I absolutely love my life

I just returned from a weekend in Switzerland... Swiss Alps, Swiss Chocolate, Cheese Fondue a pretty amazing weekend.
I was just thinking between January 28th and February 24th (less than 4 weeks) I will have been in: Venice, Rome, Pisa, Milan, Interlaken, Thun, Grindelwald, Nice, Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon. That is 5 countries and counting the smaller cities that I have gone to over a dozen cities. I WILL POST ITALY AND SWITZERLAND THIS WEEK!!!!
Leaving for carnival on Friday evening.

Love all of you,
Katie

Bon Anniversaire

January 26, 2011 

I can hardly believe that I am 21!!!!! When did that happen??? I haven't yet had the satisfaction of being able to purchase alcohol in the US  (which I will admit I am very excited to do on cinco de mayo).

As its typical to celebrate your 21st birthday in college the night before / at midnight  (or at least that is what we do in Ohio) we decided to go out Tuesday January 25th. We also went out on Tuesday as  we had mandatory fun on Wednesday night (just my luck). Kat took on the responsibility of researching the best bars/clubs in Luxembourg City  a task that she took on with much gusto and enthusiasm.

We decided to go to the Grund which is the area in Luxembourg City in the gorge (if you look back at my earlier posts there should be a picture of it). The Grund is the area of Luxembourg where the bars and clubs are and its a really cool scene. We decided to go to Oscar Wilde's which is an Irish pub... the best part of it was that the bartender gave us an entire pitcher of tap water!!!!!!! That is really only exciting after spending a month in Europe but trust me it was amazing.  (So far Kat and I are the only 2 people to turn 21 and we were both more excited about water on our 21st birthdays than alcohol).

my birthday tap water.... complete with a lemon

At dinner, only 11 months Nicole!!!!

The group in the Grund (the lights in the distance are the city on top of the cliff) Left to Right: Annie, Megan, Amanda, Me, Kat, Nicole, Jazzy (Caroline was taking the picture)

We had an amazing dinner... the food was absolutely delicious and we will be going back multiple times this semester. It was a great evening with great friends and food. Unfortunately as the trains in Luxembourg stop running at midnight on weekdays and I didn't really want to spend my birthday sleeping in the train station so we had to leave around 10:30... we caught the 11:20 train which meant that I was on the train at midnight.... it was really exciting.

Train ride home to Differdange at midnight... yes I took a picture

Kat and Caroline then took me to "Das Boot" the local bar that everyone at Miami hangs out in when we got back to Differdange, where I bought my first "legal drink" although the bartender didn't really get the concept of "carding me".

Me "carding myself" at Das Boot. Kat another girl from MUDEC who's birthday was January 25th decided to join me! Unfortunately both of still have our vertical licenses...

It was a great evening and definitely a memorable birthday!!!!
Love you all, thanks for all the birthday wishes!!!

Katie

January 21 - 23, Germany

I ended my last blog by alluding to my awesome weekend plans... after a stressful week of planning (we had a difficult time finding a close city that was relatively cheap and had things to do / were open during the winter) I'll have to admit I kind of lost a little perspective. I mean I am in Europe, I can get on a train and in a couple hours be anywhere that is exponentially more interesting than Ohio.

There are only 2 problems with Fridays, waking up to go to my 8 am which means 5:50 am in order to shower and finish packing. The second problem is the 4 1/2 hours of class! I set my alarm for 5:50 so that I would have enough time to make the 7:20 bus... I was then planning on going to "The Crazy Baker" to get breakfast. I decided instead that I would snooze and take the 7:50 bus which would get me to school by about 7:59. The only problem with this plan was that the bus was 4 minutes late. I mean, we are close enough to Germany that their punctuality should have worn off. Class was good however during the break I ran downstairs to get a snack as I was starving form the vending machine. I thought that I had selected a granola bar - nope it was a chocolate bar which made a delicious breakfast.

After class ended (the term weekend freedom has new meaning) I ran downstairs and left all of my school stuff - I will deal with that on Monday! Amanda, Megan and myself decided to catch the 12:49 train as we still needed to take our chest x-rays and TB shots in order to be cleared and have residency in Luxembourg.

