Promenades en Belgique

       The next two weeks were chock-full of excursions and activities. Let's begin with Wednsesday, March 23rd. ISA held another movie night in the office, featuring "La Jeune Fille À La Perle" ("The Girl with The Pearl Earring"). This was intended to introduce us to the vague history behind the painting, which we will be visiting this weekend during our excursion to The Hague in the Netherlands!

       On Friday a few of my friends and I went to a park that's located in the Cemitière d'Ixelles area (which is close to the ULB). We picked up some sandwiches and had a little picnic. The sun was beaming and we decided it would be a perfect day to get a little bit of Vitamin D. Megan had been to the park before, so she took us to a little cave and led us to another trail. After doing a bit of hiking in boots and dresses (since were were not informed of this adventure before getting dressed for the day), we returned to the park and played some frisbee. As the sun started to go down, we lied down in the grass to get some well-earned rest and listened to music. It was very relaxing. 

On the train to the underground caves

        Last Saturday I traveled with ISA to Hans-Sur-Lesse and Dinant (still in Belgium). We left Brussels around 8:30am and would have made it to Hans-Sur-Lesse on time if it had not been for a flat tire. The bus had to pull over to the side of the road and we waited about a half an hour for a new one to come. However, it was much larger and way more luxurious! There were enough seats for three times the amount of people that we had with us. All in all, we lucked out since it was a two-hour long bus ride and our first visit to the underground caves had to be delayed. The tours, to our surprise, did not start until 11am, so we had to kill some time at a local restaurant where some warmed up or got energized with tea, coffee, and hot chocolate.  Then came time for the underground cave tour. We had to take a train to the caves, which was an interesting ride. There was a woman going around with a parrot taking pictures of it on each person's shoulders (they tried to sell us the pictures at the end of the tour). I only saw one bat flying around in the caves and the rock formations looked like wet sand castles or coral. It was difficult to take pictures because of the lighting, but below are a few of the better ones. 

      On our way back to the bus, we passed a playground where we decided to climb up to the top (pictured below) and took a group photo!

    

Steps to the Citadelle

      Next stop was Dinant. The group visited the Citadelle de Dinant (an old fortress). In order to get there we had to climb over 400 steps, but we were luckier on the way down because Sabine paid for us to take a cable car. We crossed over a bridge that was covered with fake, super-sized saxophones in order to honor Aldo Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. There was supposed to be a surprise boat tour following our visit to the fortress, but since the bus broke down and we got delayed at the caves, we ran out of time. Instead, we were treated to some gelato, apple pie, and crêpes! Not a bad trade-off. 

Here are a few more pics of my trip to Dinant:

Saxophone on the bridge

View from top of Citadelle (#2)

View from top of Citadelle (#1)

-Arielle

Mardi Gras, Bruges, et Cantillon

I know it's been a few weeks since the last post, so I'm going to have to backtrack a little...

Binche (Mardi Gras)

       Welcome to March 8th, otherwise known as Mardi Gras or "Fat Tuesday." ISA took us on a trip to Binche, Belgium for the afternoon/evening to celebrate the event. There was a huge parade with some interesting music and a lot of people. The festival in Binche is known for its tradition of throwing blood oranges into the crowd. There must have been hundreds given out and I actually caught one! (It was delicious). 
       The next night ISA hosted another movie night at the office with a 'free' Belgian-inspired meal of chicken sausages and stomp (mashed potatoes and carrots/broccoli). It was surprisingly tasty. Then, we watched a French film called Trois Couleurs: Blanc. Much of the film was in Polish too, which was an interesting twist. 

