AAVE Trip BLOG » Bike Amsterdam Paris
August 16, 2010
Farewell Bicycles - Bike Amsterdam Paris 3
Posted by the AAVE team in : Bike Amsterdam Paris, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Bold Earth families, friends and Abbott,
When we arrived on our bikes in Ghent, it was hard to believe that we had actually biked 250! It just made exploring the city that much sweeter and I think we all agreed that it was time to take a little break from the bikes. We stayed in such a pleasant campsite just outside of the center of Ghent and we were excited that this was going to be our home for the next few days. That night Foster led the group in cooking a delicious meal of teriyaki stir fry. We followed the meal with a well deserved movie break. Sara and the crew loved the the movie that we saw, Inception, however we had not been in Ghent long enough to understand the Flemish subtitles.
After cleaning up the campground that morning, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the historic city of Ghent. We all spent time admiring the city, shopping, and enjoying the authentic Belgium waffles and candy. The next day we packed up our bags, said a final goodbye to our bikes and headed to our next stop…Paris! After a brief stop off in Brussels, we were on our way to the city. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Ariel and this was when it first set in that the end was near. The first night was one of the most memorable on the trip. We all sat in front of the Eiffel Tower, enjoyed some delicious pizza and watched the sun go down as the lights of the famous tower put on their light show. That night, we climbed to the second level of the tower, however Mike did his best to run up the tower. The view was amazing and it was even more of a spectacular night when all the lights on the tower twinkled, while Tiana and the group enjoyed some delicious crepes. After a magical night, we got an early start the next morning so we could see as much as possible. Harry and Cam were fascinated with the beautiful artwork at the Louvre Museum while Miranda, Mike and Marco enjoyed the amazing shopping on Champ d’ Elysees.
We had our final dinner at a delicious restaurant in the middle of Paris followed with some ice cream. As we sat down for our final group meeting, it is tough to believe that we are going home tomorrow. It is amazing that two weeks have gone by so quick. Throughout our journey, we have all grown so close as a group, and have learned so much about ourselves, seen some incredible cities and the best part is, we did it all on our power.
Thank you to the group and everyone who made this trip that incredible experience that it was! Bike Amsterdam to Paris – Bold Earth – 2010.