The doctors office was in Esch which is a medium size town halfway between Differdange and Luxembourg City. As the octor was only in from 2 pm till 4 we stopped at a small cafe to have sandwiches - I had ham and cheese as I obviously didn't pay attention when we learned the foods in French class and literally only remember jambo and Fromage (luckily I like ham and cheese sandwiches). We finished lunch and headed to the doctors, we arrived to the doctors office around 1:30 30 minutes till it opened, however we wanted to be first so that we could be done quicker). After having the tests done, we finished and quickly left for the train station as we were attempting to catch a 3:17 train to Trier. We unfortunately missed a train by about 30 seconds and had to wait for the next train at 2:47. As the train was running several minutes late we started to get really nervous that we were going to miss our train so we called and had Kat buy our tickets for the train. However she couldn't communicate to the person that we only wanted a one way ticket so our ticket cost 6 euros instead of 3.

Amanda, Megan and myself pushed to the front of the train so that we could be the first off. We arrived into the station at 3:15 and proceeded to sprint through the train station -- we were a hot mess, we literally hurtled onto the train about 25 seconds before it left - epic!

After an enjoyable 45 minute train ride we arrived in Trier and decide d to walk to the Hostel, but as it was still early we weren't in any type of rush and decided to take our time. One of the first things we stumbled upon was the Porta Nigra or the huge city cate. Trier is the oldest city in Germany, ti was founded by Augustus in 15 BC, Roman emperors visited and stayed frequently and it was even used as the capital of the western part of the Roman empire at some point. The Porta Nigra is the ruins/remains of the original fortification when a large wall, with four gates encircled and protected the city. The Porta Nigra is the only suriving gate as it was converted into a church during the 11th century. 

Porta Nigra, Trier Germany.

After acting like complete tourist and taking a lot of photos we wandered through the city. It is relay fascinating the mix of ancient roman runs, medieval architecture as well as some new modern twits. The two is quietly nestled into the valley and seems quiet and peaceful. When admiring the roman ruins  this it seems rather impressive considering what has transpired here over the last two millenniums (Trier is actually the only German City that largely survived WWII bombings).

We managed to get lost only once when heading to our Hostel which was impressive as a lot of words look alike and have a ton of unnecessary letters. The Hostel was quiet a hike away. At one point the directions wanted us to walk down the shoulder of a four land highway ummm... no thank you any country that is known for the autobahn I am not walking on the highway! We luckily didn't get killed and were able to cross the four lanes of traffic and walk along a bike path along the Mouselle river. The little town along the river was adorable - a string of cute little restaurants and pubs along the river with patios for outdoor dinning in the summer. During this summer this area is definitely packed with tourists but tonight it is quiet and peaceful with just locals walking or biking. As we continue to walk it continues to get more sketch. Some abandoned buildings and graffiti. I was starting to doubt and question where we were staying at lest I have a return ticket to Luxembourg and worst case can just head home.

Restaurant where we ate dinner, part of the really cute town along the Moselle on the way to the hostel 

Finally we rounded the corner we heard children playing... there is a playground, ping pong tables, volley ball court and a soccer field. The hostel itself is a new rightly colored building with large windows. We headed inside - the lobby is brightly colored with a cafe/snackbar with candy, ice cream, slushies, pizza and coffee. We hence forth dubbed it the chucky cheeses of hostles (atually there were mostly families with small children).

We had a moment of panic when we thought that they had lost our reservations - seriously we made them less then 24 hours ago.  I was also in love with this place and I didn't really want to go and have to find another sketch place to sleep for the night. They eventually found our room (Kat wasn't pronouncing her name in German correctly.) After dropping off our stuff we headed out to get dinner. We decided to eat at one of the cute restaurants along the river as it looked delicious and amazing. The restaurant was basically empty so we chose the large circular table. The atmosphere was really cool and it seemed like a great place for a relaxing meal. Or waitress was beyond nice as she was extremely patient with us and very helpful. I decided to be adventurous wienerschnitzel which I have thought for my entire life was a type of sausage... I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that it was veal. Dinner was extremely relaxing as we were not rushed and were able to sit and talk for over an hour after we finished. We then continued onto another restaurant where we all had a glace of wine from the region and made our won make shift wine tasting! All in all it was an extremely enjoyable night very relaxing and great food and wine.

