Brussels and Paris

This past week, my group and I traveled to two French speaking cities; the capital of Europe (more specifically the EU), Brussels, and the capital of French culture, Paris. During our three days in Brussels, we visited the EU headquarters and the University of Brussels where we had four lectures on the future of the European neighborhood. One of the most common complaints about the EU is that it lacks transparency. Since I was more confused about its structure after the lectures than before, I would have to second that complaint. Otherwise, Brussels was a little wet and foggy, but I didn’t mind it because for some reason that is what I imagined; slightly mysterious, medieval, and very Diagon Alley (Harry Potter). Highlights: the waffles really are better in Belgium and I ate a pot of Belgium’s signature muscles, which were not too bad.

However, the most captivating feature of Belgium was the beer*. While in a souvenir shop when we arrived, Chris (human encyclopedia from Kansas, future presidential advisor, and my life preserver in the sea of estrogen that is our group) informed me that Belgium either produces the most different types or simply the most beer of any country in the world (can’t remember which it was at the moment). In addition, somehow (maybe subsidies, probably tourism) small local brewers are still flourishing despite stiff competition from the large Belgium beer companies such as Stella. That was all I needed to hear. At that moment, we embarked on a quest to try as many brands as possible. This decision turned out to be a double-edged sword because Belgium beer is stronger than normal with upwards to 12% alcohol volume. Though we were getting our money’s worth, we had to pace ourselves twice as much as in Munich. However, I can officially say I’ve tried some of the best tasting beer Europe has to offer.

When we arrived in Paris, the clouds parted and the sun produced 5 beautiful autumn days. Due to the fact that Paris is probably the most cliché city to visit, it never ranked high on my priority list. For those of you who have yet to visit it, I will only contribute to the hype with this one short historical tale Chris, who is also a history textbook, told me about as we walked through the streets. When it became clear that the allied forces would take back Paris from the Nazis, Hitler ordered his top commander to demolish the city before they pulled out. Fortunately, that commander stalled long enough to fail his mission. He later said that he disobeyed his leader because he didn’t want to go down in history as the man who destroyed Paris, arguably the most magnificent city in the world. Therefore, if it could stop a Nazi….

I visited all the places you would expect such as le Tour Eiffel, Musée du Louvre, and Notre Dame. Every place I went was stunning; however, my favorite part of city was le Place du Sacre Coeur. It is a park with a huge cathedral on a hill overlooking the city. The cathedral was built in this location because directly below is the red-light district with Moulin Rouge; therefore, the Catholic Church must have thought that the sinners would come go there to get saved, but I’m not sure if that quite panned out. I took the metro by myself one afternoon and when I got to the top the sun broke through the clouds and shined right on the Cathedral. The people sitting on the hill watching the street performers juggle reminded me of San Francisco, a pleasant reminder.

On the last night in Paris, France beat New Zealand, the number one seed, in the last few minutes of a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal match(which is in France this year), so the city was going kind of nuts to say the least. In addition, Paris was celebrating le Noir Blanc (White Night), an all night art festival/party in which huge free art installations, with light as the subject, were dispersed throughout the city at places like the park in front of le Tour Eiffel. We went to les Jardin des Tuilaries, next to du Louvre, where there were many huge metal structures covered with burning torches in clay pots. It was a very surreal experience and a perfect way to end our tour of Francophone cities.

Once again, I miss each of you and hope to hear how you are doing at some point soon.

Peace, love, and don’t think it hasn’t been charming,

Max


*Since a lot of my posts have been about beer, I would like to note that I always drink responsibly and drinking usually goes hand in hand with cultural immersion (i.e. Oktoberfest, wine at dinner). Therefore, please (Mom, Coco, Rachel, Lalani) don’t worry about my health or wellbeing (just my bank account).