Well, looky here. I am behind again by a week!!! Ugh, I promise eventually I will get good at this whole blog thing! So today, I was defnitely a bit disappointed due to the fact that I couldn't go to the kayaking activity that Rotex (returned exchangees who want to plan fun stuff for the Belgium go-ers!) had planned due to the fact that it was very far away and I just couldn't get the train times to work without having to wake up at like 5 in the morning and having Pascale drive me to the train station. But luckily, on Friday night, Pascale's friend called and invited us to go on this night walk around Liege through candle light gardens and streets. I thought it sounded like an amazing experience, and after not being able to go kayaking with my friends this was defnitely a good back-up plan! But, as the day goes on I start to notice that Pascale does NOT intend on going and that I would be going out with her friend... alone. I didn't quite know how I felt about that, but it was kinda late to back out, I am here for experiencing new things, and apparently the friend went on exchange in the U.S. somtime ago and could speak English. So I thought, what the heck, and went!
So Pascale drove me to her friend's house in Liege, introduced us, and left almost right after. I was afraid it might be a bit awkward or hard or not fun or something, but it was actually an amazing experience! When Pascale very first left, her friend, Florence, explained to me who she was and everything like that in English. She explained that she was 31 and went on exchange to the U.S. when she was 18. So she knew how it was like to be an exchange student, and when she figured out that Eddy and Pascale were getting an exchange student (her parents are more their friends and that is how she knows them...), she knew she wanted to do something with me! She just thought that a night walk through the city would be quite nice and a fun thing to do. And after her 5 minute explanation, she never spoke in English again!!!! We headed out after talking for a bit and she showed me around the city a bit and explained things to me, like the history or where the good shops were or something like that. Even though it was the area of Liege that I know quite well, I let her explain everything to me in her adult point of view. She actually knew quite a bit about the history of Liege, and for me it was pretty darn interesting. Like I figured out that a building I walk pass almost every single day is actually pretty important in Belgian history and that the weird looking columns are all that remains of a once beautiful cathedral after a raid by the French during the French Revolution. Seriously, everyday I am jsut learning so much!
After our quick little tour, which I might add was all in French with me understanding it all, we went and met up with her friends. A couple of them were quite late, and because of this as well as it being one of the busiest nights of the year because of the walk, we couldn't find a place to sit down and eat. So instead, we just got Cous Cous (something like rice with a delicious sauce, veggies, and a sausage...) from one of the booths set up outside of a restuarant just for that night. It was delicious! There has honestly been such a small amount of food here that I haven't liked, it's ridiculous how good their food is here.
After eating, we started the night walk around Liege. It was really cool, to be walking around the beautiful city at night and having everything just perfectly lit up, candles accenting all of the best parts of Liege. The first part of the walk was just through the city, and they decorated some pretty churches, the Palais de Justice, and a nunnery as well. After the main street though, the path led into some beautiful gardens. This is probably where I enjoyed the lights the most, because not only were you walking through beautiful candle lit gardens, but the gardens were also higher up than the rest of the city, so you got to look out onto the city at night. And just like any other city, there is just something magic about all of the different lights. It was quite a bit of walking that night, but it was definitely worth it. And, all of Florence's friends were really nice to me, speaking to me slowly in French, and only one of them sneaking in a few English words while the others weren't paying attention (they had said that they wouldn't speak English to me because all I want to do is improve my French!). At the end of the walk, there were fireworks a ways away that started at like 11. And boy, do the Belges know how to do fireworks. The show was absolutely spectacular, with a huge variety of high and low fireworks synchronized together. It was also extremely long, probably longer than most shows thta I have seen in the U.S. for things like 4th of July or at Disneyland. Seriously, I can not even begin to imagine how much they must have spent on the fireworks. But then again, fireworks COULD be like the one thing that is cheaper over here in Europe than in the U.S. You never know. After a great fireworks show, I asked Florence if we could leave and she drove me home. I probably didn't end up getting home until like 12:30 between the walk from the center of the city back to her house and the 30 minute drive. I was dead tired after that, but it was definitely a great night full of fun and beauty.
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| The Main Candle Display... No one was really sure what it was, but I think a flower is a safe bet. |
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| J'aime les vieux batiments en Belgique! |
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| Artistic vision... :) |
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| So I tried to take a picture of the city, but then the group started walking and I didn't wanna get left behind so I moved to. And well, I think the picture turned out pretty cool anyhow! |
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