6-Day Study Tour

This past week has been awesome. We left for our study tour bright and early on Thursday morning and headed to our first stop Bastogne. We stopped and visited the memorial that the Belgian people have to the United States for WWII. It was very beautiful, but it was FREEZING! Especially once we climbed the slippery spiral stairs to the top of the memorial.

After Bastogne, we moved on to Luxembourg City, one of the richest cities in Europe. We explored for awhile and had great sandwiches and shopped. We saw were the Royal Family of Luxembourg lives (I know there IS a royal family in Luxembourg!) and toured their Notre Dame Cathedral. By the time we left, chubby snow was falling from the sky.

We arrived in Brussels at dark and walked to our hotel which was in the popular walking area around the city center. We stayed in the most tacky, bizarre place called the Hotel Mozart. I simply cannot describe what this place was like—you will have to wait for the pictures. In order to get to our room, you had to walk up 5 flights of stairs and go through an outdoor courtyard. Our room was in the attic and slanted downward. It was an experience of itself!

The first night we ate dinner and then the whole group met for drinks at the world famous Delirium Bar. They have 2004 beers on tap and every kind of beer has its own cup! When we were at the bar downstairs, we met two guys named Mike and found out one of them graduated from IU. About ten of us ended chatting with them and they bought us drinks all night! I tried some really good Belgian beers like Chimay, Urthel, and cherry beer. The whole group stumbled home around 3:30 am. I still have no idea how we made it up all of those stairs to find our room!

The next day we all had to get out of bed and go visit the European Union and the US Embassy to the EU. It was interesting. That afternoon, we took a guided tour with Louie ("want abanana?"—picture a cute 75 year-old man with a beret on cracking jokes hahaha) all around Brussels and saw the Little Boy Peeing statue, the Town Center, and Old Palace. We then ate waffles and met at Delirium again.

Day 3- We got up and traveled to Bruges, which is about 10 minutes from the coast and they call it the "Venice of the North". Bruges, by far, was my favorite stop on our trip! It was beautiful with its colorful houses, beautiful buildings, charming people, and great food. We toured a chocolate museum (Belgian chocolates YUM), climbed 366 steps in the Bell Tower and saw awesome views of the city, learned all about Diamonds at the Diamond Museum, and toured a local brewery and had Bruges Zat (a very delicious beer). We also visited the Our Lady Basilica (Notre Dame) and I saw my first Michelangelo sculpture of Mary.

Sadly, we left Bruges in the morning and traveled to Versailles. We explored the palace and the gardens and drank espresso because it was so cold! The Hall of Mirrors was amazing and I definitely wouldn't mind living there.

We then checked into the Hotel American (of course) in Paris and left for our authentic French dinner. After that we boarded a boat and toured the Seine River at night. The Eiffel Tower is beautiful!

Day 5- Our plans of taking the lift up the Eiffel Tower were changed because it was so foggy, so instead we climbed up the steps to the beautiful Sacre Couer Cathedral. What a beautiful church! We toured the artsy village of Montmarc and then drove around the Arc de Triumph and down the Champs Elysees. We explored the Louvre (not very meticulously—I am definitely coming back to Paris so I wasn't upset), and then had free time. We visited the Saint Chapelle inside the Old Palace which is walled with beautiful stained glass windows. Then walked down to Notre Dame and went in there. The churches were amazing, but I personally liked the Notre Dame cathedral in Reims the best. It was so peaceful and not touristy.

The girls and I then ate dinner at this nice French brasserie. I had an awesome croque madame (hot ham and cheese with an egg on top) and had chocolat crepes. Yum! Then we walked to the Hotel de Ville and half of us ice skated (I sat out on that because we all know how great of an ice skater I am- haha). We took the metro home and then went out for a drink that night.

Day 6- We left Paris for the Champagne region where we stopped in Reims. We visited my now favorite church- Notre Dame, and then toured a champagne farm, Pommery. The tour was very interested because there was modern art all over the cellars. I don't really understand how finches playing guitars or blow-up army tanks is art, so it was pretty bizarre. We ended the tour with a glass of authentic champagne, it was so good.

The whole group then got on the bus and rode 3.5 hours back to Maastricht. It was an awesome trip and I learned a lot about Europe and traveling. I have become the group guide because of how much I know about Europe and traveling in Europe (thanks to Emily and Julie and numerous travel guides). I cannot wait to go back to Bruges and see the rest of Europe soon!

Preview of the next month- I am taking a break from traveling this weekend (Jan. 31- Feb. 1) because I need to get ready for classes and hopefully get over this cold! Dad is coming the next weekend so I am planning our travels together (we are probably going to go to Normandy and Mount St. Michel or Germany.) I have the next week which I will probably go to Stockholm and then it's Carnivale!! The first half of the week is celebrating/partying in Maastricht and the second half I am going to Milan, Florence and Rome to visit Allison and Kellie (I hope everything works out:).

Love and miss you all,

Betsy