Voyage to Belgium

 

Hey there everyone. This post is coming from Katie at the Philadelphia Airport for an update on the last goings-on in Paris. I’ll probably restrict this one to our weekend trip and then make another one for our last week.  

From the last update, Rachael and I went on another EIAP trip to Bruge, Bruxelles, and Lille. As usual with this group we had to meet at Palais des Congres at 7:30. In other words we had to wake up at 5 in the morning, which was awful. That kind of set the mood for the rest of the trip. We think the trip leader filled the open spots with his friends and he goofed off with them during the hours travelling. This included plugging in their ipods and blaring French rap at 8 in the morning when we were all trying to sleep. They pretty much took it as a grand party.

There were Christmas markets at each of the cities so that was kind of nice to get a view of those. They weren’t as big and there were tons of people—at this point, we’re all very tired of the crowd atmosphere. We were also trying to get last minute Christmas shopping done through those markets, but still ended up not finding what we needed. This required a last minute visit to the Champs-Elysees Christmas market yesterday (Friday).  We got lost in Bruges because we stopped for a couple hours there and they didn’t provide us with a map, so we tried to be careful about our wandering but inevitably failed. There were a lot of horses and carriages to pull the tourists around and the village has just been continually restored and thus retained its old world charm. There were little bridges and churches and boutiques, with gardens set in back alley courtyards. We found some really awesome sculptures in one of those representing the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. We found our way back eventually, not too late, and then had another horrendous bus ride with some music and dancing that was not to our liking.

 

 

 We arrived in Bruxelles late that night. It seemed like it took forever to reach our hostel and that was an interesting set up when we did arrive. As usual with this group, we all stood outside not knowing where exactly to go or what we were doing, because the leader was doing I don’t even know what. Apart from his friends, he seemed perfectly capable because he did separate a few times to relay information to other groups of people. In general though, there was much to be desired. So after standing around for 15 minutes, we all huddled inside and got out keys and dropped our stuff. Robyn and Dina were sharing a room with Rachael and I. We all still needed to get dinner, but all the grocery stores had been closed since 8. Luckily we found a food stall right around the corner and got some chicken wings on a stick and fries. We also found a late night convenience store type thing and got some wine. We’d decided earlier we didn’t want to go to the club because we’d have another chance and if we stayed in our rooms we’d at least have some time to de-stress and loosen up. Ended up playing a drinking game where we selected a certain tick or habit for each person that was typical of their personality and each time they exhibited that behavior they had to take a gulp of wine. I know, we’re classy ladies. It was a lot of fun though and we all ended up in bed by 1, so we shouldn’t have been too tired the next morning. However, the other folks who went to the club decided to come back and be drunk in the hallway and tried to open our door while we were sleeping, and woke all the other girls up (except for me, because I sleep like the dead apparently once I actually fall asleep.) Eventually Dina went outside and confronted them and their response was a demand for salt….She tried to tell them that we were trying to sleep and closed the door on them, but they still stood out there until another guy came out of his room and asked them firmly to retire to their rooms. Thankfully they actually listened to him.

 

 

Our time in Bruxelles was spent at the Christmas market there, but we also went to this renowned bar called Delirium that has over 2,000 selections of beer to choose from. That was actually really fun and we were able to chat with another group of girls while we all tried each other’s beer. Rachael and I have decided that we like fruity beer. After the Christmas market, Rachael and Dina went on the Ferris wheel and had there romantic moment they’d been denied at the Champs-Elysees market, because it had been too expensive, which was good because I think at that point Rachael was prepared to commit murder. Too many people, too close, too loud, for too long. And after that we did a bit of shopping, stopped in the square to watch a music/light show which was amazing! They had lights on three out of the four buildings with colored lights coordinated to music they projected over the square, and there was a giant lit up Christmas tree in the middle and a nativity scene set up. We were all captivated even though we were freezing our tails off. Stood there for close to 20 minutes. Then we went back to the hostel and settled in for some solid hours of studying. Except for Dina. She went out to go to the Club, because it would be our last opportunity here to go out and she didn’t have any exams on Monday to worry about. Unfortunately, drama went down and Rachael and Robyn had to rescue here close to four in the morning because the group leader who was supposed to be taking her back when she asked completely refused (he was also involved in the drama). Luckily another fella at the club walked her back and Rachael and Robyn popped an emergency door for them to get in.

We were on the road again by 10 the next morning toward Lille. Lille was interesting because it was a very modern city compared to Bruge, almost complete opposites. Bruxelles was kind of in between, with the medieval city set up (lots of alleys and dead ends tucked away) but also main broad pedestrian streets. Lille had a building in the shape of a boot. And another one made out of copper. As we got closer to the city center, it became a bit more traditional. Thankfully this city was easier to navigate then the other two so finding our way back wasn’t so stressful. The Christmas Market was the smallest of all three and we took a few turns to view the stalls and get some nibblies. We also ended up walking to view some buildings and went on an excursion to the Citadel, which was a longer walk then we’d planned, but definitely worth it because we actually got to see trees and grass and this old palais-fortress built by the sun king. He’d decided that Paris and the strength of France had been demonstrated enough that they didn’t need the walls, that outposts would suffice so he tore them down and built the fortresses. We’d learned about it a little in Architecture, so that was kind of fun to explore on our own and have a deeper understanding of what we were looking at. On our way back into town we found a chocolate shop and Rachael at last found some treats she’d been looking for and denied repeatedly over the course of the trip. Then we had a late lunch/dinner meal (we wouldn’t be stopping at any point for dinner while on the bus. They just drive straight through dinner, even French dinner time, and trust you to find your own food) before searching out ice cream at McDonalds (yes McDonald’s, Rachael and Dina were having a craving) and gauffres (Belgian Waffles with toppings). Then we walked back to the bus, had the worse travel experience with EIAP yet, and finally made it back to Paris. It was more of the same inconsideration and loudness as before, only this time they decided to have their party right next to our seats. So we were all pretty miserable. Got home and tried to mentally prepare ourselves for the rest of the week of exams and packing and last minutes activities before heading home. But I’ll go into that in a separate post.

 

A Bientôt!