Lack of updating, I know, I'm a slacker what can I tell you. But! I do have good reasons, I suppose. After the busy Saturday, Sunday, I had a relaxing day in Metz. Hung out, did laundry, and even played a few games of 4 on 4 basketball with other French natives.
Monday, was back to school, however it was a pretty big day here in France, as France took on Romania in the Euro Cup! It was unfortunately, not the greatest of games, but they did end in a tie...a 0-0 tie, but at least they still earned a point. So, of course, being in France for a soccer game, me and a few buds (Justin, Daniel, and our new French friend, Read) went to a pub to watch the game. Overall, not too exciting of a day, but with a few 1664's in me it made it a bit more interesting.
Tuesday. Wake up, 6:00 AM. On the bus, 6:45 AM. 7:00 AM, off to Strasbourg to see the European Parliament, and Cathedral Notre Dame (yes, same name as in Paris, but if you didn't know there are multiple Notre Dames scattered across France). The trip was a bit cramped, couldn't get any sleep, but it was well worth the 2 hours of travel. First stop, the European Parliament. A beautifully constructed building, inside and outside, with modern kinks at every turn. For one, the location was right on the Rhine river, and the architecture by Louise Weiss was gorgeous, very impressive. The inside was as modern as it gets I feel; gardens inside the building, motion sensor escalators, sound proof enclosures (see picture), double helix staircase designed by Da Vinci, headsets at every seat that have translators for 13 different languages going at once, microphones at every seat. All in all, quite nice for modern architecture. Now to something a little less modern. The Cathedral Notre Dame in Strasbourg begun construction in the 13th century and finished in the mid 1500s. Originally, it was a Roman church construction that consisted of just Oak wood planks. Then was constructed a magnificent Cathedral, very reminiscent of the one in Paris, because well it was modeled after it. However, as you will notice from the pictures that it only has 1 spire as opposed to 2 at the Paris Notre Dame, and that is because the original ground work (the Roman base) could only hold 1 spire and still stand. In it, one thing stood out to me overall, and that was the clock that told the time, as well as, astrological signs, the eclipses and one other thing I believe that I forgot. So we spent about an hour in the Cathedral with a tour guide which was a nice addition, then we got set free in Strasbourg.
Strasbourg, what a beautiful city, it has Roman/German/and French influences felt all around the city. What you would expect from a town on the border with Germany and near where the Roman empire was. Small streets, alleys everywhere, shops that were fit into century old buildings, and the classic look of a German town. If you get a chance to go there, do not pass it up, Justin and I had a great time just going around the city and taking pictures. Just for example if you don't understand the influence other countries have on it, it's one of the few places in France that serve pretzels and gelato's under one roof, and also you can find coo coo clocks. I was tempted to buy one, but I decided against it just because if I was going to get a nice one, I'd have to spend up to 50 euros. So upon wondering around, we went to Petite France, and Ponts Couverts were the stand out places. So just, take a look at the pictures and you'll get the jist of how nice of a place Strasbourg is.
Today, was a bit on the slower side. French 1 @ 8:00 AM. e-Business @ 10:00-12:00 and 2:00-4:00, taught by a real nice guy don't get me wrong, but being from Africa, he was not the strongest English speaker which made it a bit tough to stand. Now back at the residence, and Justin and I are probably going to head over to the ATAC (market) and maybe hit up a pub on the way back to watch the beginnings of Portugal vs. Czech Republic.
Au Revoir.
....so since my internet sucks here in Metz, I unfortunately cannot get those pictures uploaded at this time. I will try again later tonight when possibly less people are using the bandwidth.
Pardon Moi.
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