As we were too tired to trek back to the main part of Trier to find any nightlife (not sure if any existed) we headed back tot he hostel and played some cards till about 11 when we decided to be complete geezers and head to bed.   

After an amazing restful night sleep we woke up in our "5 star Hostel" we headed downstairs as breakfast was included -- it was actually pretty good. I had a roll, jam, granola, some eggs and coffee. We then all proceeded to grab some extra rolls and cold cuts wrap them in a napkin so we were ready for lunch. We then headed out, unfortunately it was overcast and significantly colder today. We began wandering through the main shopping district we then continued to Trier Cathedral which is the oldest church in German and was built during the 4th century. It is believed that Helena, the mother of Constantine donated her hose to be converted to a cathedral in the late 3rd century (archeological evidence supports this). So basically this church is a millennium older than most of the cathedrals that we saw the previous weekend in Brugge. The church wasn't particularly beautiful but it was amazing - more in a gloomy creepy way. The building is also massive and you were able to go into most parts. We explored for over 45 minutes and i easily could have spent another hour.

Main shopping street in Trier Germany, Porta Nigra in the distance.

Annie & Me outside the Trier Cathedral, Trier Germany built in the 4th century

Looking out into the courtyard of the Trier Cathedral left to right Kat, Annie, Caroline

We then continued to the basilica - the largest in tack roman structure outside Rome. During the roman empire it was used as a "throne room" I was rather unimpressed it was very empty based on photos it use to be more ornate but was destroyed/sacked at some point. Annie loved the basilica she said she really felt the presence of everything that had happened there - it was cool but won't rank very high on my Europe lists.

Basilica, Trier Germany largest in tack Roman structure outside Italy. 

We continued to walk through the down to the baths while the basilica spoke to Annie the ruins of the baths captured my imagination - I loved it and now I really can't wait for Italy. It helped to re-enforce the power and influence of the Roman empire, the profound impact it had upon western culture. It also in some ways seemed like a huge juxtaposition - rumor ruins nestled in a norther European city. As it had started to snow we were hungry and frozen and decided to head to the train station and continue onto the next leg of our journey. 

Ruins of the Roman Baths, Trier Germany

I am officially an expert on researching and planning trains. When we arrived at the Trier train station I decided that I wanted to go to the ticket counter to make sure that we got the correct tickets and didn't end up in "German Train Jail" for doing something wrong. A friend at home had told me about a train special offered on the weekends that allows up to 5 people to travel on 1 ticket for a really cheap price. We were pleasantly surpirsed when I discovered that the internet had lied and the ticket price was actually cheaper than we had planned on and the train was departing in 6 minutes - I mean we wouldn't have been able to do that if we had planned on it. After running through the train station we made our train just in time - 2nd epic train catch of the trip.

As the train was really full Annie and Kat had to sit next to a nun, so we decided that we probably shouldn't whip out our bottle of wine and use the "Manequin Piss" cork screw (that we bought in Brussels) So we ate our pilfered lunch without any wine which was still delicious and a great picnic snack.

The train ride was also enjoyable as I made Kat watch a CSI episode known as the "House of Hoarders" Kat is terrified of hoarders so her reaction were great. We then switched trains in Koblenz which is where the Moselle and Rhine meet. Unlike Trier which was one of the only German cities not seriously destroyed during WWII Koblenz was decimated (as an industrial city with access to two major water ways it was kind of given). This was the first time I really saw the impact / aftermath of the destruction. An entire city filled with history, character, personality was forever changed. 66 years later reconstruction has long since ended but the scars are still there and still visible.

We quickly caught our connecting train, this quick 45 minute train ride south along the Rhine was amazing. The train runs along the river on one side and the steep cliffs dotted with row after row of vineyards. The vineyards are amazing they are built into the sides of steep cliffs - at times old brick formations help to create cute outs into the mountains. The amount of physical labor and effort is unimaginable. As Kat kept saying "how do they even get to the top". Even in January with a light drizzle/ snow falling there were frequently men working and inspecting their vineyards - that is the definition of dedication.

