausting weeks at work, this was a welcome vacation and Bruges turned out to be the perfect place to enjoy a relaxing, yet interesting long weekend.

We left Saturday morning for the three hour drive from Paris to Bruges. The drive was uneventful but it's worthwhile mentioning the very cool and very fast TGV, Eurostar and Thalys trains that sped by us at 300 km/h.

We arrived in Bruges and were immediately enchanted by this beautiful town, appropriately called the "Venice of the North". With its cobblestone lanes, intricate architecture, horse-and-carriages, old-style windmills and, of course, canals, Bruges was much more than we'd envisioned.

We took our time in Bruges and didn't try to pack too much into the trip. The goal was simply to relax and take in the beauty, which is exactly what we did. For both of our full days there, we spent the majority of our time wandering the streets and canals of Bruges. Of course, we also paid a visit or two to the numerous Tea Houses, Friteries (that would be French Fry shops/stands) and Chocolate Houses in Bruges.