Well, the morning of February 10th was frankly, hectic... It started with me getting to the first train station at 6 am, taking my first train, changing to my second train, figuring out it was the wrong train, getting off, finding out that the right train was just cancelled, waiting in a train station for 20 mins, hopping on the right train, running up the steps to the airport arrival area, and FINALLY seeing my mothers wonderful face and getting the best hug that I have had in six months... so it all turned out just fine :) Of course, there is no rest for the weary, so my mom and I went straight off to the heart of Belgium- Brussels. We toured some, of course treated ourselves to a warm street waffle, and then we decided to go to the Atomium. Here is the link to a picture of this museum in the shape of a crystalized Iron atom, 165 billion times it original size: ATOMIUM. You can go inside of each sphere and see different expositions as well as a beautiful panoramic view of Brussels. Once we had some souvenirs, we took a long train ride home, she unpacked, and we ate dinner with my host mother Annie and I started realizing how much my head was going to hurt! Translating at a fast past is a workout! Plus, like the title of the blog suggests, I am having conversations that I would NEVER have! Mom wants to know about the economy, how they heat their houses, agriculture-- so I have to say that I learned a lot of new, adult, vocabulary. For example, one night we were talking about heating in homes, and mom wanted to know if they use saw dust pellets for fuel... I gave her the meanest look! I DON'T KNOW THE WORD FOR SAWDUST! We laughed and laughed, and after some times of circumlocating, I learned the French word for sawdust... Thanks Mom.
The 11th, Mom and I took a train to Spa, the town, where the actual word spa originates, and we went to the bath house. It is gorgeous- you are on the top of the hill, and there are hot tubs, warm pools indoor and out, saunas, steam rooms and more! What a treat! We had lunch and a walk around the village and then came home where my host dad, Christian came for dinner which was nice because he speaks English so Mom could talk directly to him. That night I had band practice until 11, and my poor jet-lagged mother had to listen to us play the entire time, but I think she was happy to have her own private concert :)
Saturday morning, we went on a walk in the sunshine!! Then we went off to swim practice, and after that, went back to my first host family, strapped on our boots and worked on the farm all afternoon! It was great fun-- everything from a tractor ride around the town, to Benoit squirting her in the face with cows milk :) We cleaned up, and we with the Bragards to our neighbor, Norbert and Gene's house for a lovely evening of laughter and dinner- I had a headache from translating between about 10 people, but we still had so much fune, and in true Belgian style, didn't get home until 1am!
Sunday may be the day of rest, but not for us! We woke up kind of early and went with Annie and Christian to a big open-air market in Liege. After climbing the famous 380 steps during our little city tour, we deserved a cone of Belgian fries! Mmmm :) After that, we headed to the point that Germany, Holland, and Belgium meet. We had a coffee and took some pictures and then drove to the American Cemetary for all the soldiers that died here when we liberated Belgium. The cemetary is breath taking and so well loved because the Belgians feel a very strong moral debt to the Americans for what we did for them; they truely believe that without us they wouldn't exist. It is extremely touching to learn all these warm feelings, when so often we just hear about all the wrongs America is a part of.
Monday we woke up very early and took a long train ride to the city of Bruges. If you ever have the occasion to go to Belgium- go to Bruges. It is magnificent! We had a nice lunch and took a walking tour, that ended up being very long because although Bruges in beautiful, I don't think that they are famous for their map making skills... We could have spent two days in the little city, but alas, we boarded the train in the evening and went back to Herve where we went to a Chinese restaurant for a little Valentines Day date together. It was delicious!
Tuesday was the first day that we caught up on just a touch of sleep, but then we were off again, and we went to Liege where there is an exposition called SOS Planet. The exposition was really well done- all about evolution, natural disasters, and the work we must do to save our planet. After a quick snack, we came home and went to Fabienner, Nicole's sister's salon, where we both got facials! It was so wonderful, and a great preparation for Paris!!
