Belgium: French, Festivities, and Food

Remember the calm before the storm? Yeah, this week was the storm.

The next morning I had my last lecture of the semester and my exam for Chinese. That night Chloe, Nikki, and I made a little Thanksgiving dinner. It was undoubtedly the least American Thanksgiving I have ever had: risotto, halloumi, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and NO LEFTOVERS. Can I even call it Thanksgiving?

And the next day I was off to Belgium. It was so crazy, but it all went by so quickly. So here’s what I got up to in Belgium.

I stayed in Belgium with some friends of my mom, Kate and Dan. They’re from the US, but they’ve lived in Belgium for 14 years. They knew all of the best places to go and, because they live there, I got to do a lot of things I never would have been able to do had I just stayed in a hostel and tried to be my own guide.

On Saturday morning we got up extra early and went to the patisserie to get croissants for breakfast.

After breakfast, our next step was to go to a proper Belgian chocolate shop. Luckily for me, Kate volunteers a few days a week at this shop in exchange for getting to learn about how chocolate is made and getting the opportunity to create some of her own chocolates to be made for the shop. The owner even took some time to tell me about how he makes the chocolate – in French! I think I actually understood most of what he was saying. On top of that, I got a pretty good deal on some chocolates to bring back for my friends and family! 

We also stopped by the supermarket to pick up a few things, but ended up staying a while, because I was having so much fun seeing what a Belgian supermarket looked like. I got to review all of my food-related vocabulary and I also got a lot of cultural information out of it. You can tell a lot about a country by how much space is dedicated to certain areas of the store.

After that, Kate took me Henri-Chapelle, which is a tiny little village not too far away from Verviers. 

I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I didn’t take a picture, so here’s the proof. Almost December, and we were riding around with the top down! Granted, we had coats and hats and the heater was on, but it was so nice to get fresh air and appreciate the sun.

We didn’t really go to the village, but instead to a memorial outside. It’s a memorial maintained by the US government for all of the Americans who died in the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. This was probably the most sobering experience I had on this trip, because I had never really thought about what it meant to the civilians to go through a war on their land. Learning about WWII in the US, no one ever talks about experiencing the war from that perspective. Kate told me all about what it was like during and after the war in this area. I have learned a lot about this time period, and it has always been a fascinating topic in school, but I’ve never felt so close to it. I hope that I can feel this way about more historical sites around Europe, because I think that’s the only way it will stay with me. I’ve never been a history buff, but I am going to try to understand more of the historical significance of the places I live in and visit.

I would also like to say that I am not supportive of war; I am a pacifist. And seeing the graves of 8,000 soldiers truly breaks my heart. However, I know that war is not a black and white issue. In some cases it seems there is no other option. I know this could have all been avoided, but that process would have had to start decades before. It is unfortunate that in the moment we can’t see the future consequences of our actions.

After that, we headed back to Kate and Dan’s house. On the way, we stopped and saw this chateau. This was one of many magnificent estates we saw. Some of them were castles, I swear!

When we got back, we made macarons. I’m not really sure how we came up with this plan, but it was so much fun! I have tried to make them before, but I think the secret is using Italian meringue. I learned so much about this process from Kate, who is seriously a pro in the kitchen!

And as if we weren’t already having a blast with purple food coloring and fun sprinkles, we decided to take this project to the next level. Kate has a DSLR camera and used to have a food blog, so we used those two things to take the most amazing picture of our work! I was so happy with the way the macarons and the pictures came out.

That night I went with Kate and Dan to their friends’ house for a dinner party that I was so graciously invited to. Everyone except for Kate, Dan, and I was Belgian. Because of that, we spoke in French the whole time. We stayed for four hours and I barely said one thing in English. I mostly listened, but it was such a good experience for my French. This was the biggest source of French language practice I had the whole trip. It was also one of the many benefits of staying with locals!

The next morning we went to Aubel to see their local market. We bought about four different kinds of cheese and they were all fantastic. This is when I decided that the theme of this trip was food.

After we came back from the market and ate lunch, we drove over to the Netherlands. You know, why not? Kate and Dan live about 30 minutes from Maastricht in the Netherlands and about 30 minutes from Aachen, Germany. It’s pretty fantastic. For someone who loves languages, it proved to be an ideal location.

The first thing we did was pop into one of the big cathedrals. This one was called Onze Lieve Vrouwe. This was another unbelievably old building. I still don’t think I’ve wrapped my head around how old things are here.

Inside, the architecture and decoration were unbelievable. Kate and I also had a lot of fun trying to decipher the Latin inscriptions. I did pretty well, except to the one at the bottom edge of the blue dome, because the script looked really bizarre and it was kind of far away. I’m still a little bummed I didn’t get to translate it. 

Next we proceeded to wander around for a while. I really loved Maastricht’s streets. I had a vague desire to go to Amsterdam before, but the Netherlands was never a country high up on my list until now. I just loved the vibe! And upon looking through my favorite pictures from the streets, I think you’ll find there was a theme: bicycles leaned up against things. It’s only fair, since the Dutch are pretty serious about cycling.

One of the other things we did was pop into this massive bookstore, which is inside an old cathedral. How cool is that?

