Day 10: Wow

October 13th, 2011

Hello to everyone!

Today we went to one of the most well known places in Paris, the Louvre!  We saw two sections, but there are still many more to come. Mom, you were right, you can NOT see it all in one day! Good thing we have tomorrow too. I learned so much and I would like to share some of it with you!

The Louvre is a beautiful landmark since the late 12th century. It was once a dark fortress, but it was transformed into the modernized home of Francois the first and later the gorgeous palace of teh Sun King Louis the 14th. Miriam and I explored the history of this extraordinary structure and the museum that has occupied since 1793. We got to see the special exhibet called Medieval and renaissance Illuminations. Today we also were able to see the Mona Lisa in the materpieces of the Louvre exhibet. It was quite surreal to see the actual Mona Lisa in person... It is something I will always remember.

 There was hall after hall after hall of artwork! It was overwelming, but amazing at the same time!

After we finished up at the Louvre for the day, we headed over to Notre Dame for our tour at 4:00pm. We not only had an audio tour fo the main part, but we also had a tour of teh treasury room. It houses holy objects like Bishops' crooks and rings, processional crosses and crucifixes, and histrical illuminate books that could not stand exposure to certain light.

Notre Dame has a long history but I will just give you the most important facts. Construction began in 1163 during the reign of Louis the 7th. There were various architects that oversaw the construction at different times. At the end of the 17th century, the cathedral underwent major alterations. During that time, many tombs and stained glass windows were destroyed. In 1793, the cathedral fell victim to the French Revolution. Many sculptures and trasures were destroyed. Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor at Notre Dame on December 2, 1804. a restoration brogram was initiated in 1845 and lasted 23 years.
Whoa! That was a lot of information! It was a long day and I think Miriam is happy that we are finally back to our hostel. Me? I would keep exploring all night long!
But I guess it is getting late.. See you in the morning!
~Kileigh

Day 9: Bonjour France!

October 12th, 2011

Horray! We made it to France! After walking around Brussels in the morning, we hoped on a train at 3:15 pm headed toward the city I have always wanted to visit. PARIS!!! We got settled in hour hostel and headed out to explore the city. We got into France with a couple hours of daylight left so we went to the Eiffel tower first thing because we really wanted to see it at night and it worked in our schedule like that.

The Eiffel tower is more amazing in person than in pictures. It was designed my Gustav Eiffel. The Prince of Wales, King Edward the 7th opened the tower in 1889. The construction of the tower lasted from 1887 to 1889. Something you might not know was that it housed a mercury barometer and it is also used as a key place to measure the wind speed! Since we were there with some daylight still left, we went to the top.

We waited in line for a long time and finally it came our turn to ride to the top! The sight was magnificant! You could see the whole city from the top! After a while we had to come down and we went to the restaurant on the second floor. We had dinner and then went out to take more pictures of the tower since it was night and it was illuminated with gold lighting that lite up most of the city. It was a magical sight!

After we finished stareing at the Eiffel tower, we wandered the streets and looking at all the lights. We came back to our hostel, where I am now, to go to bed so that we can be up  bright and early to go to the Louvre!
Sweet dreams! Zzzzz...
~Kileigh

Day 8: Durbuy!

October 11th, 2011

Oh what a FANTASTIC day! I am still thinking about how fun we had in Durbuy! It's the smallest town in the world and also one of the cute/quaint/prettiest places to visit! We took a direct train from Brussels and arrived here around 10:00A.M. The old town goes back to the 17th century and it shows it with its ancient houses and narrow and cobbled streets. And let me tell you, the food was amazing! The streets are lined with little cafes and shops. I could have just walked the streets all day it was so charming! But we had some other things that we wanted to do.

 These are the streets I found so charming!

First was Topiary park. Even though it is in the smallest town in the world, it is the largest topiary park anywhere! It has over 30,000 square feet of some 250 clipped box trees are at the park and it is a very impressive sight. There were also animal and human forms on display.

Next, we went to the Confiturerie Saint-Amour. It is a jam factory that is open to the public. You can still see jam being hand-stirred in large copper basins. I would say it was worth the money but it was free! The place not only produces jam, but it also makes jellies, vinegars, and medicinal products! We bought a can of raspberry jam. I am really excited to try it!
        

By this time it was midafternoon and we had not had lunch yet! We found a very fancy restaurant called Le Sanglier des Ardennes. Words do not describe the next 30 minutes. The food was better than anything I ever imagined was even possible to do with food! I had the beef ravioli and Miriam had the santiago (scallops) with quinoa truffles. We let each other taste our food so we could experiance the magic of both plates!

After that, we wondered the streets some more, stopping in shops and buying little treasures. We were looking for the Belvedere. It is a spot at the top of a cliff where you can take pictures from high up. We took a train up so we did not have to climb the steep hill. It was almost sunset so we stayed up for about half an hour taking pictures of the magnificent view. The sunset made the town look even more lovely and peaceful than on the ground.

By that time it was time to head back to Brussels. We have to get up early tomorrow because we are headed to FRANCE!!!! Ahh! I am soooo excited!!!! But I am going to miss Durbuy and its narrow streets... :(

Hopefully France can stand up to Durbuy's standards! I bet it will!
~Kileigh

Day 7: The Return of the Art

October 10th, 2011


We headed out early to a new cafe where we feasted on some traditional Tompouce, a delicious pastry found in both Belgium and the Netherlands. We headed over to La Grand Place. This is the central square of Brussels and the most important tourist destination of Belgium. The first reference to The Lower Market, as it was called, is from 1174, and it gained the name La Grand Place in the late 18th century.