We arrived in Bacharach which is the definition of a small town - there appears to be only one main road so I am not to concerned with getting lost but we decided to consult rick first. After going left we walked along the road for several minutes without literally seeing anyone. We then realized that thanks to ricks chicken scratch maps we had gone the wrong way. We finally arrived at the Bed and Breakfast which is owned by two adorable old German who woman who speak absolutely no English. After some confusion on who was sleeping where which was finally solved by one of the lady's teenage grand daughter. After dropping off our stuff we went exploirng through the won. One of the main sights is the German equivilant of the enternal flam commerating the dead from WWI. However ithas become an errie and comber rimender for the country and the flame was extinuqsed after WWII.

Bacharach, Germany cutest small town ever. The castle on top of the hill is a youth hostel today. Front center is the extinguished war memorial.

Me in front of the town, Bacharach Germany

Our Bed & Breakfast rally cute German women own it, Bacharach Germany

Everyone in front of the Rhine River, Bacharach Germany Left to Right: Amanda, Megan, Annie, Caroline, Me. 

The twon reminds me of bing at LBI during the winter - ghost town which is eriely beautful. We then hiked up to the ruins of a 13th century chapple. All that remains is a semicircle of the distinct gothic style windows. It is incredibly beautiful over looking the Rhine. I literally could have stayed there all day and even proclaimed to everyone that I wanted to be proposed to here (Kat did point out that I probably would catch on during the 1/2 hour hike and therefore ruin the surprise.)

Ruins of the Chapel,  Bacharach Germany

Unfortunately the sun was starting to set and as Kat and I are both highly accident prone we decided to head back to town and find somewhere to have dinner. We found basically the only open bar / restaurant that had a very small menu but we made do and had an amazing time. As we were not sure what the German woman had said we weren't sure if we had an 8 pm curfew and not wanting to be yelled at in German we headed back deciding to fully embrace our Granny weekend.

Look, its almost my last name, Bacharach Germany

We woke up around 8 am and headed upstairs to a delicious breakfast of rolls still warm, homemade jam, fresh hard boiled eggs - we decided that we couldn't take rolls for lunch again but didn''t see anything wrong with eating an extra one at breakfast for good measure. I am sure the little old German women are still trying to figure out how the 4 really skinny American girls managed to eat 12 rolls. We then headed back to the train station where I braved the ticket machine success!! We then  caught the train back along the Rhine to St. Goar. St. Goar has the Rheinsfels castle which was once the largest castle on the Rhine while the French army destroyed the majority of the 13th century castle in the late 18th century a large fraction of the ruined shell remains. After arriving in St. goar we had to hike about 20 minutes up very steep terrain which made us feel like we were actually backpacking through Europe. The castle is on top of a cliff overlooking the Rhine.

Rheinsfels castle, St. Goar Germany

Rheinsfels castle, St. Goar Germany

Only 1/5 of the castle remains which is mostly the dungeons, the outer walls the courtyards and a couple portions of towers. The castle however was deceptively large we spent over 3 hours exploring, meandering and in Megan's class literally climbing out. I wasn't sure if I would enjo Rheinfels - I mean I usually love castles, imagining what has happened and occured in the hallways rooms but would my imaginationbe inspired the same way with just a shell of a builidng?

In actuality I loved going to Rheinfels, it is incredibly interactive and hands on. We were allowed (I am not sure if we were technically but no one stopped us) to climb and meander basically everywhere. Our conclusions from exploring Rheinfels was that people 70 years ago were either much smaller or that they spent their whole life squatting. Unfortunately around 1:30 it started to rain and we decided that we should head home. Four trains to two buses later I got home around 8 pm - after all the stress of planning this weekend it turned out pretty good. 