Bruges (boat tour)

       On March 12, we had an excursion to Bruges--the city that was featured in In Bruges (that we watched at our 1st movie night). We Departed Brussels around 8:15am and our first visit was the "Memling in Sint-Jan museum," which was a former hospital. We finished a little earlier than expected, so we sat down for what we were told was the best hot chocolate in Belgium...I would say it makes it to the top of the rankings. We then went on a surprise boat tour, which was a pleasant introduction to the city. Next came a quick peek inside the "Church of our Lady" where we saw the white marble statue of Maddonna and Child by Michelangelo. This was followed by a visit to the Belfry tower. We climbed 366 steps to get to the top, where we rewarded with a magnificent view of Bruges and its surroundings. I got to sign my name at the top and make my mark! 
       We took another tour, but this time in a horse drawn carriage along the cobble stoned narrow streets of Bruges while listening to the history of the area. The carriage took us all the way to the "Minnewater" where we were allowed to step out (giving the horse a few minutes of rest) and capture a few pictures. Then came some free time to explore the city and sample some chocolates--literally every other store was a specialty chocolate shop. This concluded the excursion to Bruges and we hopped on a train back to Brussels in the early evening. We arrived home at a decent hour, so a bunch of us went to the movies to see Black Swan, which was...umm...unforgettable!

Cantillon Brewery

       The following weekend was fairly rough. I had two major papers due that Monday, so I spent most of the weekend inside writing. However, I did take one break...for a trip to an authentic brewery in Brussels. It is called the Cantillon Brewery and it was founded in 1900. It is the place where Kriek, Lambic, Faro, and Gueze are made, which are some of Belgium's more famous beers. In 1999, they decided to switch to only organically grown cereals. The brewery is also known for its cherry, rasberry, and apricot fruit beers. Well I guess there's a lot more to learn in Belgium besides politics and chocolate!


I'll stop here for now...expect another post shortly with the rest of my March madness adventures!


A tout à l'heure.
Arielle
       

PARIS!

Midterms are officially over!  
      This week I got a chance to explore l'Université libre de Bruxelles when I went looking for a good library. Compared to the Vasalius College and Vrije Universiteit Brussel campuses--where I have all of my classes, the ULB was much, much nicer and actually felt like a real college campus. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I decided to walk from school to the ULB campus (~30min). This university is actually closer to my house than VUB, and the students speak French as opposed to Dutch! There were hundreds of students hanging out outside and once I got into the library, I had some trouble finding a seat, but I finally found one a few floors up. I'll definitely be back there soon.  
      But, enough about my studies. I'm sure you're only interested in hearing about Paris. Well, it was a bit of an adventure getting to the train station on Friday morning, since there was another Brussels public transportation strike. I wound up taking a train from the Watermael station (near my house) to Gare du Midi, so I could take another train to Paris!
      Well, that was a bit of an adventure. But, once I arrived in Paris...it was AMAZING. This weekend was incredible and nearly indescribable. I went with 3 of my friends (Zoe, Rachel, and Beverly) from ISA. We had the time of our lives walking, and walking, AND walking around Paris and the weather was magnificent. It was sunny and reached about 50 degrees each day. 
I took a 9:13AM train to Paris with Zoe, and the train was only about an hour and 22 minutes (yup, that's all)! When we arrived, we did get a little lost walking to the Palace Hotel, in the 10th Arrondissement. But, we eventually made it. We dropped off our stuff in a 4 person bedroom, which was only 35 euros for 2 nights. It doesn't get any better than that. 
      We walked from the hotel to the city center and, at this point, were starving. So after stopping to take some pics of a man chalking up a picture on a sidewalk (pictured right), we sat down outside for some lunch. Yes, it was a little cold out, but there was a heat lamp right above us that kept us nice and toasty. 

