First Steps On The Continent

  We have just returned from a five day trip with the law students to see and learn about the European Parliament in Brussels, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.  It was all very interesting and lovely and for me it marked the first time being on "The Continent."

Our introduction to Brussels began with a city tour and walk to The Grand Place.  The Grand Place is the central city square surrounded by lovely old buildings dating back to the early 1400's.  The largest of these buildings is the City Hall.

City Hall

Guild Halls around the side of The Grand Place.

The Grand Place

Larger view of the details on one of the buildings by The Grand Place.

Inside the assembly room at the European Parliament.

We couldn't leave Brussels without a Belgium Waffle with Belgium Chocolate.

Our next stop was Luxembourg to see the European Court of Justice and a quick city tour.

Bob in the largest hearing room of the European Court of Justice.

The European Court of Justice is a very modern building.

Our first stop on our Luxembourg city tour was the American Cemetery where many American Soldiers from WWII are buried.

During our coach ride from Belgium to France and back again, we watched 6 episodes from the HBO series,  Band Of Brothers.  It was an inspiring experience to visit  this cemetery and then watch Band Of Brothers as we traveled through some of the same areas where those WWII battles were once fought. 

A cute home during our city tour of Luxembourg.

Very charming areas in the old town of Luxembourg.

My favorite police car.

The European Court of Human Rights is located in a beautiful, beautiful city, Strasbourg, France.

Strasbourg captured all my preconceived mental images of what a lovely european city would look like.

I didn't get any pictures inside the European Court of Human Rights but we did take this one by a section of The Berlin Wall.

This is the view out of our hotel window.

Looking out our window toward the cathedral.  The center of town was just a few minutes walk away.

Our hotel, Hotel Beaucour. 

Boat tours on the L'ill encircle the old sections of town.

Outdoor cafes were everywhere and the temperatures were ideal for relaxing outside.

The cathedral was stunning and had the most vibrant stained glass windows that Bob and I have seen.

 The center square with the cathedral on the right and Maison Kannerzell (restaurant and hotel) straight ahead.

The Maison Kannerzell dates back to the 1400's.  We ate a delicious dinner in the restaurant and had a wonderful view of the up lighted cathedral from our window.  The bulls eye glass in the windows are original to the building.  Amazing! 

                                                            Enjoying the flower markets.

Bob and I stopped in at the Saturday morning market before we had to hop back on the coach to leave.  I'm hoping these geese were for decoration and not for someone's next meal.

Lovely, lovely Strasbourg, I hated to leave you!