European triangle trip: Brussels – Luxembourg – Strasbourg
 |
| The group in Strasbourg |
It all started on May 7th 2011 at 10am in front of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, the first corner of the European triangle. I met with about eight other participants of the trip to discover the European institutions in Brussels. However, even with such a small group it was difficult not to lose each other in the overcrowded buildings. I definitely liked the Council best as we had a great tour and I got a nice 'petite poche' for my mobile; the Berlaymont was more like a huge playground for children; the EESC and Committee of the Regions at least had some punch to offer but way too many small stands; and I was simply too tired at the end of the day for the Parliament. First day summary: What the hell am I going to do with all of these flyers and pens?!
Grand-Duché, enchanté!
I tried to go to bed early (which of course did not work out) in order to get up at 6am the next morning. The bus left from Schuman and I actually made it on time and, even more surprisingly, the other 28 people were all on time too! This was the perfect start to the trip since I was one of the organisers. Our first stop was in the cute, very small and extremely tidy city of Luxemburg. After enjoying hot chocolate, the Bock Casemates, the wonderful little valley in the Grund and the sun (we were so lucky with the weather!), we soon had to go back to the bus, quickly saying goodbye to Nick, the EC stagiaire in Luxemburg who showed us around.
Next stop: Schdroosburi - of course they have their own dialect!
The hostel was surprisingly nice, cheap, clean and not far from the centre. As one of the organisers, I had the pleasure of leading a short city tour for the group (which was something of a challenge since I’ve never been to Strasbourg before...). Thanks to Google maps and the tourism office website we didn’t get completely lost and managed to see the most important sights: the charming 'Petite France', the welcoming Place Kleber, the peaceful river L’Ill, the amazing(!) cathedral and many more. The city charmed me with its inviting atmosphere and I was enchanted by the charisma of the little fairytale-like houses and medieval alleys. Barco Latino (best Mojito in town) was the last stop of the day and certainly not the shortest…
Institutionalised Europe
On Monday we started with a visit to the European Court of Human Rights. Now I can show off with my in-depth knowledge of Protocol No. 14! After visiting the Musée Alsacien (everything you find in Alsace has one common characteristic: soooo cute!), we returned to the European quarter and went to the Council of Europe. I learned from a famous quotation that whereas the EU deals with the standard of living, the CoE deals with the quality of living. From now on this is all I am going to say about the differences between the two! After running to the next bridge to cross the picturesque river that separates the Council from the European Parliament (of course there was no direct bridge...), we made it to the plenary session: hundreds of people in the visitors’ tribune and about 20 parliamentarians in the hall - no comment. After the last group picture had been taken we headed to the bus and to Brussels - home sweet home - where we arrived at 2.30am.
I don’t know when exactly it happened but I can definitely feel it: in my personal triangle the beautiful Franco-German city of Strasbourg will always be my favourite. Yes, I am in love ;-)
Lea Kulick,
DG MOVE
No comments:
Post a Comment