Ireland!

Right after returning from Strasbourg I started packing for Ireland. I work in the office of an Irish MEP, and I was really excited to see a place that I had heard so much about.

In order to get our cheap flight we had to leave at 6:45 am, which proved to be especially difficult since we were departing from a "Brussels area" airport that is an hour bus ride away. We had to take a taxi to get to the train station in time to catch the 4:30 bus to the airport, but after a few taxi difficulties and an hour long bus ride we were at the airport and ready to go.

The first thing that we did when we arrived was check into our hostel, and then set out in search of a full Irish breakfast. Our plates were piled high with sausages, potatoes, beans and toast, bacon, and some kind of "pudding" that I later learned was made of pig's blood (who knew?). It was delicious, and enough to keep me full for the rest of the day!

The rest of the day was spent walking around Dublin. We took a tour of the Guinness Factory, wandered around O'Connell Street, stopped into Christchurch Cathedral, and lounged in the sun near St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was a really wonderful day!

The next day, we woke up bright and early and hopped on a tour bus out to Wicklow county to see the beautiful countryside. We spent the day riding the bus through beautiful hills and valleys, and had lots of time to get off the bus and walk around. I was blown away at how beautiful Ireland is! The hills were so gorgeous, and I was just amazed by it. It was also great to have our tour guide pointing out some subtle but beautiful things, explain to us why the lake was the color of Guiness, and go over some of the history of the region.

We stopped for lunch in a little town, and had a delicious carvery lunch. Then we set out to spend the afternoon in Glendalough, a really gorgeous little section of Wicklow.

Glendalough was the location of St. Kevin's monastic order, and there were lots of interesting stone towers and ruins of beautiful old churches. We wandered around, marveling at the beautiful forests, the sparkling lakes, and the towering mountains. We were all just completely blown away by the beauty.

After a full day of exploring we headed back to Dublin, excited to see more of Ireland. We wandered around the Trinity College Area and St. Stephens green. Then we hopped on the DART (Dublin Area Regional Transit) to go see the sunset in Howth.

Howth is a little fishing village about a 25 minute DART ride from Trinity College. When we arrived we strolled along the water, and watched the sun set over the rocky shoreline. It was simply perfect.

We set off in search of fish and chips, but as we walked along the water we heard some strange noises and decided to investigate only to find several seals swimming nearby! This was such a wonderful surprise and a real highlight of the trip! It was so cool to see these animals up close. I don't think my camera did it justice, but it was truly amazing.

After about 20 minutes of snapping pictures and marveling over the seals we left in search of some fish and chips. We stumbled upon a nice place that gave us a pretty good deal for some fresh fish and chips, and then headed to the pub to chat it up with the locals and watch Ireland take on Bulgaria in football.

We chatted with a former sailor who told us all about his days sailing and assured us that, having traveled all around the world, that Howth was the best place in the world. Ireland ended up tying with Bulgaria, but despite the anti-climatic result we really had a blast hanging out with the locals.

The next morning we packed up bright and early, were met with more taxi troubles (I seriously have the worst luck with taxis) but found our way to the airport anyway and headed home. It was really sad to leave Ireland. It was just such a beautiful country, the people were very friendly, and the convenience of being able to speak english was truly a comfort. Though I know it won't happen before I leave in May, I really hope to be able to visit Ireland again soon.

Pictures!

St. Patrick's

I saw this spray painted on the side of a building in Dublin and I thought it was pretty cool.

Wicklow

So Beautiful!


A lake the color of Guiness

Stone tower in Glendalough
Tombstones with the hills in the backround. Beautiful!


Is was soooo pretty!


View of the sunset over the ocean from Howth


Seals!

As Promised...

Pictures!

Strasbourg:

Petit France! Beautiful!

Really a very pretty city

The Office in the Parliament

The Parliament Building

Look Mom, I hung up my clothes!

Leuven and Strasbourg

So, it's been a busy couple of weeks. I've felt particularly lazy and probably wouldn't be updating this right now except that if I don't update before Italy I will get so far behind there will be no catching up. Let me rewind a bit.

Two weeks ago Lori's friend Jasmine came to visit from France. Jasmine is in an immersion program in Bordeaux, and so she was particularly handy to have around because she is fluent in French. She was also just a lot of fun in general.