Also, we couldn’t leave without going through the Christmas markets! It was so packed, which was understandable, since it was Sunday. We didn’t stay long. Instead, we decided to go into the other massive church that looms over the square where the Christmas market is.

Again the architecture was amazing. We didn’t stay too long, because as Kate pointed out, there comes a point where huge, beautiful churches just kind of get old (no pun intended).

Again, walking around in the streets was so nice. I really love the color scheme of all the houses. They’re all beige or cream, with the odd pastel exception. It just looks so classy.

One thing we were also determined to find was a statue of d’Artagnan, the character from the Three Musketeers. The real historical figure died in Maastricht and so there is a statue of him just outside the old city walls. I found this to be particularly exciting because we read the Three Musketeers in French class this past year.

After walking around a bit more and stopping for a quick cup of tea, we headed back. 

The next day was our day in Aachen. One of the first picture-worthy things was this beautiful bakery. I wish I could have recorded the smell that wafted from this particular bakery.

These are the printen – the culprit for the amazing smell- which are basically just amazing German gingerbread.

In the city center, there is a spring (one of many springs in the area), which produced a quite different aroma. From a fair distance, you can smell the sulfur. On either side of the fountains, there are these marble plaques engraved with the names of famous people who have visited the spring. There were several people I was surprised to see, but the one that I found the most interesting was a leader of the Jacobites, which is a group I associate with the Scottish highlands. Nikki and Chloe love that time period and they understand it much better than I do. I definitely don’t know enough about it to explain it  here, just what I know from them and from Outlander!

And, again, Christmas markets! This was by far the best Christmas market I have been to, which is no surprise, since I’m pretty sure the Germans started them. The stalls just seemed to never end. Additionally, the City Hall and the Dom gave a whole new meaning to the word “looming.” The absolutely tower over everything.

We popped into the Aachener Dom, which is where Charlemagne is buried and was coronated. His throne is there, but I think you have to pay to see the part of the church where it is located. Regardless, the detail was incredible. The part where I was standing when I took this picture (below) was built in the Byzantine style, but the other parts of the church were added later and were built in the Gothic style. You’d think it would clash, but it’s all so ornate, it actually kind of works.

The streets of Aachen were also charming!

On our way back home, we stopped by the place where Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands all intersect. I was extremely excited to be in three countries at once, as you can tell from my face.

The next day we traveled around the area. We went to Spa, which is the town whence came the word spa. The spring there apparently helped Peter the Great recover from an illness, though Kate and I decided it was probably drinking water instead of alcohol that made the biggest difference!

Peter the Great was so touched by the effects, he gave the place this alabaster medallion. Ever since, the town has used his visit to promote the healing effects of the water. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the craze was at its peak, and since then the town has fallen into this lull. With the magnificent buildings (including the oldest casino in Europe) falling into disrepair, the town has this sense of faded glory, but I kind of liked it. 

In the same building as the museum about the town, there was an Miro exhibition. They had many sketches by Picasso, because the two were both Spanish surrealists and they knew each other. This is the only picture I have because I took that picture before I found out I wasn’t supposed to take pictures. I really like Picasso, so I thought this was pretty cool. I didn’t know anything about Miro before, but I learned a lot about his style, about the way his worked changed over the years, etc. They also had several letters that he wrote in French, and Kate and I worked together to decipher his handwriting and see what he wrote about. It turned out not to be overly interesting.

I also got a picture of one of his quotes they had hanging up. I quite like it. It says, “I follow perilous paths, and I swear that often I am panic-stricken, but that panic of a traveler who walks on unexplored paths: then I react, thanks to the discipline and rigor with which I work.” As you might expect, it sounds better they way he said it.

On our way out of town, I took a picture of the windy, rural road, because I thought it looked pretty.

On our way to the next village, we stopped in Verviers and got crepes at Kate and Dan’s favorite place. It was so good! Then we headed to Limbourg. It’s this little village perched on the ridge of a mountain.

I couldn’t really capture it in a picture, but the church in this little village hangs off the side of the mountain. 

This village was so cute, so I hope I can come back when it’s warmer and the weather is nicer.

The next morning, I woke up to a light dusting of snow on the rooftops! This is the first snow I’ve seen this winter! It was perfect, because it looked nice, but didn’t cause any problems.

We headed out with all my stuff to get on a train to Brussels for the day before I got a bus to the airport.

As expected, Brussels was beautiful! I only got to spend a few hours there, but I know I’ll be back. We did stay long enough to get some waffles and french fries!

That evening, I went back to Edinburgh. I didn’t really do that much that day, but by the time I had taken a car, train, bus, and plane, I was so exhausted. I had such a lovely time and hope I can make it back soon. We made quite a little list of things we didn’t get to do on this trip that I’ll have to do next time. I think Kate wants to take me to a cheese shop, Cologne, Bruges, and probably some other places I’ve forgotten. I really can’t wait to go back!

Also, remember when I said I was going to start making YouTube videos to practice my languages? I made another video (finally). It’s about this trip, but more specifically about French.

Also, here is the link to my previous video.

Thanks for reading!