This past weekend we took an 8 hour night train down to Chomonix in the French alps, here we toured the town and visited Aiguille Du Midi. This is mountain top where an observation deck has been created, with only a cable car or helicopter to reach it. It was terrifying, but had one the most beautiful views we had ever seen. We had a close up view of mont blanc, and a saw over the 'Mer de Glace' sea of ice in French, describing the endless view of glaciers. Down in the town of Chomonix, we were surprised to find that the British outnumbered the French; in one bar we visited, even the bar tenders were all british. On Saturday we took a day trip to Lake Geneva, walked around and made our way back. The train rides may have been long for the whole trip, but it was all worth it.
The north of France can be very grey this time of year, cloudy, rainy, and cooler; a trip to Marseilles on the Mediterranean with sunshine was very needed. We took the train down at 6am Saturday and got there a little afternoon, checked into our hostel and explored the city. Our first thing was to hike up the hill towards "The Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde", which is much smaller on the inside than one expects it to be. From the top of this hill, we had a fantastic view of the city and the bay. The sunshine was great to have, the second day we took a ferry to a few islands outside of the bay where we hiked around old military bases and enjoyed the ocean air.
Here we decided to take a free trip (eurail pass) to brussels for a day. We were not completely sure what we were going to do, or even how to get around, but we made the most of it. Our first stop was an art nouveau music museum, in which consisted of old instruments and an headphone jack to here them be played. Later we walked around, found a cafe, had lunch and made our way back to the station through the city.
Our first weekend here we decided to take a weekend trip to London, it was a much needed dose of English. Here saw many of the main sites, including: Oxford Circus, Regent St, Big Ben, and the London Eye. It was fascinating how the city has grown, and is still growing. New buildings composed of spider glass are juxtaposed next to heavy stone, centuries old, structures. The city is very large, yet intimate while walking down the streets. It was really cool to see the construction for the cities 2012 summer olympics games. Old streets suddenly had new saplings planted, with new street lamps, and new center medians. Construction of new offices and apartments was everywhere. It makes one notice how little construction there now is in Minneapolis or even Fargo; though I here that Minneapolis has many new apartments planned downtown! - Fargo will have its day too, it just needs a little more effort
Lille France is an amazing little city, brushed over by most tourists as a post industrial workers town, yet this town has rebounded tremendously since 1990. The old city center is intact with its beaux arts style opera house, grand pedestrian plaza, and cobble stone streets. Now, only a block away from the old train station stands the towns new section, Euralille. This complex designed by both Rem Koolhaas and Jean Nouvel (MPLS Guthrie), is situated over old military land in the city center, and now contains a modern mall, high rises, and the Lille High Speed Rail Station. Lille is now one hour from Paris, one and a half from London, and two hours from Brussels. I cannot think of a better city to study abroad in.