Lori and Jasmine had decided to take a day trip to Leuven, and I thought I would tag along with them. Leuven is a neat city that is about a half hour long train ride away. It has a large student population. We went for a few hours to look around. We enjoyed some churches, hung out in the Markt, chilled in the park in the sunshine (there were tons of students around and I felt like I was hanging out on the quad at UR), and ate the most delicious ice cream.

Now I know that I'm going to get crap for this later from my parents, but I really do need to pause to tell you about this ice cream. I don't care if I get criticized for being food crazy or "writing as if I work for food network"; I am alerting you to this for the greater good of humanity. I have recently encountered the phenomenon known as Speculoos and, I believe, that it may change the course of my life forever.

Speculoos cookies are these thin, crunchy little cookies that are sold here in Belgium (and apparently the Netherlands and France) and they are the most delicious thing ever. My favorite part abouot Speculoos cookies is that they come in many different forms. Recent discoveries have been Speculoos ice cream (in Leuven), Speculoos Mcflurries, and my (personal favorite) Pate de Speculoos. That's right folks, some clever entrepenuer had the idea of grinding these up these fantastic cookies and mixing them with butter or something, to form a speculoos spread! What could be better then being able to spread sugar-cookie flavored deliciousness onto anything you want.

So yes, I had tasty ice cream in Leuven.

After our afternoon in Leuven we came back to Brussels and tried out this really interesting bar called "Le Corbeau" (translates into English as "the raven"). This place has been described as a "Brussels legend". Basically, it is an average bar 5 nights a week. On Fridays and Saturdays it is also an average bar, until about midnight. Once the clock strikes midnight a DJ starts blasting music and the entire bar leaps up on top of tables, chairs, counters, and any other surface and dances! It was just so much fun, but before I knew it the weekend was over and I was shipping out to Strasbourg for the Parliament's monthly plenary session.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the procedures of the European Parliament, every month the Parliament meets for a plenary session in Strasbourg France. There is a huge building there, and they all have offices. Many of them have interns that work only one week a month. They also have trunks that they load into the back of these trucks in Brussels that carry the trunks to Strasbourg. Basically, the entire Parliament packs up and heads to Strasbourg for no reason other then to appease the French and to ensure that the EU is officially the most inefficient institution in the world.

Anyway, despite my thoughts about the entire purpose of moving to Strasbourg, I was really grateful for the opportunity to go and to see all the cool things that happen in Strasbourg. I hopped on the train Monday morning very early in the morning, and spent 5 hours listening to music, and fighting for leg room with some Eurocrats from the Socialist party who (ironically) were not so good at sharing space.

When I got off the train I had few hours to walk around and tour the city, so I set out to stroll about Strasbourg. I was completely amazed with how gorgeous the city is!! The architecture is beautiful, and there are several pretty cathedrals and churches. I walked alone the river and enjoyed the architecture. Then I set out to find Petit France, a little cluster of beatiful little buildings. They were really pretty. I snapped about a thousand pictures, enjoyed the sunshine, and mentally praised France for having clean public bathrooms.

After a few hours of touring alone, I started to get a little hungry, so I looked for a kebab restuarant. When I went into the little restaurant the shop owner was incredibly nice to me. He listened carefully to my bad French and guess that I was from Germany. I was flattered. It was nice to not immediately be pegged for an American.

The plenary session begins at 5 on Monday, so I walked across the city to find the Parliament building. The Parliament buildings are beautiful! They are set up on both sides of the river, and have a little hallway/bridge that crosses completely over the river, which I thought was super cool. I had a ton of difficulty learning to navigate this new (and enormous) building.

After my short attempt at tourism Monday, the rest ofthe week gave way to long hours and a lot of interesting work. Given that our hotel was outside the bounds of public transportation, I was basically attached to Kathy. It gave me the opportunity to get a better idea what a day in the life of an MEP is like. Kathy works soooo hard! I was amazed that, even after a 12 hour day when I got back to the hotel and pass out she would stay up working on speaking time, and keeping in touch with constituents.

The work I got to do was super interesting, too. I am really fortunate to be placed in an office where my MEP trusts me, and is very patient with my inexperience. Even when I make mistakes I'm not scolded or berated; they simply tell me how to do it correctly, and insist that I'll get it right the next time. I know I'm really lucky.