The long absent blogger

I apologize for the incredibly long delay -- I do believe however that I warned you in my first entry that I was horrible at keeping a diary/journal. Since my last entry I have traveled to Germany, celebrated my 21st birthday, got an INTERNSHIP and spent 10 days in Italy! Rather than setting a record for the longest blog entry ever I am going to put them into separate entries. Enjoy.
Love you all,
Katie

Belgium Waffles, Belgium Chocolate and (maybe) Belgium Beer

Drum roll….. it’s the long awaited updated blog post! I can hardly believe that I have been in Luxembourg for 2 weeks already! In the last day or so I have just started to feel comfortable that I actually know where I am going…. And what I mean by that is when I get on a bus I am not accidently going to end up in France or Belgium (which is actually quiet easy to do).

I have been settling into my classes, I some how created a pretty decent schedule with two classes a day (all of our classes are 2 hours so that we only have to meet 2 days a week) and with the exception of class on Friday I have a morning and afternoon class each day which is a very nice. The biggest culture shock that I have had thus far has been professors. Most of my professors are European and thus teach completely differently and have different expectations and customs than US professors. (For example in Europe it is considered highly rude to eat or drink in class thus most of my professors don’t even let us drink water during their class. Considering I typically drink a water bottle a class this has been a huge adjustment.) Most of my professors however have really great credentials (My music professor is on the board of directors to the Luxembourg Philharmonic and was apparently an amazing singer when he was younger, my political science professor was a Luxembourg ambassador to the USSR and my business professor is an executive for BNP Paribus – I think don’t quote me on that one).

All of my classes are taught in English, are pretty interesting and everyone is really nice -- my Political Science professor even invited his entire class to his house in two weeks to have dinner with his wife and his friend who was the British ambassador. 

During the week I have been at school pretty much from early morning to 7 or 8 pm. I have fully embraced being European and have tried to eat as much of the large meal (aka dinner at lunchtime rather than saving part of it to diner, I don’t know if I could eat leftovers for 4 months!) I have starting buying cheese and ham and a small baguette during the day and having it for dinner. Basically I am in no stretch of the imagination starving, the food is pretty good and I have fully embraced the “no carb left behind diet!”

Last weekend my friends and I decided that it would be smart to start off at a city that is close to Luxembourg and relatively small so that we could test the waters with traveling on trains, hostels etc. We took a 1:19 train from Differdange to Luxembourg City (about a 40 minute train ride). We then caught a 2:20 train to Brussels Belgium, Kat and I had an Amazing Race moment on the train as our ticket didn’t specify which Brussels station to get off at and we didn’t want to miss our connecting train! We managed to catch our connecting train to Brugge, which departed at 5:44.

We arrived in Brugge around 8 pm when we got there we decided to walk to the main square in order to see the city. Brugge is an adorable city and particularly during the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th centuries was extremely powerful, influential and wealthy because of its ports and as a center of trade. And with power and wealth comes amazing buildings, monuments and support for the arts! However the canals that liked Brugges port to the ocean silted over during the mid 15^th century and the city subsequently “fell asleep” as the city was no longer the center for trade and the town essentially didn’t change until the 20^th century when tourists realized that it was a largely preserved medieval city with relative few later influences. The city is also known as the Venice of the North because of the canals throughout the city and the charming bridges and roads that cross them!

Thanks to a recommendation made by a local that we sat next to on the train we knew where the best fries were and stopped and had some on the way to the hostel … absolutely delicious. The hostel was about 5 minutes from the main square (also known as the market square) and still within the main area of the town center (the hotel across the streets rooms were 300 euros a night just to give you an idea of how amazing our location was!) After dropping off our stuff (we had a private room) we went exploring the city, which is absolutely amazing. After sampling the Cherry Beer which Brugge is known for but kind of tastes like a snow cone, having a sip of Kat’s dark beer that I didn’t particularly care for it and having a delicious local beer we headed up to bed around 1 am so we could get a good nights sleep and go exploring the next day.

Outside our hostel in Brugge, Charlie Rockets

 We left around 10 am (we decided as we were tired from our week and Brugge is a very manageable day city to sleep in and not kill ourselves from exhaustion the first weekend). We wandered the city looking for a good little place to have breakfast along the way two of my friends decided that it was time to try some chocolate (can you tell we are traveling without parents french fries, cherry beer and chocolates). We ended up at a cute little mom and pop café and had delicious Belgium Waffles. I honestly have no idea how they could be that amazing.