Wednesday morning was PARIS! We took a two hour train ride, and arrived at 10 am :) We went to our little, but very cute apartment, set our things down, and were off to the Louvre! After seeing some gorgeous works of art, we went to a café called Angelina's, known for her hot chocolate, which is the most sinful dish you can consume! After a chocolate high, we decided to go up the Eiffel Tower at night because the sky was clear and the moon was full- it was incredible!! That night we went to a vegetarian restaurant, in hopes of conteracting the amount of chocolate we had just slurped up!
The next morning I ran along the Seine and came back with a baguette for breakfast and two tarts for that night :) We went to Notre Dame and climbed the 400 steps to the Bell Tour because apparently in Europe you just climb steps all the time! After that we went the the Musée D'Orsay which we both actually liked more than the Louvre because they are pieces you have known forever! That evening we went to a café close to the Bastille for a salade niçoise and then of course our tarts in our apartment :)
Friday we took the whole day to see Versailles, which is really the only way that you can see everything at that giant castle! It was chilly, but we still had a great time seeing such a grand work of art. We came home and had a nice dinner before we took the metro (our best friend throughout the trip) to see an ice show called Energia! The show was perfect! It turned out to be mostly English speaking skaters, so the few lines that were spoken were in English, the costumes were to die for, and the atmosphere delightful!
Saturday was our first rainy day, and by European standards, I think that is fantastic. We moved out of our apartment, and began the search for a hotel for our last night... we had booked one before, but it ended up being too far away, so long story short, we ended up finding the perfect hotel and getting the price knocked down 100 euros! In the midst of this, we met up with Allison Kern, Sara Kern, my longtime best friend's older sister who goes to Xavier University, but is currently studying in Paris. We spent the day with her shopping on the Champs Elysees, eating a proper 2 hour dinner, and going up more stairs to the top of the Arc de Triomphe when it stopped raining in the evening. It was so nice to see her and to spend our last night with her- oh and we took a picture with the Kirkwood Webster Times together at the Arc de Triomphe!
For our last day in Paris, we woke up and took a morning boat ride along the Seine river to see all the sights. Then we moved out of the hotel and left our bags in the train station lockers, and after a fancy lunch, we went up to Sacre Coeur which is just breath taking, and always populated by the best street performers in my opinion, so that was entertaining! We hopped on the train at 4pm and came back to Liege by 6. We met my two friends Mollie and Mallory there and went out to a mutiple course Chinese dinner that was delicious.
Back in Belgium, we woke up to a light dusting of snow, and then we went to the Remember Museum, about 15 minutes away from the house. This museum remembers American soldiers from WWII. I have never been to anything like it! Mom and I had a tour with Mathilde, the co-owner, with her husband Marcel. She speaks wonderful English and is the most passionate woman I have ever met! The museum is very different because it is so personal. Marcel makes all the manicans himself, and each is dressed with a real American uniform or nurses outfit and each represents a real person, so there is a story behind each person. I think it is incredible, and Mathilde knew each person's background and still has so many American connections! They have 300 Chrismas cards in their kitchen, just from Americans. Any Veterans can come stay at their home for free for as long as they need to to feel comforted. We really enjoyed the afternoon. After that we went to Verviers for some last minute shopping and came home for a long, cold walk.
For Mom's last day, we went to my school. She met my class, to whom we gave Valentines like little kids, but they loved them! She also met my teachers and pricipal and then we had lunch in the Cullinary school's restaurant. We left school and went around the surrounding town; we had a pastry and a coffee and then took the bus halfway home, walking the second half after feeling a little guilty for the pastry... That evening after she was all packed up, we went to my Rotary meeting, surprisingly similar to Kirkwood Rotary meetings just complete with a nice 3 course meal :)
Yesterday, the day had come. We woke up at 5am and Manu took us to Liege where we took two train (much lest hectic this time) to the airport. We had time to have breakfast together and then we said a teary "see you soon", not "good bye" and she left. I was sad to see her go, but we had the most wonderful two weeks together. I am so glad that she got to see my life and become a part of it here- it was very special to show that to her. I think of her so much as a friend on top of being a great Mom :)
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