Highlights of the week in Strasbourg include:

-Hanging out in the back of the plenary room watching nearly 800 MEPs vote.

-adventures with Kathy as we tried to check into our hotel, and were repeatedly taken to the wrong hotel

-meeting the Strasbourg interns

-attending a German hippie meeting where I felt incredibly out of place

-Watching Kathy give speeches

-Mass at the Parliament with a bunch of MEPs

-having a bathroom to myself that I didn't have to share with small children who sometimes forget to flush

-delicious steak dinner that I know I will be reimbursed for :)

-Gordon Brown's visit

-Watching British Conservatives yell at Gordon Brown

Overall it was a great, albeit exhausting week, and when I hopped on the train home I was sad to go.

I arrived in Brussels from Strasbourg and have less then 12 hours to pack before heading out to Dublin. I'll have to spell check this entry, add pictures, and discuss Ireland when I get back because I leave for Italy in a few hours. Much love!

Em

Paris!

This entry is certainly overdue, but better late then never, right?

Two weekends ago my roommates and I headed to Paris. We had to wake up at 4:45 am, and caught the 6:45 fast train to Paris. It was exhausting, but it was totally worth is, since it allowed us to get to Paris for cheap, and to spend more time exploring this amazing city.

When we got there we split up, Lori and I headed to Montmartre to check into our hostel, Celeste spent the weekend with friends, and Judith went to meet up with her boyfriend (but would catch up with us later).

We dropped our luggage off at the hostel, and headed over toward l'Arc de Triomphe. We walked around it, snapping pictures and marveling about the fact that we were in PARIS staring at something that had been built for Napoleon! Then Judith met up with us, and we headed to the top for some fantastic views. Seeing Paris from fairly high up, I realized immediately why everyone is so in love with Paris; It's absolutely beautiful. We spent a good while up there, soaking in the views, then headed down Avenue des Champs-Elysées.

We walked down toward le Grand Palais, and le Petit Palais, and then stopped on a bridge overlooking the River Seine. I was just blown away by how beautiful this view was. I felt as though I could stand on that bridge for the rest of my life, and not get sick of looking at it. Actually, I felt that way about most of Paris. It was truly stunning.

We headed back to our side of the bridge, with promises that we would explore the other side the next day. We walked down and saw the Palais Royal, and its beautiful garden. We stopped by the Colonne Vendôme, went into Église de la Madeleine (a spectacular church), stopped in the nicest public bathroom I have ever seen in my entire life, saw the Opera house (which is gorgeous), and lounged in the sun by a pond in the Jardin des Tuileries, before heading into the Louvre.

On Fridays at 6 pm the Louvre is free for people under 26. We took advantage of this. The Louvre was beautiful, but overwhelming. We enjoyed what we were able to see, but there is just so much art! We saw the Mona Lisa, and got really excited when we stumbled upon a few rooms full of paintings from Rubens (if you recall, we toured his house in Antwerp, and we were able to see some of his famous paintings that had been described to us on that tour). By this point we were exhausted, so we headed back to the hostel.

We got our room assignment, and went upstairs only to discover that there was only one bed left in our six person room. Apparently there was an Argentinian man that had forgotten to check out and, though he was out and about, his stuff was occupying my bed. The desk clerk gave me fresh linens, and told me that the bed was rightfully mine. I spent the night in a fitful sleep, worried that an irate man was going to come back to the room and, finding me in what he believed was his bed, either beat me up, or climb into bed with me. Thankfully, the night passed without incident, and I think the desk clerk gave me my sheets for free for the trouble.

We began the next day by heading off for the Eiffel Tower. It was really thrilling to be there. A day earlier I had kind of dismissed the Eiffel tower as kind of an eyesore that we only find charming because we learn about it as important landmark from a very early age. I have to admit, though, up close the tower was pretty freaking cool. We took about a thousand pictures of the tower and of ourselves with the tower, then headed out to see more sights.

We walked over and saw many more beautiful buildings then I can name, and ducked into several little gardens. The weather as absolutely gorgeous, and we just had a great time walking in the sun and enjoying the beautiful city.

We went into the Musee de Orsay, which was definitely a highlight of the trip. This museum has lots of really famous works from people like Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Degas, Vangough, Toulouse Latrec, and many others. It's also in an old train station, which is really cool.

