Ancient Tunnels and Roman Gladiators

Way behind on my posts but it's a good thing because that means I've been nonstop busy with travel!  Finally getting warmer in Belgium and we're enjoying the nice weather.

A couple weekends ago we took an amazing trip with our professor to Luxembourg, Trier (Germany), Bastogne (Belgium), and Liege (Belgium).  This post is just on Luxembourg and Trier

1. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
First a little geography - Belgium is the pink-purple country just north of France. Germany is in light green, and the little yellow dot below Belgium is Luxembourg.  It is incredibly small - the entire city of Tucson, Arizona has more people than Luxembourg country (502,000), and the town of Hamilton, New Jersey (shout out!) has more people than the capital, Luxembourg City (89,000). 

We went to see the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which is similar (but with great differences) to the US Supreme Court.  It has the final say on all issues of European Union law.  We actually were able to sit in on a court case on an immigration issue.

The whole group in the courtroom

Laura, Kristen and I.  If you look closely on the left, you can see the lawyer from the UK wearing a wig - some traditions never die.

Waiting for the trial to begin, you can see the interpretation booths in the back.  The trial was translated live in at least 10 to 15 languages.

In the court case, Germany was trying to kick out a Turkish citizen who had been born and raised in Germany (they have no birthright citizenship) but committed various crimes. The question was over Germany's right to do this within the EU-Turkey agreement (Turkey is not in the EU).  When we asked when the case will be decided, our speaker responded, "How long does it take grass to grow?" 

Luxembourg is a very modern city and one of the richest in the world, but it also has an incredible history.  There are still remnants of a system of forts and tunnels dating back to the Roman empire.

This is the Gelle Fra monument and it marks the sacrifice of Luxembourgers who lost their lives in WWI.  Luxembourgers were in fact fighting against each other in the war, as the Germans drafted many for service while others fled to fight with Allied France.  The monument shows the slain Luxembourger on the German side and the victorious Allied Luxembourger - but it is not triumphant - he has won the war but killed his fellow countryman.  A strong anti-war message...

Luxembourg is so small that it is not uncommon to run into the Duke or Prime Minister on the street.  The royal residence:

And of course a picture just for fun, taken by one of my friends in Luxembourg:

2. Trier, Germany
Trier was a key seat of the Roman Empire, and has the largest collection of Roman ruins in northern Europe.  Our group examining a skeleton:

This statue below is very well known - this is the original from the Roman era.

Trier was actually the seat of the Roman Empire from appx 306 to 312 under Constantine (who brought Christianity into the empire, among other things).   This was his throne room, which is now a church.  Wrongdoers would have to march down the aisle and plead with the emperor.  Visitors could never turn their back to the emperor and would have to walk out backwards.

Not lacking an ego, Constantine had this sculpture built of his own foot to remind people of the "footprint" he left on Trier.

The Porta Nigra Roman gate was built around 160 AD and is humongous.  It had two laters of defense - when the enemy broke through the first doors of the gate, a second gate would trap them in a small room, and the Romans could then pour fire on top of their trapped guests. 

I'm all the way on the right:

Trier also has the largest remains of Roman baths outside of Rome, built under Constantine.  We took a really awesome tour.
We would all be under water if this picture was taken 1700 years ago, bathing with nobility:

We walked through the complex duct systems, which were manned by the slaves.  They served the purpose of holding water, heat, or waste, so we may well have been walking on really old sewage.

We traveled just outside Trier to see an actual Roman ampitheater.  Gladiators fought here to entertain the masses.  We actually walked through a cage where the lions, tigers, and bears were held before the events.  Thanks to some ipods, we had "virtual" gladiator fights in the arena.

Trier is also famous for being the birthplace of Karl Marx, subtly marked by the plaque under the window.

We had fun time going out at night in Trier. We were told about a bar where US soldiers stationed nearby were often spotted, and given the 12 to 5 female to male ratio it was clear where the group would be going.  But we all had a lot of fun and saw a lot of people dressed up for carnival.

Tidbits
Luxembourg is officially "The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg."  It is the only country in the world "ruled" by a Grand Duke.

Although only 500,000 people, the Luxembourgers have their own language called Luxembourgish.  It is a mixture of French, Dutch, and German but unintelligible even if you understand all three (so we were told).

Off to the Netherlands

Off to the Netherlands

                So much travel I am falling behind on my posts!  Last weekend our group had an awesome trip to The Netherlands to The Hague and Amsterdam, and I also visited the city of Leiden on my own.  The Netherlands takes the silver medal for being my second country visited outside the US.

For those of you who were confused as I was of the Holland-Netherlands distinction, they are used interchangably in English. However strictly speaking the country is the Netherlands, and Holland is the name of a former region of the country, now split into North and South Holland. 

The first two days were the program part of the trip in the Hague, known for its international institutions and swarms of diplomats. We started off at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the group that goes in and investigates whether countries are properly disposing of chemical weapons that have been stockpiled over the last century.  They were recently in the news attempting to assess whether Libya has the ability to use its 9.5 tonnes of mustard gas.

