Day 1 (London): We arrived on Christmas Day so it was a total ghost town. The only other people we saw were other tourist zombies. *Waterloo Bridge with London Eye and Big Ben in background

While sightseeing we wandered for miles looking for Xmas dinner. There were very few options so we were fine with Indian food but it turned out to be about 30£ which is about $45 for 2 small dishes

After dinner, we rested then decided we weren't sleepy so did some more sightseeing including stroll along the River Thames *London Eye

*Big Ben

In addition to about 4 miles during the day, we ended up walking another 10 miles that night. We strolled along the south embankment and decided to cross back along the Tower Bridge, the prettiest of bridges

We didn't get back to the hotel until 2 am (this is after pigging out at a random fried chicken shop we found)

Day 2 (London): The next day, Boxing Day, we were happy to see more shops open. This gastropub was near our hotel and focused on sustainable food. It was open on Xmas Day so we wish we'd known cuz I could've eaten every London meal here *white baitfish at Marquis of Cornwallis

I didn't take pix of the chaos on Oxford St during Boxing Day but it was worse than any Black Friday I've ever experienced. The streets were packed and the stores were overflowing (there were 2 stabbings that day). With the weak dollar, we couldn't justify buying much *calm at Harrod's after 7 pm closing

We logged another 12 miles and it was nice to stumble upon monuments without even looking for them *took a while to realize this was Buckingham Palace

*Trafalgar Square with Olympic countdown in background

Back to the gastropub for sticky toffee pudding, the only must-have on my London food list

Day 3 (London/Brussels): Most of the restaurants we wanted to try were closed for the holidays so we searched that morning for fish n chips without success. Ended up at another gastropub. *duck salad and Dan's Guinness at Union Tavern

(Brussels): After a 2 hour Eurostar train ride, we arrived in Brussels. *Royal Palace

We headed to Grand Place, the center of Brussels and caught the Sound & Light show.

But the real reason I wanted to go to Brussels was to have lots of Belgian waffles, the real Liege gaufre made with yeast dough and pearl sugar. I've been obsessed with these since 1st bite but luckily I can get good ones in SF

A big attraction is Mannekin Pis which we didn't find so we had to settle for the waffle pissing kid *Le Funambule

*chocolate and chantilly gaufre

After dessert we went to Delirium, a bar with every American college tourist that has 400 beers on tap. Then we had dinner *chicken waterzooi and moule frites at T'kelderke (just ok)

Day 4 (Brussels/Paris): We decide to keep up the physical activity, we'd walk to the Atomium built for the World's Fair (only discovered it cuz of Amazing Race). We had to walk through some seedy parts of Brussels and even got lost in a cemetary.

The trip ended up being about 5 miles and took longer than expected, but we finally see a glimpse.

Yes, you can go in those balls!

We still have some souvenirs to buy so we take the 15 minute train ride back to Grand Place

Where the real magic happens *Leonidas (they have a shop in SF)

milk chocolate for me and dark for Dan

holiday craft booths

And we couldn't leave without Belgian frites *Friterie Tabora

More delicious than I expected them to be

The new nutella, Speculoos to take home (sold as Biscoff in the US)

(Paris): We decided to take a 4 hour charter bus to Paris. We almost missed the bus because of chaos at the train station. We rented a studio apt in Le Marais district for 5 nights. It was much cheaper than hotel options (highly recommend airbnb.com)

The bathroom was a tiny water closet with shower above toilet

Our 1st Parisian meal was just ok *croque monsieur at Cafe Dejazet

croque madame

Dan takes me up to Sacré C

blurry Eiffel Tower in the distance

Day 5 (Paris): We walked another 10 miles today and went sightseeing. Dan was just starting to feel sick so he had pho for breakfast. I had a tiny bite but told him I wouldn't waste my calories on it

Notre Dame had a long line to get in so we didn't go inside

I knew we wouldn't be going inside the Louvre but it is enormous

Just outside of Tuileries Garden, we waited in line at Cafe Angelina for 45 minutes (you know my priorities when I couldn't wait in line for ND)

Thick, rich hot chocolate -Chocolate L'African

Mont-Blanc - meringue, light whipped cream and chestnut cream vermicelli

We window shopped at the luxury stores on Rue du St Honore *Place Vendome

holiday craft booths and tons of people along the Champs Elysees. That night we had dinner at a bistro near the apt

Day 6 (Paris): Caramel Millefeuille (1000 layers) from Jacques Genin