We saw a couple of gorgeous churches, then walked over the Jardin Luxembourg. This was one of my favorite places in Paris. We sat in the sun by a pond, and watched little children push boats around on the pond. It was adorable. While waiting for Lori to come out of the bathroom I also had an interesting run-in with a French man who, with no prompting, formally welcomed me to Paris. When I asked him how he could so easily tell I was American he said "Well, Because I look at your face and I know you are not from Senegal." The entire encounter was so incredibly pleasant that it left Lori and I wondering if, in an attempt to change their reputation, the French government has started offering tax breaks to those that are friendly to tourists.

Next we grabbed lunch/dinner (eating at about 3:30 PM is a clever travel trick to avoid spending too much money) and then we headed toward Notre Dame. It was pretty cool, but Notre Dame was maybe the one thing in Paris that I wasn't blown away by. It was beautiful, but the touristy aspect of it made it difficult for me to see it as any sort of sacred space.

Then we headed over to meet Judith and Adam (who is studying in Paris), and some of his friends at a bar for drinks. Being an American in Paris, and heading out to meet up with other Americans for drinks made me feel a bit like I was in the Sun Also Rises (without the War induced injuries, of course).

Lori had promised me a romantic walk by the river, and I held her to it. We walked along the river and then hopped on the Metro back to the hostel for some well deserved rest.

The next morning we set out to explore the Montmartre region, which is where we were staying. We walked down toward the Moulin Rouge, and only then did we really how incredibly close we had been staying to the red light district, haha. Oh well, we never felt unsafe. Sunday morning was probably the best time to explore this region, as there were not many shady people. Seeing the moulin rouge was pretty cool. Then we headed up through narrow streets to see more the neighborhood, which quickly turned from being raunchy to being beautiful. We came across some beautiful sights, including more windmills, and an open-air market where lots of artists were selling their work.

Then we saw the Sacre-Coeur. This was another true highlight. It was gorgeous! We walked around inside, then I went in for mass. This was actually one of the longest masses I had every been to in my entire life, which was only frustrating because it was (obviously) in French, and Lori was waiting for me outside. Still, it was beautiful, and a really wonderful opportunity.

We climbed the many stairs down the hill in front of Sacre-Coeur, then headed over toward the area near Notre-Dame. Hit up the Shakespeare book Shop (in large part due to Savannah's high praises of the place Thanks Savvy!!) It really was neat. Then we headed over to St. Chapelle's to see the light streaming in through the beautiful stained glass. It was gorgeous.

We hopped over to the cemetery where Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison were buried, but we weren't able to find either of their graves. Still, the cemetery was huge and pretty cool, although it was no Mount Hope.

One of my goals for the weekend was to see the Eiffel Tower shimmer, which it does on the hour at night. So we grabbed crepes, and headed back up to the Sacre-Couer to lounge in the sun, watch street performers, watch the sun set, and have a prime view of Eiffel Tower shimmering. Watching the Eiffel tower sparkle was the perfect ending to the trip. We headed down and walked back to the train station to make our train back.

I had heard from a few people that Paris is overrated; nothing could be farther from the truth. Paris is absolutely spectacular. It is beautiful,clean, and sophisticated, and there is so much to see. It was most certainly a place that I hope to visit again soon.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Em

Pictures:

On the Bridge looking over the River Seine. Also, Eiffel Tower shot #1

View from the Arc de Triomphe. Note Montmartre and the Sacre-Couer in the distance.

The Arc de Triomphe


The view of the Eiffel Tower from the Sacre-Couer at sunset. This is the exact point where I watched the Eiffel Tower shimmer. Eiffel tower shot #2.


Sacre-Couer! Please note the gorgeous blue sky! I actually got a little sunburned sitting outside of this building.


Lori and I in front of Notre-Dame


Children playing with Boats in the Jardin de Luxembourg. I thought this was so cute.


I love this painting. It was so cool to see the Original.

Me in front of the Eiffel tower. Eiffel Tower shot #3.

I'm a little behind...