Our second meeting on Thursday was at EuroJust - the organization that fights cross-border organized crime (mafia crimes, human smuggling).  A major problem has been the lack of communication between national investigators.  The example was given of a Europe wide sting operation that included Belgium, but Belgium could not participate because its laws prohibited a warranted entry into a residence between 12 and 6 in the morning!

The Hague isn’t particularly known for its nightlife, but I guess even politicians like to go out every once in a while so we did find some places.  We found an Irish place the first night, and when you seen an Irish pub it is often secret code for “English speaking.” We also went to this interesting "club" called the Mad House both nights - we actually had the whole place to ourselves the first night (The Hague on a Wednesday night)

In Chinatown in the Hague for dinner beforehand:

On Friday we were at the International Criminal Court, and we saw the trial of a rebel group commander in the Central African Republic who was accused of a long list of the worst imaginable charges.  We listened to the testimony of a father whose family was personally attacked. It was shocking and quite sobering to think about all of the atrocities committed by the people tried at the ICC.
On a side note, I feel almost spoiled as a student of American government to be going to all of these international bodies after just having one or two lectures on them! They really pack a lot into the program - so busy that our lessons on Eurojust and the ICC came just the week before our visits.  The list already is exhaustive:  Chemical Weapons, EuroJust, ICC, European Court of Justice, The Council, Committee of the Regions...

After the Hague, the group headed to Amsterdam but I stopped in Leiden to visit Julia! After a train delay and some fun communication issues, we met up and she took me around the city.  We ate at a pancake ("pannkoeken") place, a Dutch specialty which was delicious.  It was great to see Julia in her natural environment (she is Dutch!) - one of the many pros being she could translate for me.  It was great to catch up and see another part of the Netherlands I wouldn't normally see. 

Then to Amsterdam!  On Saturday morning I went biking with Kristen, Laura, and Monica. We rented them for the day and rode all over the city.

We would ride for over an hour without having any idea where we were going!  We are sure we saw everything there is to see in Amsterdam, we're just not sure which site was which.

The city is really neat for biking - there are bike lanes everywhere.  Our professor warned us not to get killed while walking by the bikes because they don't stop, so we jokingly decided we would be safer on bikes. Only problem was they didn't stop for inexperienced city bikers either!

We ducked out of the cold for lunch at an Italian place:

And we pulled out a map to find out where we were because we really had no clue. Turns out we were across from the Anne Frank house:

We didn't get a chance to go in because of the wait unfortunately.  It started raining in the afternoon, but I think that made it even more fun - we were completely soaked and cold but loving every second of it. We ended up in Amsterdam's Vondelpark:

And we also passed by the Heineken brewery right near the park:

We finally decided to go back after stopping multiple times for coffee, but we took a busy road by accident and lost Monica.  Kristen Laura and I went back to the bike shop to wait, hoping she could find her way back.  Althought not a planned part of the trip, we ended up playing Uno over tea for a solid hour in an Amsterdam bike shop: 

We had the good fortune of staying at a really nice Christian hostel in Amsterdam.  Somehow I was tasked with booking the hostel and of course someone asked on our way, "Why would you book a Christian hostel in Amsterdam??"  However, by  the end of it everyone loved the hostel because the no drugs and no alcohol in the hostel rule meant a quiet night's sleep and safe place to stay in the city that has...a reputation for its nightlife.  Plus they had free breakfast and even a surprise free dinner one night.   I did have to laugh at the irony though - the hostel was located just steps from the red light district.

Thanks to Julia's advice in Leiden, I suggested our group get pannakoeken pancakes in Amsterdam - they were delicious and humongous, in a neat warehouse restaurant along a canal.

A view from the walk after dinner: 

After dinner we went to meet up with some other friends at the St. Christopher's hostel bar.

From St. Christopher's Hostel Bar (Friday night):

A great trip overall - three very different Dutch cities spent with great people, really a lot of fun.

Now for the part you've been waiting for -

More Random Bits

Our group makes frequent use of the term TMA (“too much American”) when going out. Among other situations, it is invoked when group members (a) are too loud (b) say something culturally insensitive or (c) talk about McDonald's.

The Netherlands is known for its excellent Indonesian food – attributed to the fact that Indonesia is a former colony of The Netherlands.  As a general rule, we were informed good ethnic food will appear from a country's former colonies.

When picking up Asian food in the Netherlands, understanding the number they are calling in Dutch is incredibly difficult.  Add in an Asian accent speaking in Dutch and it’s nearly impossible.

The capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, but most of the Dutch government and the international institutions are all in The Hague.  I wonder why they don’t want to be in Amsterdam?

A lost American asked me “Parlez-vous anglais?” (Do you speak English?).   I told him he was lucky because it was the only language I spoke.  He was trying to get to the campus we are studying at – it may have been the only scenario where I could give flawless directions in Brussels.