Belgium Waffles... enough said

After we finished we went back to the market square, which is the center of the city (and has been for over 700 years). The square is a giant open cobble stone square which clearly displaces the wealth and influences that the city had at one point. Two sides have dozens of charming buildings, the third side is the Provincial Court which was constructed in the 19^th century in the neo-gothic style. It actually looks like 3 separate buildings. The building was originally built in the classical style (center portion) which was at the time considered modern and ugly. When a fire destroyed mostly the left side of the building in 1875 it was rebuilt in the neo-gothic aesthetic in order to better fit into the city. The right side or post office is in red brick was originally a separate building and was connected at some point.  In the center of the square is the statue of Jon Breydel and Pieter de Connick who were the heroes of a 1302 uprising against the operating French, today the flags of the European Union encircle it. 

market square, Brugge Belgium statue of Jon Breydel and Pieter de Connick in the center

Provincial Court

Kat and me in front of the Provincial Court

Buildings in the Market Square

The Final side of the square is the Belfry or bell tower. The bell tower was originally built in 1240 and was then added to in the 15^th century. The ~300 foot tower has a narrow winding staircase which was absolutely terrifying to climb (the tower is 300 feet but has only about 335 steps to give you and idea of how steep they were). However the near death experience was worth it as the panoramic view of the city was worth it and the view of the city was amazing. The view impressed on me just how cute and charming the city is with adorable winding pathways, canals and streets. 

Belfry or Bell Tower

Kat and me in front of the Belfry.

View of Market Square from the top of the Belfry

After the equally terrifying experience of coming back down we decided to meander through the city and eventually made in the Church of Our Lady, which is the 2^nd tallest brick structure in the world  and was built during the 13^th century. The most exciting aspect of this church is that it houses Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child one of the few Michelangelo’s outside of Italy. I can’t even explain how amazing it is. The detail and precision in the stone make it seem like it is weightless and moving. I am glad that I took Art History in high school because it allows me to appreciate and understand the artwork. 

Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, Church of Our Lady Brugge Belgium

Our ticket to the Belfry also included an admission to another portion of the church, which includes the tombs of, Charles the Bold and Mary of Burghandy who were influential figures in this region and who even stayed at our chateau at some point during their lives. 

Tomb of Charles the Bold, Church of Our Lady Brugge Belgium

After exploring the church we went outside where we stumbled across an adorable sugar shop where we saw a demonstration of making incredibly detailed sugar candies and was amazing to watch and also sample. And by far the best spontaneous thing we did all day. 

Hard candy - notice the intricate details.

The remainder of the afternoon we wandered around the streets and canals, which was like steeping back in time. Caroline, Kat and I decided that for dinner we wanted to try the mussels (which sorry Grandpa) were the best that I have ever had in my life – by far (fries, cherry beer, chocolates, Belgium waffles and mussels I doubt if Jillian would approve). 

Left to right: Megan, Me, Kat, Amanda, Annie wandering through the canals in Brugge

Annie and me on one of the many bridges in Brugge.

The entire group, Brugge Belgium

Me on a bridge over a canal during sunset.

typical canal in Brugge.

Mussels! Delicious dinner in Brugge.

We got up early Sunday morning and took the 9:58 train back to Brussels for the day which was completely different from Brugge as it was a large, busy and in many ways a more modern city. Brussels was also unique as it was a little bit of a funky town with a very distinct style and attitude. 

View of Brussels Belgium (The Grand Place in the Distance). The Statue is of Prince Albert Queen Victoria's husband.

Arrived in Brussels!

Modern office building with a 18th century building reflected in it.

As we only had a couple hours we had to decide where we wanted to go, we went to the Grand Place, which is the enormous, extravagant gilded Baroque Style square! It was incredible – the detail was absolute amazing. We bought sandwiches and had a picnic in the square, which was a perfect way to take in the beauty and detail. Also today was one of the first days where there were crystal blue skies and the sun was really warm! 