It has been awhile! I've meant to update but I've been so busy with midterms, amendment deadlines and (the most exciting of all) VISITORS! The past two weekends were filled with spending fun times in Brussels with several good friends from the U of R. Because each weekend was unique (and because I really meant to give each their own entry before I got so lazy) I am going to divide this entry into two sections.
Section I. Kierstin Visits!
My good friend Kierstin is studying abroad in London, and she decided to make Brussels her first stop on the European Continent! I met her at the train station Friday evening and we headed back to my house to drop her stuff off, and then ran out to a noodle place for dinner. Then we headed down to Delirium so that Kierstin could sample one of their 2000 beers. We talked over drinks, and met some interesting people from Holland who may or may not have been lying about the documentary that they were making and their affiliation with Disney. Please note that all the pics in this section have been stolen from Kierstin.

Kierstin and I

The next morning we got up bright and early to take on the town. I showed Kierstin some of the sights, and we stopped at a waffle van to grab some hot gaufres au chocolat for breakfast. Then we walked down and I showed her around the Grand Place area before we settled down with Lori and Olivia to enjoy some Frites (with Mayo and a variety of other fine sauces of course) then we grabbed free balloons, and went to stake out a good spot for the balloon parade. In honor of two new murals in Brussels, the city was holding its first ever Balloon Parade. We weren't really sure what to expect of this parade, we were just hoping to see a smurf balloon or two.

Now as I alluded to in my post about Carnaval, Belgians have a very different view of what a parade is. An American parade would have the streets blocked off hours in advance, and the entire activity would be carefully coordinated. A Belgian parade is nothing like this. The parade was completely chaotic. First of all, I'm not sure why they chose to do a Balloon parade rather then a parade involving floats or something. The many low hanging tram wires made it incredibly difficult, and the balloons had to be pulled down every so often so that they cleared the wires.

Secondly, Belgians CANNOT control themselves when it comes to parades. They just get so excited that they rush the streets, and none of the police really care or try to stop them. This is exactly what happened. Within 10 minutes of the parade the street were packed with people trying to touch the cat in the hat. Similar to Binche, it was also incredibly slow moving. Overall the entire thing felt more like a festival then a parade, but I got a free balloon and had a total blast. I also got to see giant balloons in the shape of Mannekin Pis, the Atomium, the smurfs, Clifford the big red dog, and many other interesting characters.

After the parade we went to have hot chocolate, and then walked down to show Kierstin the Parliament and the Parc du Cinquantenaire. It was really a beautiful day outside, and it was just so nice to stroll outside and exchange stories of our study abroad experience thus far.

Sunday we headed to Bruges so that Kierstin could experience the beauty. We walked around and marveled at the sights. Then Monday it was time to say goodbye, but thankfully not for too long, as we decided to meet up in Dublin in a few weeks. Yay!
Section II. Kim and Mike
As if having one visitor wasn't enough excitement my friend Kim and Mike came to visit last weekend! Kim is studying in Granada and Mike is studying in London. Unfortunately both of them had some difficulty making it to Brussels.

Kim's flight left from Malaga, and a late bus, construction and general confusion caused her to miss check-in for her first flight. She hadn't missed the flight, just check-in, but they were very strict. Determined to make it to Brussels, Kim shelled out the extra money for a new flight and I'm so glad she did (thanks for coming to visit Kim!).

When poor Kim finally showed up we hung out in my room for a bit, then headed to the train station to get Mike. Now Mike had forwarded me his itinerary saying that his flight was going to come in at 8:56. When we arrived at the station we discovered that there was no train coming in at 8:56. In fact, the next train didn't make it in until 9:30. Kim and I nervously waited around, praying that Mike was on that train. When he walked down from the train platform we were so relieved! Turns out that the travel agent mike used to book the tickets thought that he meant 6 AM, and Mike turned up for his train about 12 hours too late. He also had to shell out the money for an extra ticket (thanks Mike!).

Well given that they had both gone through so much to make it to Brussels the pressure was on to ensure that they had a good time. Thursday night was spent with me studying for my midterm and the two of them enjoying part of a movie.

Friday I woke up and went to take my test and sent the two of them on a walk involving some pretty scenery and a lovely bakery. Then we met up by the European Commission Building and headed to Parliament. I showed them around the giant complex, and they managed to get some pretty cool pictures of the plenary chamber and some committee meeting rooms. Then we headed downtown and set out to see some of the sights. We experienced Mannekin Pis, the Grand Place, the Bourse, and Belgian Waffles.

