J'adore Paris!

On Thursday, September 30, a few of my friends and I took a night bus to Paris for a three-day weekend. Our hostel was right by the Sacre Coeur in the Montmarte district of the City of Lights. We hit the streets early on Friday morning and, by the end of the day, we figured that we had walked over 5 miles and climbed approximately 2,000 stairs! We started the day at Notre Dame, went to Les Invalides (Napoleon's tomb) and the Pont Alexandre III bridge, saw the Sacre Coeur and the Montmarte district, strolled through Pere Lachaise cemetery (where we saw the graves of the Impressionist painter Georges Seurat, the Doors frontman Jim Morrison, and the composer Frederic Chopin), and ended with a nighttime tour of the Louvre. By the time we left the Louvre at 10 pm that night, all we were able to do was stumble back to our hostel and crash for the night. Overall, my favorite part of the day was hiking through the Montmarte district and Sacre Coeur, and the most surprising part of the day was our exploration of Pere Lachaise cemetery. We had heard that it was impressive, but we were blown away by the size, age, and sheer tranquility that it achieved in the heart of a giant city. Here are some pictures from day one:

On the steps of Sacre Coeur (my favorite part of Paris)

Pere Lachaise Cemetery - an oasis in the middle of Paris

Notre Dame in the early morning

Saturday ended up being an early start as well. Although we didn't have as much climbing to do, there were still a lot of sites on our list that had to be seen. Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower, then we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysee. After we shopped for a couple of hours, we walked through La Concorde on our way to the Latin Quarter. We met up with some other people from our program that were also in Paris for the weekend, and hung out in the neighborhood for the rest of the night. A quick pictorial overview of day two:

Eiffel Tower

Excited about shopping and eating on the Champs Elysee

Arc de Triomphe

On Sunday, we went to the Musee d'Orsay for a couple of hours before catching the bus back to Brussels. Overall, it was an exhausting tour of Paris but I loved every second of it! As a teaser for my regular readers, the title of my next post (which will be up soon): Bummin' in Berlin. Until then, au revoir!

Fun in Flanders: Leuven, Antwerp and Ghent

On the weekend of September 24-26, our program did a weekend trip through the major cities of Flanders. On Friday, we visited Leuven, which is a very pretty little college town. It had lots of fun bars and cafes, a typical Belgian town hall in the gothic architectural style, and a couple of cathedrals. The university itself was interesting to see, as it is one of the oldest in Europe and has had some of famous individuals walk through its doors - from Erasmus to Herman Van Rompuy (the current president of the European Council). Also, it has a gorgeous library that was destroyed by the Nazis and that the Americans helped to rebuild. The only other cool things in Leuven were that the original 12th century walls that were erected to repel the Vikings are still standing, and the original Alma Mater (yes, she is the reason that each university now has an alma mater) is located in the Leuven Cathedral.

12th century Leuven city walls

The Leuven University Library (destroyed by the Nazis in WWII and rebuilt with American aid)

The original Alma Mater, located in the Leuven Cathedral

On Saturday, our group travelled to the bustling port city of Antwerp. Antwerp is the second largest port in Europe, and it has the largest diamond district in the world. We walked through the diamond district, which was interesting, but unfortunately, we were slightly let down due to our timing. The Antwerp diamond trade is run mainly by the Hassidic Jews, and we were there on the Sabbath. Consequently, there was no activity in the diamond district aside from the synagogue. It was still cool to walk through though, and imagine the massive vaults of diamonds beneath us! After the diamond district, we went on a very long walking tour through Antwerp. Two of my favorite parts of the trip were entirely focused on art - Peter Paul Rubens' house and studio, and the Antwerp Cathdral (which houses some of his most famous works). As a side note, the Antwerp train station was gorgeous and was the sight of a very famous flash mob dance to the Sound of Music. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k. My friends and I tried to reenact the dance and failed miserably. We ended the day at an Asian festival in one of the main squares, and got back on the train to go home full of yummy Asian food and Italian gelato (the best combination that I have ever had). Here are a few pictures from Antwerp:

Antwerp Cathedral from a distance

Raising of the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens

Overlooking the Scheldt River by the Port of Antwerp

In the gardens of the Rubenshuis (Peter Paul Rubens' house and studio)

Gelato at the end of a long walking day!

Finally, our weekend tour of Flanders ended in Ghent on Sunday. In contrast to the huge metropolitan city of Antwerp, Ghent is very laid back and cute. Naturally, because it is smaller, there is less to do, but that didn't stop our professor from taking us on (yet another) 2 hour walking tour. We saw some very interesting cathedrals, squares, and canals. However, the highlight of Ghent for me was the castle! Although castles are not uncommon in Europe, the Ghent castle is very rare because it preserved its original architectural style and purpose. Most castles' structures changed as their purposes evolved and different weapons were created. In contrast, the Ghent castle (which is from the 12th century) was built to defend against early medieval weaponry and then a town built up around it and made the castle defenses unnecessary. Therefore, they are perfectly preserved for us today! It was all very neat to see. Another highlight of Ghent was the Jan van Eyck masterpiece, "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," from the 15th century. Ghent was very relaxing and beautiful, and it was interesting to contrast it with the commercialism energy of Antwerp. In conclusion, here are some pictures of Ghent. More summary posts will be coming in the immediate future, and I appreciate everyone who is still reading!

The famous view of Ghent - the 3 Towers and the overwhelming view of stone to symbolize the staying power of the city

Sara and I over a canal in Ghent

The Worst Blogger in the World

Hi everyone. It's been a very long time since I have even tried to think about blogging - after my last post, my life erupted into a whirlwind cycle of sleep, work, school and travel. However, I said that I would blog my way through my semester abroad, so I will! I'm back with a vengeance, and now my goal is get all of you caught up with my life. At the moment, I am on my fall break, but I've decided that I am going to put up short summary posts about my travels up to this point. Hopefully, I will be able to go into more detail in the future. But for now, I think the most important thing is to get everyone up to speed. So, there will be a number of fairly short summaries appearing on this blog (with pictures). For everyone that has been reading my blog, I apologize for my lack of consistency - it won't happen again!