Bruges, Hackenberg, St. Avold, and Monte Carlo

     Hey guys! Sorry for making you all wait. I do not have much free time here. I decided to combine the past two weekends, as well as the field trip, into one big post. If I split them up, they would have been very short posts, so I figured this was the best way to do it.

Bruges

     We spent a weekend in Bruges. Overall, it was a fun weekend, but there really isn't much to do or see there. Glad we went, but I wouldn't put it on a list of "must see cities". I did have a waffle for just about every meal. Those were great. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Just out of the train station

Group pic walking down the street.

We got to see a chocolate museum.

This is what a cocoa plant looks like.

This is made of real chocolate. It had a sign that said "Do not touch", but Christina decided to touch it. Wouldn't you know it, the guy who made the thing was standing right next to her. He said they spray the "leaves" with hair spray, so people will not eat more than one bite.

Chocolate sculptures. The room wasn't very cold, I wonder if they ever have a problem with these melting.

We got to ride a boat down the chocolate river.

We got to see the process of making chocolate. Very cool process.

We each got a sample after the demonstration. It was delicious.

This is the distribution of ingredients for milk, dark, and white chocolate.

The bell tower, which I photographed at a bad angle. This can basically be seen throughout the city because it's so much taller than everything else.

My attempt at being artsy.

The trip was worth it for the waffles alone. Great stuff.

You can tell I enjoyed it.

We took a canal tour.

Their goal was to cram as many tourists together as possible.

The bell tower again.

Lots of swans and ducks.

Cool building with a dog sleeping in the window.

Me being classy and Christina being a goober.

Another amazing waffle. Also, that orange just was basically just pulp with a bit of liquid added.

No idea what this is, but it was picture-worthy

Cool "castle" we saw when we were lost.

He was making scarves. It's a very cool process.

Field Trip: Hackenberg and St. Avold

   I predicted wrong when I said we'd go to the Memphis Zoo. We went to Hackenberg, which is a fort on the Maginot Line (basically a French military failure, but feel free to research it and come to your own conclusion), and to St. Avold, which I believe is the largest American WWII cemetery in France.

Everyone's excited about Hackenberg.

We traveled through the tunnels by train. Very similar to the ones we get on with out Eurail passes.

France's high-speed TGV model.

This is basically the control system for a cannon. It can turn 360 degrees.

Our reflective tour guide showing us another cannon/gun.

Guns... Lots of guns.

St. Avold. It's depressing to see so many graves, and many people buried here were my age or younger.

Jewish soldiers have a Star of David headstone. All others are represented with a cross.

Special acknowledgement for Medal of Honor. I think there are four MoH recipients buried here.

The overlook point.

"THROUGH THE GRAVE AND GATE OF DEATH MAY THE PASS TO THEIR JOYFUL RESURRECTION"

"TO THESE WE OWE THE HIGH RESOLVE THAT THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED SHALL LIVE"

From the overlook.

Because Ruben Rivers was black, he did not receive the MoH until the 90's. It's sad that we allowed people to fight and die for this country without giving them the same respect and acknowledgement as everyone else. I'm glad I was born into a sensible family, and was never fed the same lies as some of my friends growing up in the south.

Monte Carlo

     We had a bro weekend in Monte Carlo. We had a great time there, but getting there and back was an absolute pain. Every step of our journey presented a new difficulty. But we made it back in time for class. and overall it was the cheapest weekend yet (because our casino winnings paid for most of it).

Some High-Rollers ready for action.

We stood for 3 hours on a train because we couldn't get tickets. Reading a book took my mind off of the fact that I wanted to sit down.

Steak tar-tar (Basically just rare beef). Ethan ordered it, not realizing how rare it would be, even after the waiter's warnings. I traded him half of my swordfish (that's right, swordfish) for half of his steak. It was delicious, and not at all sickening. Why have I bothered cooking my meat all these years?

Monte Carlo casino. Notice all of the nice cars. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures inside.

A little later at night.

Our plan was to stay up all night at the casino. We didn't book a hotel or hostel. Turns out the casino's closed around 3:30, so we had to wait at the train station for about 2 hours. Not so fun.

Overall it was a crazy night, and I don't know how we got that baby.

We leave tomorrow for Florence and Venice (and maybe one or two pictures in Pisa). So stay tuned and I'll try to get the next post up in a more timely manner.