Kim and Mike sharing a waffle.

Mike eating a waffle in front of Mannekin Pis. Please note that this is a different waffle from the one in the picture above.

The next day we arose fairly early and met up with my friend Catriona (a fellow intern) to check out the flea market. The market was great! There was such a variety of things: Funny hats, crates filled with buttons, China sets, violins, piles of clothing, painting, and tons of other interesting things. One man attempted to sell me an old quill set for 7 euros insisting that I wouldn't regret it. Another man showed me a figurine of the statue of liberty and insisted "This is Obama." I asked him if he liked America and he proclaimed "I love America and I love Obama." I bit my tongue; at least we agreed on one half of that sentence.

The three of us on the steps of the Cathedral

Next we left the flea market to go grab some food. We grabbed some Frites and sampled more sauces. I'm amazed at the sheer number of sauces that there are. Then we walked around the St. Catherine area, and headed home to get ready for Museum Night Fever.

Museum Night Fever is an event where 7 Euro gives you admission to 14 museums for 5 hours. We made it to 4 museums. The Belvue (it covered the history of Belgian royalty), the Museum of Musical Instruments, the Musee De Ville (which covers the history of Brussels and includes all of the several hundred outfits for the Mannekin Pis), and the costume Museum. The Museum of Musical instruments was by far the coolest. We were given free do-rags, and headphones and headed in not knowing what to expect. It turns out that as you walk by a glass cases your headphone picks up a radio signal, and you begin to hear music that gives you an idea of what it would be like to hear someone play that instrument. We had a blast there.

Kim and Mike dancing at the Museum of Musical Instruments

After that we headed back home, and said farewell to Kim who had an absurdly early flight that required her leaving in a taxi at 3 AM. The next morning Mike and I woke up so early and, due to the slow metro system, I had nearly had an anxiety attack trying to get him to the station before his train.

Overall the weekend with Kim and Mike was filled with tons of good conversation, good company, and far far to much chocolate. My teeth hurt just thinking about it.

Section III. Other highlights of the past two weeks include...

...Include
-Dance parties with the other interns at the Parliament to "Heat of the Moment" and other classics
-having a pseudo-sleepover with Lori that involved facebook stalking, watching the west wing, and reading magazines

-reading 88 pages of Fisheries policy, it made my brain hurt, but I liked it.
-EPA brunch. It was all-you-can-eat, enough said.
-the pretty decent weather (up until today)

-Heading to a free showing of the movie Bella at the Parliament and the question and answer with the main actor/producer of the film.
-Skyping with my insane parents. I fear that the Great Christmas Light Scandal of 2009 will never be solved
-Listening to Celeste's account of assaulting a 12 year old Belgian Boy (believe me, he had it coming)

That's all for now! This weekend is Paris and I couldn't be more excited!

Au revoir!

Em

Vive Le Carnaval!!

This post is coming much later then anticipated. Our internet died earlier this week, and so I am just now playing catch up.

I spent most of this weekend in Brussels. Friday night we discovered a street in Brussels that is packed full of well-priced ethnic restaurants, and indulged in a delicious evening of Thai, followed by a strawberry crumble Mcflurries. Delicious.

Saturday we ventured out to explore the park in Laeken (or Laken, in Dutch). This park is HUGE, and is not the easiest to navigate. After darting across the Belgian version of George Washington parkway we found ourselves face to face with a giant wall, and it took some time to figure out how to actually get into the park. We eventually found the park, and in the process saw the atomium.

Me in front of the Atomium

The Atomium is a large silver atom built for the 1958 World Fair. It sounds strange, but it was pretty cool to see. You can also go inside, but we decided to save that for a day where we might have more visibility, and thus a better view.

We headed into the park, and came across a gorgeous garden. We had the entire garden to ourselves, and had a blast running and jumping around. Celeste and I staged a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style photoshoot on this cool little dock in the middle of a reflecting pool taken by the fabulous Lori Mullins. I'll have to borrow pics from Lori to post later.

The Garden we had all to ourselves!

The weekend overall as great, but Sunday was really fun! We headed to this tiny Belgian town in the countryside of Wallonia (the French speaking part of Belgium) to experience Carnaval Belgian Style.

