The Fulbright Belgium program has a happy partnership with CIEE, an exchange program that, among many other things, allows American university students to study in Brussels. They organize superb trips around Europe for their students and invite us along; I am quite excited for the one to Normandy in mid-October where we see Mont Saint Michel and the D-Day area. The one last Wednesday, however, was to Luxembourg and the south of Belgium and lasted only one day. But by one day I mean ALL of one day — I caught a 6 am bus in order to get to the meeting place on the other side of Brussels in time, and I wasn’t back to my hostel until midnight.
Waiting for the bus c. 6 am
The three-hour bus trip did provide a perfect opportunity for some napping, and then we arrived at the European Investment Bank. I had never heard of it either. As the jolly Englishman who gave us a presentation said, “We are a bank that lends money that should be paid back.” They assess every loan request from a number of standpoints: environmentalism, sustainability, possible harm to cultural/historic monuments, as well as financial security. Seems like there might be a bank out there that isn’t evil. They actually loan much more money than the World Bank, albeit the vast, vast majority of it stays in Europe.
The interior of the European Investment Bank: “Transparency is Our Policy”
Finally we went on to Luxembourg, which, as a German guy told me last summer in Lyon, is “very nice, very clean.” Remind anyone else of Disney Land? Luxembourg has been owned by pretty much every other country in Europe. And they stole the Netherlands’ flag. All in all it is really rather charming.
Next, a two-hour bus ride (during which we watched one of my personal favorites, L’Auberge espagnole) to somewhere in Belgium. Overlooking the town of Celles stands an 800-year-old castle, the Château de Vêves, that remains in the possession of the same family that originally built it. They were not home when we visited; they were maybe at another of their half a dozen châteaux, or perhaps on a quest for the holy grail or off killing some peasants.
Château de Vêves
To finish off the day, we visited the church in town where townsfolk sheltered themselves from the Battle of the Bulge near the end of the Second World War. It was the only building in town left standing after the mêlée. Then a delicious dinner at Ardena, specializing in the typical cuisine of the Ardennes region, and then finally back to Brussels.
home away from home 