Well hello! Fancy meeting you here. May I take your coat and hat? Don't get too excited. These are pretend manners. I was just going to throw them in the closet with all the rest. Just kidding... on two counts:
1) How could I ever do that to you? You've been there through it all. Over the past four months, you've traveled to same European cities, scoffed at the same awkward moments, seen the same breathtaking landscapes I have, all through the power of Google Blog. Don't ever tell Google that, though. It has enough power as it is. Trust me. I'm a professional. Why yes, yes I did just embed a link to my work blog. Want to fight about it?
2) There are no other coats. Nor hats. Nor closets. Wait... literally. There are no closest in this house. Huh. I just realized that. Cabinets galore. Bookshelves, sure. But no closets. How sneaky. Where the heck am I supposed to hull up the event of an impromptu game of hide and seek?
Right... side-notes...moving along...
Well, it looks like we're in the home stretch, dear Reader. Two weeks, two days and two two hours from today*, I'll be in the backseat of my parents' car, pressing my nose up against the window, soaking up all I have missed about American suburbia. The grass, the dogs, the asphalt, the mailboxes, the maple tree leaves. It's not over yet, but I can safely say it's been a whirlwind of a trip. And it means so very much to me that you've been a part of it all.
In the meantime... let's go to Deutschland, ja? Ja.
This past weekend I went to Trier, Germany with my art class. Uh oh. Art class. You know what that means. Intensely-jam-packed itinerary, lots of ho-hum-historical chats, and lots... LOTS of cathedrals. Quite the contrary, dear Reader... the trip was incredible. This photo sums up my weekend:
This looks like a really lame glamour shot with a completely fake background. But no, boys and girls. That's the green splendid beauty of Luxembourg (first pit stop, ho-hum) and Germany. Every field we strolled through, I picked a dandelion. Just like the grapes and mushrooms in Brussels, the flowers were abnormally HUGE. I'm convinced the rainfall here contains high levels of steroids.But enough about that. The point of the story is this trip was one of the most leisurely, scenically-breathtaking, fantastically self-indulgent trips I've been on with the art class folks. We took a bus from Brussels, so the ride was four bumpy hours of beautiful rolling greenery and farm animals and fences and skies that stretched from here until infinity. Or, you know, the horizon.
Garrett and I kept tapping each other on the shoulder, motioning out the window, alerting one another to yet another magnificent scene to behold. Scenes so beautiful there was nothing to say except, "My god." I'm sorry to report that I didn't have my camera with me, but I justify that error by insisting that the pictures would have been blurry through the bus window anyway.
First stop was a cemetery. Surely you recall how I feel about cemeteries from the post about Paris. This one was different. To be honest. Quite different.
It was like the European version of Arlington Cemetery. As a matter of fact, it was an American cemetery - every soldier who fell during the Battle of the Bulge was buried here, including Patton himself.
Go ahead, say it. My life has become a history text book. Watch out for the paper cuts.
For kicks, let's continue on the historical path before we dive right into the sloping vineyards and emerald hills of the countryside. Next stop was the cemetery commemorating the same battle, except here, the German soldiers were buried.
Yeah, I guess that's about all I have to say about that. Onto the sloping vineyards and emerald hills.
These are some of my friends. I hope this photo more or less conveys the serenity of that Saturday afternoon, beneath the waxing and waning sunlight, laying in the grass laced with weeds the color of Rapunzel's locks. Well. Her locks were blonde, right? Let's assume they are. Were. Pfft, myths. Okay. Let's proceed.
As the hills seemed to swallow up the city below, so we too tried our best to soak up the magnificence of it all.
I sat on that hill for twenty minutes without speaking, willing my body to memorize the landscape.
I did not come close.As if this wasn't emotionally draining enough, our bus kept stopping off at scenic overlooks. Call my doctor. Make sure my life insurance plan is air tight. Finalize the last will and testament. My brain and heart cannot take this!
Would you believe that our professor only dragged us into two cathedrals on this trip? I didn't mind. Especially not the first one. It was flooded with light and positive energy - a change from the dark arches and peaks and stained glass we've seen before. Don't get me wrong, they're beautiful too, but...
Yeah. We were fortunate enough to, yet again, catch a blushing bride before she stepped inside to say her vows.
Whoops, here I go - back into history text book mode. Did you know that Trier is the oldest city in Germany? And it was the former capital of the Roman Empire? Yeah, me neither. Oh hey check it out! Some authentic Roman Baths ruins.
History-overload, no? The ruins were incredible. Oh hey check it out! A really old fortress by the name of Porta Nigra. I think this used to be the gateway to the city. Literally.
Like I said, after the first preliminary historical attractions, the remainder of the weekend was self-indulgent and gorgeous. Oh, wait, whoops. We went to the former house of Karl Marx. That's sort of historical. It was pretty nifty as well.
Afterwards, my new friend Allie** and I, unknowing trend setters that we are, got some fantastic veggie Chinese food. We sat under an umbrella on the sidewalk patio and enjoyed the sunshine and the charm of Trier and each other's company. Slowly but surely, our friends drifted down the avenue to drool over our lovely dishes of deliciousness, and one by one they all fell prey to the culinary delight that is CHOPSTICKS! (oh yeah, that was the name of the place. Clever. I want to go to a place called SALAD FORK! or BUTTER KNIFE!).
The last thing on our agenda for Sunday was a tour of a wine cellar and a wine-tasting fiesta.
The 200-something acre vineyard had belonged to the fellow's family for something like three generations, maybe longer. I had a hard time paying attention to his preliminary speech. When the speaker is standing in front of this...
...it's difficult to focus on anything other than the steep beauty rolling up up and away into the horizon. I do remember him mentioning that the 60% incline of the vineyard is optimal for sun exposure and rainfall distribution. So if that's ever your question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, you know who to call.Who are we kidding, that show is so 2002.
After touring the cellar, it was time for the actual tasting. We got a crash course in proper tasting techniques... are you ready, Reader?
1) See
2) Sniff
3) Slurp
4) Repeat
And then, the bus ride home. We watched Kirk Douglas in Spartacus. That was a bleak movie. I mean sure, great for the future generations of Roman slaves, but that poor Spartacus fellow could never catch a break. He was beaten. He was broken. He had to kill his best friend. He even had to watch his wifey and son ride off into the sunset with his boss-man while he hung on a cross. Dow-ner.In conclusion, Reader, please believe me when I say I'd dash back to Germany in a second. A fraction of a second. As they say in the old country, die Welt ist ein Garten, und Deutschland ist die überlegene Blume. Actually, I just made that up. But it's true.
Yesterday, May 1st, was a special holiday in Brussels. I'm an ignorant lass but I think it had something to do with Deutsch Socialist liberation labor force blee blee blah. Essentially, it translated to lots of drinking and lots of red t-shirts and killer live bands and fake plots of grass laid out in the front yard of St. Katherine's. Check back soon for a post all about that extravaganza.
Until we meet again...
Ich Liebe Dich!
Lauren
* - This 2 2 2 time stamp was true when I began drafting this post yesterday... I kept it because, come on now, that was a mighty cool coincidence.
** - The photos in this post were graciously ninjaed from my friend's albums, many of which were borrowed from Allie's collection. She and her boyfriend, studying abroad as well, and they too are keeping a blog of their discoveries, adventures, and experiences during their time in Brussels. I highly recommend you check it out - charm, wit, and excellent stories.