The town of Binche is quite small, but their Carnaval celebration is acknowledged as being the best in Belgium. When we boarded the train we had no expectations. We weren't sure what was ahead of us, but it ended up being pretty awesome.

We rolled into Binche at about noon and shivered in the drizzle while staring at empty streets. Could this really be the Carnaval we had read so much about? We began walking around town, and a few minutes later we could hear the distant rumble of drums. According to Carnaval tradition in Binche rehearsals for drummers start weeks in advance, and the rumble of drums is a common sound. On Carnaval Sunday the drummers go from house to house gathering together those that are dressing up. We followed the sound of the drums until they led us into the main square of the town.

It was here that we realized why the streets were so empty; everyone in the town was in the main square! People were dressed in bright costumes, and were jumping, dancing, drumming, and throwing confetti around. It was so much fun to watch!

We ducked into a little restuarant to get out of the rain, and I had a hamburger for lunch. This Belgian version of a hamburger was certainly not all ground beef (there was definatley some pork or something in it) and, of course, was not on a bun but was on a crusty roll. It was a different take on a hamburger, but was delicious.

We headed back out in the square and went to buy some carnival accessories. Then we wandered more around town, admiring costumes, and indulging in Belgian fries with andalouse sauce, delicious.

Next it was time for the parade. This was completely different then any parade I've ever been to. Each little group of costumed celebrators is followed by a tiny band. They march about 20 feet to drumbeats, and then the band plays a song and they turn around and face the band and dance. This is so much fun to watch and to take part in, but it is also a very slow-going parade. Once a group finishes dancing they continue thier slow march until the next group comes along. Each band plays the same song, and after about 10 minutes of this we knew every note to the song and were jumping and dancing along. At one point a photograph with an official looking badge around his neck walked up to me, pointed at my mask and said something in french, then stuck his camera about 4 inches from my face and started snapping pictures. I was so surprised and confused that I pulled a Deb and tried to hide from the Camera.

The Parade

Papa Smurf at the Parade. The Smurfs are actually a Belgian Creation. I'm serious, look it up.

When the parade ended we figured that we would go back to the main square where the parade would finish becuase we assume that this would be where the Carnival celebrations would resume. When we got to the square however, it wasn't very full, and we realized that the parade was moving so slowly that the very first marchers wouldn't reach the square for at least another hour and a half. We ducked into a bakery, indulged in delicious treats, and hopped on the train back to Brussels.

All in all, it was a great day. Being the center for the EU and the unofficial Capital of Europe, Brussels is such an international city that sometimes it is difficult to get a true sense of Belgian culture. Going to Binche was a fabulous way to experience something that is central to Belgian culture, and that is the way that they celebrate le Carnaval. Though it was a giant festival, all of the people that we met that day were living in Belgium, and we felt it was a great way to get to know more about Belgian culture. This did have it's drawbacks, and we obviously had more difficulty communicating then we do in Brussels, but it was really a great day.

Other highlights of the week include:
-Having some really interesting stuff to work on at work this week
-Ash Wednesday Mass with some fine people and Confession with a really great priest
- Being a Pirate. In internetless-induced boredom I began playing all of the free trial games that were available on my computer, I prompty became addicted to Tradewinds. Once my free trial was up I downloaded a free trial of Tradewind, Tradewinds 2 and Tradewinds Caravan. Really a great game.
-Finding out my good friends kim and mike were going to come visit me in two weeks! yay!!
-discovering the break room at work that has free coffee for Ind/Dems
-Realizing (from Kim's blog) that the Fall 2009 classes were posted online for Rochester, yay!
-sitting in the 2nd floor stairwell trying to get the neighbor's internet signal
-Celebrating having the house to ourself (the family was in EuroDisney Sunday-Wednesday) by putting on Judith's spinning class mix and dancing around the kitchen.
-Eating a Durrem, mmmm

And now I'm off to shower and then enjoy a weekend with my friend Kiersten who is visiting from London!

Much Love!

Köln!!!

Last weekend was the much anticipated trip to Cologne (Köln). It was fabulous! We left on Friday evening, and made it in about 9:30. Thanks to Lindsey's wonderful German skills we figured out the tram system, and made it to our hostel at around 10:30. Lori and I headed out to get something to eat, and stumbled upon a little Kebab shop where we got some delicious double layered spinach pizza type thing that was delicious. Then we headed back to the hostel, and hung out with the other in the hostel kitchen until late, then headed to bed.