Kat and me in the Grand Place, Brussles

The Grand Place, Brussels Belgium

After lunch we went to Mannequin Piss, which is a small bronze statue which legend says commemorates a young boy who put out a fire in an important building by peeing on it. However I am not really sure what all the hype is about. However thanks to Kat’s sister we had a recommendation to the best waffle stand (directly to the left of Mannequin Piss). The waffles were absolute amazing I’m sorry I can’t describe it any better than that. 

Mannequin Piss, its hard to tell by the fountain is "peeing" ... I was very underwhelmed.

More waffles.

We finally went to the Brussels Cathedral which is by far the best and my favorite thus far (including Switzerland). I loved it because the windows seemed exceptionally big and the stain glass was incredibly realistic and also was lighter colors and therefore less dark and gloomy.

Beautiful windows in cathedral.

With waffle filled stomachs and very tired feet we took a 3:30 train back home (amazing how in only 14 days a foreign country is now considered home). I arrived home around 8 pm which was the perfect end to an amazing weekend.

Plans for this weekend are not yet finalized … and don’t want to jinx them as they are AMAZING. The following weekend which is the start of my 9 days in Venice, Rome, Pesaro, Arezzo, Pisa, Lucca, Torre del Lago (were Puccini lived) Busseto, Milan, and the Teatro Alla Scala (the world famous Opera house to seen an actual opera) were finalized and all booked yesterday!!!!!!

I am considering going to Spain and Portugal for my next week off (which is late February) opinions and suggestions would be greatly appreciated (other contenders are UK, Ireland, Scotland or Greece). Available to skype most days from 9 pm to 12 pm (3 pm to 6 pm EST) best if you send me an email earlier that day to confirm.

Love you all,

Katie

Let the Adventure Begin

Friday January 7, 2011 & Saturday January 8, 2011

The first three days at MUDEC are designed to help us adjust and acclimate to Luxembourg and the culture. Friday morning we were at school, we had another couple meetings and continued to complete paperwork to officially register with the Luxembourg government. After lunch we split into three groups and went on tours of Luxembourg City.

My group first went to Luxembourg City. the city is divided into two parts by an extremely deep gorge (~100 meters) which is known as the Alzette. We went to the side that has the majority of the old buildings. We started at the national cathedral, Cathédrale Notre-Dame Luxembourg. 

Cathédrale Notre-Dame (1613)

This is a plaque that was hanging in the rear of the church. It translates to " In remembrance of the horrible years of occupation and the will of the Luxembourg people."

plaque inside cathedral

Next we went to the Government District and the Clairefontaine Square where we saw the Palace of the Grand Duke, the parliament buildings, and residence of the Grand Duke. An interesting thing with Luxembourg is that there is not the same threat/protection from terrorists attacks around national landmarks & federal buildings. For example I was within 5 feet of the front door of the national palace and could of touched the front door of the prime ministers house if I had wanted to. It was really cool and kind of weird to realize that I was that close to them! 

Government District: White buildings on left government, building with the brown tower is the Prime Minister's Personal Residence and the dark brown building in the background is the Cathedral. 

Palace of the Grand Duke

 Next we left Luxembourg City and traveled a couple miles outside to the American and German Military Cemeteries from World War II. The majority of soldiers in both cemeteries were killed in the Winter of 1944 & 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge. It is also where General Patton is buried. 5,076 Americans are buried here, there is also two monuments commemorating the 371 soldiers who were killed in the region and who's bodies were never recovered. 

Wall commemorating the 371 Americans who's bodies were never recovered.

The American Cemetery (my panorama was accidentally blurry this is about a 3rd of the cemetery.

The Grave of General Patton

 We then traveled less than a mile to the German Military Cemetery which is less than a mile away. It could not have been more different. The American cemetery is impeccably maintained (a man was even working on the grounds in the pouring rain while we were there!) The German one however was down an unpaved road (which was very muddy!) Also the American Cemetery is significantly bigger than the German one as the land was donated to the US by the Luxembourg government while the Germans had to buy the land -- and thus it is much smaller. Over 10,000 Germans are buried here (most are under the age of 18 as the Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive attack and thus basically any man left was used in it. Because of the small size, each grave contains four bodies, while in the rear of the cemetery there is a mass grave of over 4,000 soldiers. Because it was raining really hard and there was some snow still on the ground it was really foggy -- it was really creepy being here.

