An Afternoon in Darling Dinant

Freideg, 6 Mee.

After stopping in Bouillon, we continued on to Dinant. Located on the Meuse River in the Belgian province of Namur, this historic city is known for its steep limestone cliffs and crunchy gingerbread cookies (which, according to both Wikipedia and myself, are the hardest biscuits in Europe). When we arrived, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and all of the city was out to enjoy the beautiful afternoon!

Bonjour, Bouillon!

Freideg, 6 Mee.

Yesterday, as you probably know, marked Ascension Thursday. (Also Cinco de Mayo, but that's a story for another day.) As you might not know, Ascension is an official jour férié in Luxembourg ... meaning no work or school.

Although I've spent what feels like a lifetime on the train between Luxembourg and Brussels, I have not spent much time in the region of Wallonia itself. To take advantage of our time off and to get to know our northern neighbors a little better, my housemates and I decided to take a quick day trip to Belgium! We spent the day in the towns of Bouillon and Dinant. Our first stop was Bouillon, a historic town located just a few kilometers from the French border!

Bouillon is, by all accounts, pretty darn old. A castle has existed on the site since at least 988, which is -- just for context -- one thousand and one years before Taylor Swift was born. For most of the Middle Ages, the château fort de Bouillon belonged to the Ardennes-Verdun dynasty. The most famous of these lords, Godfrey of Bouillon, inherited his title from a childless uncle in 1082 and then sold the castle in order to finance his involvement in the Crusades. (As people did in the eleventh century, you know.)

Given its strategic proximity to France, Bouillon was nicknamed "the key to the Ardennes" by military strategist Vauban. He fitted the castle with state-of-the-art artillery and defense systems in the seventeenth century. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Bouillon belonged to France, to the Netherlands, and finally to Belgium. Click here to read more about the history of Bouillon.

Bad Weather and Great Waffles: A Day Trip to Liège

Méindeg, 26 Oktouber.

After a whirlwind day in Mons, some Fulbright friends and I hopped on (yet another) Belgian train and headed to Liege.

Why Liège? I'm not going to lie -- my enthusiasm for the city was linked first and foremost to its famous waffles. Gaufres de Liège, with their thick chewy dough and crunchy pearls of sugar, are one of my favorite things on this planet and were invented by God himself. (Or so I've heard.)

But Liège is famous for a lot more than its waffles! The largest city in Wallonia (the southern, French-speaking region of Belgium), Liège boasts a population of almost 200,000 people. The city has a rich history dating back beyond the Middle Ages and, because of its close proximity to the Belgian border, played a significant role in both World War I and World War II. (It was Germany's invasion of Belgium and subsequent assault on the city of Liège in 1914 that marked the first battle of WWI.) Plus, the city is located just a quick two-hour train trip from Luxembourg City. So why not visit?!

Discovering Mons with Fulbright Belgium

Sonndeg, 25 Oktouber.

Moien from Luxembourg! I've been away since Friday night and it feels great to be back in my little country. ("How much longer until I can start telling people I'm Luxembourgish? Maybe another two weeks?" I joked on the train back from Belgium.)

This weekend, I headed back to Belgium -- for the third time this month -- for yet another Fulbright adventure. This time, however, I wasn't heading to Brussels but rather to Mons, a city in the southern French-speaking region of Belgium that has recently been named the 2015 European Capital of Culture. Fulbright had organized a special day trip to the city for current grantees and Fulbright alumni, including a guided tour and (most importantly) lunch.