Day Five: Strasbourg France and a Boat Ride

We have breakfast at the Chateau and head off to downtown Strasbourg to have a Boat ride down the Rhine River. It was a beautiful day and the culture is certainly something to be proud of.

Strasbourg is ranked the third best city in France. At the center of the city is the most beautiful cathedral whose tower was the tallest tower in Europe till in 20th century. Pilgrims would flock to Strasbourg to check out the magnificent architecture of this Catholic church. 

Our lovely Ladies on the Rhine River. 

Our walk back to the Chateau from Strasbourg. 

Day Four: Strasbourg and the Council of Europe

This morning was a little hard to get started considering our late night rubbing elbows with Parliament's finest. But we made our way to Strasbourg to visit the Council of Europe. Here was an interesting experience to see how each organization emanates a bit of favoritism for their own administration. Often our speaker would point out the short coming of the sister organizations that came from the "original" Council of Union.

We also received a little history lesson from Sam who informed us that markers all of Europe were put up to show where Jews were rounded up for the concentration camps. Here is what they looked like.

We came back to the Chateau and turned in for the night. We had some sleep to catch up on. :)

Day Three- Luxenburg to Strasburg and Party at the Chateau

We bid adeu to our home in Brussels and set sail for Luxenbourg. Here we visited the Court of Auditors. Perhaps not the most interesting establishment but it is important to understand it in order to understand the function of the Eu and how it is accountable. Here is all of us in front of the flags.

                                          

After we We then took a tour of Luxenbourg. It was a beautiful place. We ate cheap at the McD's there and there ketchup packets were huge!

We left Luxenbourg for Strasbourg and our gorgous Chateau we are staying at. 

The Liberal Party of France had their annual Barbecue and had a disco and bar set up till 2 a.m. It was awesome to rub elbows with some of European Unions most prestigious names in France. There were 6 former UK Prime Ministers there to get an idea at the caliber of folks here. I felt like I was on top of the world. 

Day Two: Holland- The Netherlands- The Hague

Up by 5 am we headed downstairs for breakfast and hit the ground running. Our tour guild Sletlona guided us quickly through the right buses in order to arrive at the EU's International Criminal Courts on time for our tour. It was rather dry, but a good run down of what this institution does. In a nut shell it will either be successful and be the beginning of a kind of Star wars republic where each member state has their representation. But since the EU lacks the participation of the US and China as well os other highly significant country the organization is too weak. Failure is a possibility. But I think it is fair to say any progress towards this form of unity is good progress. After the ICC Rachel Ashton, and I went to a very neat restaurant that was all natural, fresh, and delicious. Well actually I got this weird fish pie with zucchini that was not the best but the rhubarb pie slice I ate with it was well worth the 5 euros I paid for it. After that we walked the streets of the Hague which reminded me of an outside mall. Ashton and I went into a whole foods/lord and Taylor store that was very neat. We found a coffee show of the European brand and hung out for a little while. It was a very lovely day with excellent weather. But the intended train for our transportation back to Brussels was canceled. As it turns out someone through themselves upon the train in order to commit suicide. Apparently the suicide rate here in Belgium is quite high. Our tour guide told us this was a frequent occurrence. We had to take a hodge podge of trains to make our way back which ended up being a 4 hour process. Back in Brussels we set out to find the legendary mussels in Brussels. We found them as well as our desert... Belgium waffles!

Day One-From Athens, GA to Brussels, Belgium all on my own.

Woke up in Athens and 2 planes, 4 trains, and a taxi later I finally made my way up to my hotel room. I rode the Chunnel (EuroStar) from London to Brussels. What an impressive piece of architecture. When I arrived at the room Ashton and Rachel were there to greet me and we set off on the town. I envied Rachel's cool fedora so I had to get one myself and did. We ate greek food (Peta Miaz) and drank at a bar called Little Delirium. I was hoping to find my favorite beer Kasteel Rouge but they did not serve it. They did however serve a beer called Delirium Red which tasted a lot like Kasteel. We also took shots of absinth- a very weak absinth. On our way home we chanted UGA chants, GCSU Bobcat chants, and USA chants. By the time my head hit the pillow we were already getting up at 5:00 am for breakfast...