The first photo is Mom in front of Mannekin Pis, Brussels' famous fountain/statue of a little boy doing exactly what his name implies- Pissing. Its about the size of a garden gnome and really anti-climatic. We had much more fun taking pictures of all the other tourists visiting at the same time we were. The second photo is my mom and I in front of Audrey Hepburn's birthplace in Brussels. We are attempting to reenact the cover of Breakfast at Tiffany's... Success? Fail? You be the judge.
After my mom left, two very intense weeks of traveling occurred. First, our program took us to a city in the Netherlands called the Hague. Unfortunately, this was the day after St. Patrick's Day, so after a long night out with too much Guinness in Brussels, we had a relatively weak showing on the CIEE bus at 6:20 AM. The select group of us that got ourselves out of bed bussed it to the Netherlands to get to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia or ICTY for short. This is part of the United Nations designed to prosecute serious war crimes. We spent the morning watching and listening to a hearing, but it was rather hard to understand and stay awake for it. I enjoyed the next part of the day much more, where we were able to walk around The Hague and go to my personal favorite museum of my time abroad thus far - The Mauritshuis, where the painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is located. We had a fantastic tour guide, and I was able to learn a lot about the painter Vermeer and his many works that were on display here. We then spent a few hours in a charming town called Delft, which has many canals and could be considered a "typical Dutch city." I loved its charm and had a great time relaxing outside on the beautiful day. Here is a photo of my friend Amy and I taking up residence on one of the cities many canals:
After arriving home around midnight, I only had a few hours to sleep, only to wake up at 3AM to catch a taxi to a bus to get to the airport. Where to this time? Dublin with my friends Amy and Danny. The first thing on our agenda upon arriving in Ireland getting a "typical Irish breakfast":
It was delicious for the most part. The black 'pudding' tasted like baby food but other than that, it was a great way to start the day. We couldn't check into the hostel until later in the day, so we decided to take the train to a fishing village on the outskirts of Dublin, called Howth. The brochure we got beforehand said "Howth is MAGIC"...and it was right. The water was beautiful and we were able to walk all around the port and see "Ireland's eye," an island right off the coast. I loved seeing the seals that swam right up to the docks and the hundreds of fishing boats and fisherman preparing to go out to sea. It was a nice change of pace from the big cities we usually travel to. Here is a photo of the port with Ireland's eye in the background:
Upon returning to Dublin, the city was already bustling with people getting ready for the 6 nations rugby tournament taking place in Europe that weekend. With that said, I should probably mention that more than half of these people were Scottish visitors, ALL wearing kilts and talking smack to Irish people before the Ireland vs. Scotland game the next night. We spent the night bar hopping and sipping lots of Guinesses. Since we apparently hadn't had enough Irish beer, we woke up the next morning and went to the Guinness factory, which was just a short walk away from our hostel. It was interesting to see the process of how the beer is made, and climbing to the top and having a complimentary beer while overlooking the city. Here is the group sporting our rugby jerseys on top of the factory:
That night, we watched the rugby tournament and went to a bunch of different bars. The next morning we found a place with my favorite hangover breakfast- bacon, egg, and cheese bagels! We spent the day walking around the city and enjoying the sunshine in Dublin's famous park, St. Stephen's Green. I loved my time in Dublin, even though it was quite a culture shock... everyone spoke English and I was able to read all the street signs! The bagel even further affirmed the Americanization of Dublin. Danny headed back to Brussels Sunday night and Amy and I stayed till Monday morning.
After a fantastic weekend, we flew back to Brussels, but ran into a bit of trouble before we could really get home. Amy and I went to different lines at customs and while she got through, the man checking my passport proclaimed that my VISA had expired. I tried to explain to him that I was a student and that I had applied for my resident card and was waiting to receive the paperwork (this is how to extend the legitimacy of a VISA in Belgium, I actually had not applied yet but I knew we were supposed to...). I had to do this in English and French because the man's English was quite terrible. He summoned me into a back room and told me to wait for him to finish checking everyone elses passports. After that, he told me to follow him down to the police station. Amy had been waiting for me and when the policeman saw her, he asked to see her passport since she was with me. He deemed her unworthy of entering the country and took us both to the airport police station. Amy and I frantically sent text messages to our program directors asking what to do, but neither of them had ever dealt with such a situation before. The cops were saying they were going to deport us back to Ireland if we couldn't present valid identification. They gave us an "Administrative Arrest" warrant and said we were detained until further notice. The only other times they spoke to us were to have us write our addresses down and then AFTER we asked for water. First response to the water request: "Just wait." Second response: "You have money for it?" It was like out of a movie- we were parched and waiting in an all white room with no windows. Detained. After 4 hours of waiting they told us we were being sent back to America - then burst out laughing, and said we could go back to Brussels. Needless to say, I will not be traveling without proper documentation ANY time soon!
I know this is long but bear with me, I have to catch up on my travels! The day after returning from Dublin, our program took us to Luxembourg. We left that evening, and arrived just as the sun was setting over the castle we stayed in for the night. Yes, we stayed in a castle... recently turned into a hostel. Basically, it was UNBELIEVABLE, located in the rolling hills of the Luxembourg countryside, and we had the place to ourselves. There was a delicious 3 course meal with copious amounts of wine waiting for us when we arrived. After taking full advantage of the wine, we were surprised by our program directors with cases of beer and several tables set up to play flip cup. In a castle. Nothing in Madison will ever rival that, there's just no way to top it! Anyways, we had a whole night in a castle and lots of alcohol, so it was bound to end up being a great night. People slowly started to trickle outside into the wooded forest area surrounding the castle and we discovered a cave that we continued to party in for the remainder of the evening. Little did we know (as everyone was extremely intoxicated at the time), it was ACTUALLY a sewer underneath a well. We were just too drunk to care or even realize. It made for many great stories and lots of pictures that could serve as blackmail (and are definitely not blog-appropriate)! We had another early morning, waking up at 6 to get to the European Court of Justice. Once we sat down to watch another court case, we were shown a man whose sole job it is to make sure visitors don't fall asleep during the hearing. WELL this was just terrible news for our group, as most of us got no more than 3 hours of sleep the previous night. We all tried to keep each other awake throughout the hearing, but many got death stares from the man, and some even got lucky enough for the man to venture over and call them out for sleeping in front of everyone (cough Leah cough). After getting some lunch and coffee, we were fueled up and ready for a walking tour of Luxembourg city, which was quaint and good to see. Overall, a great trip!
The following weekend, we had another early morning to catch the train to go to Bruges. Yes, this is the city in Northern Belgium where the movie "In Bruges" was filmed (which everyone should see by the way, its really good. and yes parents, I finally watched the end) Its a beautiful and medieval city with lots of canals and stunning architecture. We spent the morning walking around the city. After getting some lunch near the city center, our group went on a 4 hour bike tour through the Belgian countryside surrounding Bruges. This was probably my favorite excursion thus far, as the countryside was absolutely breathtaking and I know it's something I never would have visited on my own. We had a local beer brew mid-bike ride which was delicious and well-deserved. The sore-ness the following days was worth it! Here are some photos of Bruges:
Sorry for the long-winded post. Had a lot to update! Off to Prague, Rome, Athens, and Santorini in the morning for some spring break adventures! See you in two weeks. Hope everyone is well, wherever in the world you may be!
