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Published: October 9th 2014
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Luxembourg 1
Max on a bridge overlooking Luxembourg. On Monday, August 11th, we left Paris and were off to Luxembourg, Luxembourg! We only had the afternoon there but enjoyed walking around the city. Luxembourg (the city) is divided into two parts, with a valley between them. The valley has a mixture of buildings (houses, restaurants, and shops) and nature, with trails and paths through the trees. We took an elevator from the top of the valley to the bottom and enjoyed walking on the small streets and then the dirt paths, where we could see only trees around us at times. We then met up with a guy from Couchsurfing who could not host us but offered to show us around. He took us down a different way than we'd gone before and pointed out the old walls and building remains in the sides of the valley. We enjoyed walking around with him and learning more about Luxembourg.
The next day, we headed to Brussels. We met up with our Couchsurfing host and hung out with her while she waited for furniture to be delivered (she'd just moved to Brussels). We also walked around her area a bit but didn't do much until Wednesday, when we started our
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Max on another bridge over Luxembourg. day with a walking tour. The tour started at the Grand Place, and we saw the Old Stock Market, Notre Dame von Secur, a Tintin mural, the outside of the Town Hall, a statue of King Baudouin, the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Goudla, the Royal Park, and the Royal Palace. We also, very importantly, saw Manneken Pis, the statue of the peeing boy. No one knows exactly why he's there, but he's very important to Brussels and is often dressed up in costumes made specifically for him (though he wasn't dressed up when we saw him). On the tour, we also learned the secret of Belgian fries and Belgian waffles. Further, we learned about the two most important Belgian kings: Leopold II and Albert I. Leopold was infamous for his brutal role in the slave trade and the subjugation of the Congo. His eventual successor, Albert, who had to be approved by the legislature, was a much better ruler and was widely loved by the people. The tour was awesome, and we enjoyed learning about the history of Belgium, which is less than 200 years old. After the tour, we went to the Museum of Musical Instruments and
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Rebecca on a bridge over Luxembourg. saw many varieties of instruments from around the world, from technically advanced instruments from the west to primitive ones made from wood and bones from tribal areas. There was also a special exhibit about saxophones, which displayed many older variations of this wind instrument. Some of these were truly wild. Even though most people are exposed to only a few variations of most instruments, it was really fascinating to see all the different versions of all the types of instruments there. After that, Max got a desperately needed haircut (for a really good price!) and then we went on a beer tasting tour. We tasted 2 Trappist beers, a moeder lambic, and a Val Dieu Grand Cru. One of the beers smelled like vomit! Actually! (Though it didn't taste like it.) The last place we went to had, outside of it, the Jeanneke Pis, which is Manneken Pis' lesser - known female counterpart: it's a statue of a little girl peeing. After that, we went back, because we didn't want to be too late, and we had to get up early to go to Bruges.
On Thursday, we headed to Bruges with our Couchsurfing host, who happened to be
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Rebecca still on a bridge over Luxembourg. going there on a trip for work. We were able to tag along on a walking tour when we first got there, during which we saw a Beguinage, an alms house, an old hospital, the smallest street in Bruges, and the main square area. Bruges definitely feels more like a small, old city with more beautiful old buildings and fewer modern ones. After the tour, we left the group for a while, since they were having a group lunch at a more expensive place, and we got an inexpensive lunch before going on a tour of the Half Moon Brewery, the only small brewery left in Bruges. Then we met back up with our Couchsurfing host and the group to join them for a canal tour, which was interesting and informative. We parted ways with the group after the canal tour and went to meet our new Couchsurfing host for the next two days. Our host was great, and we all enjoyed sitting around and talking. He was going to take us on a small tour of the city, but it was raining, so we decided to stay in for the night.
We decided to go to Ghent on
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Max on yet another bridge in Luxembourg! Friday since it's relatively close to Bruges, and we wanted to see another city in Belgium. We wandered around for a while before going on a (paid) walking tour, which was fine, but nowhere near as good as the unpaid ones, partly because our guide said everything in French and English but seemed to say more in French. We walked around the river and the main square, stopping to look at old, narrow houses. The tour ended in St. Niklaas' Church, but it was pouring at the time, so everyone waited until the rain stopped before going outside. Wet thought about going to the castle in Ghent, but we were getting tired (Rebecca especially), and it was wet and rainy out, so we decided to head back to Bruges. Back in Bruges, we got Belgian chocolate, Belgian fries, and then Italian food for dinner (at a place recommended by our host). After dinner it was time to pack up and get our stuff ready to go to Amsterdam the next day!
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