German cemetery, 4 bodies per grave

Mass grave of 4,000 German soldiers.

I really enjoyed going to the cemeteries as it helps to establish the size and magnitude of WWII and the scars that still remain in the region 70 years later. It is something that was never taught or communicated while in school.

We then returned to Luxembourg City, this time to the Old Town. First we visited the Ruins of the original fortification of the city which was built in 963 (the first recorded year of Luxembourg history). I of course found the ruins and the entire area around completely fascinating. The Old Town is comprised of really old buildings... many surviving from as early as the 11th century although the majority are from the 16th - 19th centuries. As it was getting late and dark we walked through this area quickly although I can not wait to return and explore even more! There were all kinds of stores and cafes tucked into these tiny winding pathways. 

On the ruins of the original fortress built in 963. (not sure what the building directly behind me is I'll ask someone at school on Monday).

The ruins. Note the flooding of the river.

The coolest part of town, 12th century building... adorable... pictures can't really capture I'll try a video next time.

 The  phrase below was adopted by the people of the Luxembourg people during German occupation when the Germans attempted to convince the people of Luxembourg to join them. It roughly translates "We Want to Remain Who We Are". It has subsequently become the national motto and remains popular as the country struggles to maintain its national identity with the advent of the EU and globalization.

The "national motto of Luxembourg" adopted during German occupation.

We had a little while to wander around the Old Town and a group and I went to a cafe to have coffee which was really, really good! 

It was great to go to Luxembourg City (even though it was raining) because it gave a nice sampling of the amazing country and go me excited to explore it more in the future. I also learned a lot about Luxembourg and Luxembourg City. Luxembourg was one of the original 6 members of the European Union and an important part of successfully implementing it. Therefore it is the location of a lot of European Union offices. Additionally 100,000 people live in Luxembourg city and an additional 130,000 commute daily from Germany, France and Belgium (which is just bind boggling when you consider it!)

Outside my window this morning... it wasn't raining which was really exciting! Take at 8:30 am (note that the sun has not yet completely risen).

Outside my window... not raining!!!!

 Today we left early from school and traveled to the northern part of the country. We visited the middle school/high school (which with its recent renovations puts Montgomery High School to shame.) Miami has had a relationship with this school for nearly 20 years (in particular the school of education). We had lunch in the cafeteria which was of course delicious are Europeans capable of making bad food? We then split into our 3 groups again, one group went to where the Battle of the Bulge was fought, another went to a  castle  and my group got to go to a dairy farm! I wasn't originally thrilled but I decided that over the next four months I am going to see plenty of museums and castles but I probably won't choose to go to a dairy form. It is the only dairy producer in Luxembourg (Lux-Lait or Lux Milk). The new factory and observation was just opened in the last year... it was pretty interesting. 

We then left to go Wine Tasting... yes, my school which 4 weeks ago sent out a letter for my 21st birthday which expressed the dangers of alcohol organized wine tasting. Which was of course a lot of fun. It took us a while to get there because of all the flooding and most of the western part of the country is severely flooded.  When I first arrived on Tuesday there was 6 inches of snow on the ground and it has subsequently poured ever day since then. While on our way to the school the river banks were incredible. We finally got to the Moselle region which is right along the German border. Grandpa you probably would have really enjoyed the tour of the wine cellar and explanation of how wine is made. I particularly enjoyed the tour as it was led by a little tipsy 70 year old Luxembourg man who looks a lot like the character from UP! 

wine cellar of the largest winery in Luxembourg. (this is only one room of the wine cellar, apparently they lost a 3 year old boy once on a tour it took them over an hour to find him in the maze of the cellar.

 We then returned to Luxembourg... where I have been writing this blog post while my host mom has been watching Criminal Minds in German which is just bizarre and is starting to give me a headache so I think I am going to go to bed. Tomorrow is our free day, I know we are having "dinner" aka lunch with a couple other families who live on our street and have host kids.  Starting school on Monday, which is going to be weird as so far it kind of feels like I am on vacation. 

Love you all, 

Katie