The architecture stood out to me. The buildings are so beautiful that one may stand there for hours just looking at them. Though I wanted to look for a while, Kileigh managed to drag me to the shopping, which, unfortunately, we spent the majority of the time doing. We sat down to eat a simple lunch and continued our souvenir hunt.


  

After we had pretty much spent half of our trip money, we retired to another art museum, this time it was the Museum of Ancient Art. This museum included art from the 14th century to the 18th century and it was quite nice. Many of the works are inspired by religious themes, as was common in that time period, but others were a bit different. I greatly enjoyed the landscapes made by Joachim Patinir. We spent a fair bit of time enjoying the artwork before finding a nice restaurant in which we shared Brochette. We would have eaten more, but neither I, nor Kileigh, was particularly fond of the idea of eating rabbit with goose liver and goose fat. 

  

-Miriam

Day 6: We Continue With Royalty

October 9th, 2011 


Today, we arrived in Belgium, Brussels to be exact. We headed straight for the Royal Palace of Brussels, a high priority. Though it is called the Royal Palace, no royals live there. They live in another castle on the outskirts of the city, but the King uses this Palace as a workplace. The palace was built at the instruction of King Leopold II after 1900, but some portions of the land were once part of a complex from the Middle Ages. There were no tours, but Kileigh and I got to explore the castle on our own, but we did learn quite a lot.


The Palace of Brussels stands opposite the Parliament building and it symbolizes the government of Belgium. The castle houses many political figures that work as heads of departments of government such as Economical, Cultural, and Social Departments. There are many rooms that we got to see, my favorite being the Mirror Room. Mirrors were placed on the walls by King Albert I and the ceiling was recently decorated with millions of jewels. 


 

We left the castle and stopped for food in a cafe that we found on our way to St. Michael's Cathedral, and of course, we both ordered Belgian Waffles, as is customary for tourists in Belgium. We also picked up some chocolate to bring home with us.


St. Michaels Cathedral was a very short trip. Most of the day had been spent exploring the vast array of rooms in the Palace, so we decided to look inside quickly and go back to the hotel to rest. We learned that St. Michael's Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Church that was originally constructed in the 11th century. It was later subject to a renovation that lasted from the 13th to the 15th century. The inside was beautiful. There were enormous stained glass windows and statues all around the Cathedral. Once darkness fell, we decided to head back to the hotel to sleep, skipping dinner for the sake of a little rest.


 
                                                      The Cathedral Organ

-Miriam

Day 5: Amusment and Art

October 8th, 2011

Our day started off with a trip to the Tivoli Gardens, or Tivoli. It was so much fun! Tivoli is both an amusement park and a garden. We started out by going on some of the rides. The most famous one being the Rutsjebanen or the Bjerg Banen (Mountain Track). It is one of the oldest roller coasters in the world, built in 1914. Then we went on the world's tallest carousel called Himmelskibet. It was incredible! We could see the entire city of Copenhagen from when we were at the top!

After the fun was over, we went to see the Tivoli Concert Hall. Unfortunately, we did not get to go inside, but it was still worth going to see. The architecture can only be described as gorgeous. 

   

All in all, it was a great start to a great day. On our way out of Tivoli, we stopped at The Paul restaurant inside of the park. It was a bit pricey, but then again, the food was organic and vegetarian, so it makes sense to have a bit of a larger price. 

To get some shade, we went to the ARoS art museum. There were no exhibits around, but the collections in themselves were mind blowing. The art museum has a collection from the Golden Age which spanned from 1770 to 1900 and then a collection of Danish Modernism which spanned from 1900 to 1960. The final collection is Contemporary Art, spanning from 1960 to the present. We saw such works as A Farewell by Christen Dalsgaard, and Double Brown by Michael Kvium.

 

 After we were finished looking through the artwork, we stopped for dinner at a very fancy restaurant that had too many courses to remember. We ate fish, bread, cheese, meat, and anything else that was brought to our table. I swear that I could eat Danish food forever.

-Miriam

Day 4: A Castle and Some Stars

October 7th, 2011


Today we left for Denmark and we got straight to business, as usual. We headed out to the Rosenborg Castle right after we landed and what a castle it was.





The Rosenborg Castle was used as a place for royals to stay until 1710. It was mostly used for emergencies after this, for example, when the palace burned down and the royals had to stay there or when they were being attacked by the British.


The Rosenborg had one thing that really stuck out in my mind, and that was the museum, or the Rosenborg Collections. It is a collection of artifacts from the 16th to the 19th century! We went to see an exhibit of the crown jewels as well, a very popular sight. 


I may have like the museum part of the castle, but Kileigh just loved the gardens. The Rosenborg Castle gardens are pretty... I suppose. They get around 2.5 million visitors every year.


   

We stopped at a small cafe in Copenhagen that had some delicious food. We decided to eat breakfast instead of lunch because the Danish food had to be better than the pretzels from the plane. I had some pain au chocolat, or chocolate bread, while Kileigh had the bread with cheese and jam. Needless to say, it was a very good meal.


Full, we moved on the Rundetarn (The Round Tower). Not quite as extravagant as the Rosenborg Castle, this 17th Century building was built as an observatory. At the top, we could see all of Copenhagen! There were no stairs here, just a ramp, which made climbing the thing a lot easier after a long day of walking. Because we had spent almost an entire day at the castle, we had very little time to explore the area around the tower, so we stopped at the same cafe for dinner and headed back to our hotel for the night.
  


-Miriam