The next morning we woke up to find the sun shining and headed out to see Cologne's major landmark, the Dom. The Dom is this giant beautiful cathedral. Cologne was bombed aggresively in WWII, and many civilians were killed and much of the city was destroyed. One thing that was not destroyed, however, was the Dom.

Since it was so sunny out, we decided to walk, but ran right into a giant protest. We were sure exactly what they were protesting, but the police had completely blocked off the street, so we had to take a very different route to get to the Dom.

When I got to the Dom I was blown away by how gorgeous it was! Every detail of the Cathedral was meticulously sculpted; I couldn't believe the amount of effort put into making everything. When we got inside we saw that mass was going on, so we weren't able to walk around the Cathedral. Instead, we decided to walk to grab tickets and walk to the top of the Belfry.

Compared the Dom, the Belfry in Bruges was a warm up. We walked up over 500 stairs to get to the top, constantly squishing up against walls to let tourists that were climbing down by. It took an incredibly amount of effort, but it was well worth it. The view was wonderful! From the top you can see for miles, and get a good view of the city, and the winding River Rhine.



We headed back down the narrow staircase and since mass was over we were able to wander around the inside of the Cathedral. Again, I was stunned at all the art in the cathedral and all the detail. The stained glass windows were beautiful, and there were beautiful paintings all around. I was really blown away by the Cathedral.

We left the Cathedral and headed to the weekend's main event: A football (soccer) game between FC Köln and Karlsruher SC. It was a total blast. The crowd was so energetic, and was constantly yelling, screaming and waving flags, and everyone was decked out in Red. Our seats were near the Karlsruher cheering section, so we watched as they did all of thier chants and cheers. They were constantly in motion, too, jumping and clapping in unison. The Köln fans near us responded by flipping them off. Sadly the game ended in a tie, and the Koln fans were clearly disapointed. It was a great experience though, and I'm so glad we went. We spent the rest of the night eating delicious food (Doner sandwiches, mmmmm) and just hanging out.



The next day we checked out of our hotel and headed toward the Dom again because the Dom area is basically where everything happens in Cologne. We toured around for a bit, looking at the little squares that have been rebuilt after thier destruction in the war. I parted with the group after a bit to head to noon mass at the Dom.

The Dom has a strict policy about not allowing tours during mass, and the man at the door didn't seem to understand that I actually wanted to go to mass. After a few minutes of confusing discussion, with my making motions like I was praying I was eventually allowed into the Church.

Mass was great, albeit freezing cold. The Dom has no heat, and we were also missing out on the sunlight, so its safe to say that it was the absolute coldest mass I've ever been to, but it was also really nice. I obviously know no German, so I wasn't able to understand a lot of it, but I was able to follow along fairly easily. German is one of those languages that often sounds violent and angry, but as the German hymns were being sung the language sounded quite beautiful.

After mass I met up with the group, and grabbed food. With a little over an hour before we had to be back on the train the group split up to see the last of the sights. Jackson, Lori, and I were walking around when we were entraced by a crowd of people dressed in strange costumes walking. Now Cologne has a giant Carnival celebration, but it wasn't really supposed to be happening until later in the week, and these people looked as if they were going to start Carnival Early. We were intrigued, so we decided to follow.

We followed the strangley dressed throng into a hotel, and found ourselves in the middle of a giant Carnival Party. We were in the middle of a huge crowd dressed strangely, and they were all talking, laughing, drinking and just enjoying themselves. We mingled with the locals, and snapped tons of pictures. It was a real highlight of the trip.



Then we hopped on the train home. All in all it was a great weekend.

Other highlights of this week include getting the most delicious Thai food (followed by a McDonald's strawberry crumble mcflurry) with the roommates, getting a Valentine from Adam, skyping with Alyssa, Raz, and Sohee back at Rochester (I love you girls), getting the news that the fabulous Anna Sklut got into the very prestigious ECHO grad program at Notre Dame (Anna Rocks), and attending a bioethics meeting at the Parliament (yay for respecting the dignity of human embryos!). All in all, it was a great week, and I'm excited for this weekend which should include more exploring of Brussels, and a possible Carnival celebration.

Goodbye for Now!

Em