Rachel, me, and Zoe

      Next, Zoe and I took a stroll along La Seine on our way to the Louvre and the little Arc du Triomphe, where we were supposed to meet my friend Rachel who took the bus to Paris instead of the train. We then met up with Beverly (she took a later train) and walked through the Champs-Élysées. We almost saw Liv Tyler, who was supposed to be making an appearance at Sephora, but after waiting 10 min for her arrival, we decided there were plenty of other (and much more exciting) places to go and people to see in Paris. So, we continued on until we reached the Arc du Triomphe and then paid to climb up to the top. The views from the top were great--we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance!
      Then we continued on to the Eiffel Tower, which was perfect timing...the sun was beginning to set and, so the Tower lit up. After hours and hours of walking, we could not wait any longer for dinner. We found a local market that was brimming with restaurants and people. It felt good to sit before our walk back to the hotel, which took almost 1.5 hrs. Whew. 
      The following day, we went to visit la Sacré Coeur Basilica in the morning. On the way, we found an authentic boulangerie and each got a croissant. It was irresistable and delicious...The Sacre-Coueur is a Roman Catholic Church that is situated at the top of a hill in Montmartre--the highest point in the city. Surrounding this Church were a bunch of little boutiques, in addition to a square with nearly 50 artists painting and selling their artwork to the crowd.  

View from the boat tour

      After walking another hour or two back to the city center. Rachel and I split off to go to Notre Dame and les jardins du Luxembourg (Luxembourg gardens). On the way, I picked up a crêpe, with fromage et champignons (cheese and mushrooms). Yum, yum. The gardens were beautiful and the weather suited us perfectly. We sat down for no more than 15min before we headed back to Notre Dame to walk around inside and explore the Latin Quarter before taking an hourlong boat tour throughout La Seine at 5:45pm. It took us by all of the important sites--Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Le Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, etc. 

Latin Quarter

      Rachel and I met up with Zoe and Beverly again for dinner in the Latin Quarter. We each ordered the prix-fix menu for 10 euros and I got a chance to try some French onion soup. It was a relaxing evening, after a long day. But, it we weren't quite finished yet. I have a friend who is studying abroad in Paris and I wanted to see her at least once before I left, so my friends and I walked over an hour to the 11th Arrondissement just to see her. It took longer than we were expecting and by this time, it was around 11pm. There was no where to sit down inside, without having to buy a drink or food, so we just stood outside (and by this time the temperature had dropped) in front of, what we would soon find out, a pâtisserie. I have no idea why, but at 11:30pm, this cute little pâtisserie decided to turn on its lights and opened its doors. It seemed like fate. We had no choice but to go inside and check it out. Rachel and I bought a small box of macorons, which is something that Paris is famous for. On our way back to the hotel, we witnessed a car robbery, which we tried to report to the police, but were unsuccessful. It was a crazy night, but we packed tons in that day.

In front of Le Louvre

Outside at Le Musée Rodin

      The next morning, and unfortunately the last, we checked out of our hotel around 10am and tried to fit in the remainder of our to-do list. We went to the Louvre, which I had already been to, but it was once again enlightening. And, apparently, if you spend 3 seconds in front of each picture it would take you over three months to see everything in the entire museum! We only spent 2 hours there, viewing the Italian, French, English, and a little bit of Greek artwork. Then we walked another 30-40min to see Napoleon's tomb, followed by some lunch in a park, and then onto Le Musée du Rodin (which had a lovely outdoor component). 
      The last stop was Le Marais, which used to be the Jewish Quarter of Paris. It was filled with some of the more expensive shops and cute bakeries. It's a great place to go on Sundays when most other stores and areas in Paris are closed. We couldn't resist eating one last thing before we left Paris...we walked into a bakery called Pralus. They're known for their loaves of Brioche, which are filled with rose sugar-coated pralines and are called Praluline. Rachel and I split one on our way back to the hotel where we picked up our belongings before heading back to the train station, Paris Nord. This weekend was one-of-a-kind and, absolutely, one to remember. I have never, ever, ever, walked so much in my life. We, basically, only sat down 2 times the entire weekend, which was to eat dinner. The rest of the time we were on our feet. We limped back to the hotel room every night and this morning I woke up and it felt like I had broken both of my feet. But, it was no doubt worth it. J'adore Paris.



-Arielle

Beverly, Me