Another week of intense traveling is in the books. Once
again it was such a thrill traveling with my best friend around Europe. We saw
so many places and met so many interesting people. Wish it could go on forever.
Unfortunately, my bank account shows the damage we’ve done….and I mean some
damage. So my travels for the time being will be limited to hardcore workouts
on the bike to burn off all the good food and drinks we enjoyed over the last
two weeks.
Thursday- Alex and I made a short day trip to downtown
Brussels to go to the Brasserie Cantillon, a world renowned brewery known for
their mythical brewing process. They showed the complete brewing process from
raw materials to the finished product. It was very interesting to see how their
unique spontaneous fermentation process worked using open-air barrels. Of
course no brewery tour would be complete without a good tasting. First we tried
their “” straight out of the barrel. Because it was open-air fermented it had
no carbonation and was very flat and bitter. It had an incredibly interesting
flavor that I had never had before. Our second taste was their version of “beer
champagne” which went through a second fermentation process that gave it an
incredibly bubbly style. After seeing how it was all produced, Alex and I were
in the mood to try some other beers. We made our way over to Grand Place and
went to a 400 year old brasserie that offered over 300 beers…needless to say we
tried a few.
Friday- As soon as I got out of my class we headed to Paris
on the Thaylls Bullet Train. It was exhilarating feeling such a large machine
reach almost 200mph!!! As soon as we arrived in Paris, we dropped our bags off
at the hotel and our journey began. Our goal was to see Paris in a day….we
didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. After walking a good mile and
admiring all the amazing architecture we stumbled upon a massive building with
tons of people walking in and out of it….we had arrived at the world famous Louvre
Museum. It was fantastic….everything that we had thought it would be.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to go in due to the long lines, so we kept on with
our journey. Block after block we saw some amazing churches and buildings, many
of them hundreds of years old. After another two miles we realized we stumbled upon
the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Quite impressive. After a quick bite to eat at
a café we had a long 5 mile walk to our biggest stop of the day The Eiffel
Tower. We made sure we took a route we had not taken yet so we could see more
of the city, once again more and more beautiful buildings and parks and
churches. Finally in the distance we could see the Eiffel Tower. Insanely huge.
Of course we took some amazing pictures and stood in awe of its massiveness.
After a delicious crepe we kept on walking towards our final and to complete
Paris in a day, the Arc du Triomphe and Champs de Ellyeses. After 5 hours of
walking we had finally made it. For a reward we treated ourselves with a truly
French three-course candle-lit dinner (very romanticJ). My three course meal
included escargot for the appetizer, veal liver for the entrée, and some heavenly
crème brulee. Of course no French meal could be complete with truly authentic
French wines. It was quite a day. One I will never forget.
Saturday- We woke a little late, very sore from the 12+ mile
walk the day before. We decided last minute that we wanted to go to Versailles
and see the palace (NOTE: every hotel we stayed at was booked 3 or 4 hours
before we arrived, very little was planned for this trip, very cool!). After
finding a cheap place, we journeyed back into Paris to take the subway to
Versailles. Once again we got to experience the joy and frustration of European
public transit getting lost multiple times and making a 45 min trip into a 4
hour trip. Once we arrived in Versailles we headed straight for the palace.
Knowing very little about the palace I had little expectations. When we walked
in the gates we were in awe. It was like nothing I had ever seen. The gates
were covered in gold, the palace was unbelievably huge, and the gardens…well
they were indescribable. My accounting brain kicked in and all I could think
about were the landscaping expenses. After a few hours of walking around we
treated ourselves to a crepe and got on a romantic rowboat and rowed across the
massive lake. We finished the day off
relaxing in the hotel watching the Tech game on Alex’s computer.
Sunday- We headed on a 4 hour train voyage to Bayeux. A
small, quaint village right on the Normandy coast. After 3 transfers we headed
straight for a taxi and went to the American D-day Cemetery. I was most excited
about this trip. Like both my grandfathers I love seeing all the history I’ve
been taught. After seeing an awesome museum (looked a lot like many American
museums, we later found out it is funded by the US government) we headed down
to the beach to see where it all went down. All I could do was think that a lot
of the men who died that day were 19 and 20 year olds just like me. I couldn’t
even imagine going to war. Our next stop we headed up the beach to one of the
many Nazi bunkers. As I read many had been destroyed by Allied artillery but a
few were still standing. You could see where they setup the machine guns and artillery.
After that we headed to the cemetery. Thousands upon thousands of white crosses
lined the field. It really put into perspective how many people actually died
that day.
Monday- We made our way back to Brussels, once again another
long day of traveling (12 hours!). Once we realized we had a 5 hour layover in
Rouen we decided to explore the city. We had no idea what it had to offer.
After walking only a few hundred yards we saw a really cool medieval tower. We
realized we could tour the tower free of charge! (gotta love student
discounts!) After deciphering some French we came to realize this city was one
where Joan of Arc held trial. We even saw a dungeon similar to the one she
lived in. After that we made our way to the city Centre for lunch. For our last
French meal we really went for it and had duck comfit with some tasty French wine.
As we looked around we could see many of the medieval buildings were still
standing. They were all colored in outlandish colors and still had 16th
century architecture on many of them. Finally at 10:30 PM we made it back to
Brussels. The next day Alex and I said our goodbyes and he headed off to Spain.
I can’t wait to see him in November. I’ll definitely enjoy the Spanish weather
when it’s cold and wet here in Brussels
I can row faster than him
Palace of Versailles
