The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

We took one of our three classes of students to a meeting at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg City two weeks ago. Wow. Does that even seem possible? Anyway, it was. After our briefings, we had lunch in the lovely, very European cafeteria, and had a tour of the building, which was amazing.

The theme of the building is transparency, so the spaces are very open and filled with glass. There are gorgeous works of art donated by various states, like a Rodin from France and a Miro from Spain. We saw three courtrooms, each bigger than the last. It was really something.

Afterward, we had a bit of free time in the city. Lux used to be a fortified city, so there is a ville haute, or high city, and the valleys below, on the other side of the walls. In the walls, there are tunnels one can go through, if one were to arrive before they close (grr). We looked over the valley, and then walked through the Judicial Center of the city to an elevator that took us down to the Grund. We crossed a lovely river and had a drink at Scott's Pub outside on the beautiful day. I spent most of the afternoon just walking. Enjoying. Breathing. I think Luxembourg is wonderful. Photos in the slideshow.



It is worth making special note that this was the day we all learned that Michael Jackson had died the afternoon before. If you know me at all, you'll know he was my fave. Oh, Michael Jacks, I'll miss you so much. Many very important moments of my life centered around MJ, and it's very difficult to grasp that we now live in a world without Michael Jackson. This is worse than when Gene Kelly died. Or Princess Di. Sorry Farah Fawcett. I'm sure you were cool too.

Because of this momentous event, all of Europe seemed to be celebrating his life. Cars would drive by with their windows down playing Billie Jean. Buskers played his music in metro stations. European versions of MTV played his videos all day. You would walk by bars with their doors open to hear Thriller. The weekend after a giant crowd gathered under the Eiffel Tower to moonwalk in his honor. I'll miss you, Michael Jacks.

Conspiracy and Country

D and I went to Texas in order to attend a wedding and decided, while there, to visit most of the people we knew living in Texas. It was a whirlwind weekend of little sightseeing and much fun.

We had briefly tossed around the idea of driving the 13 hours from ATL to DFW, but instead found a decent rate for both flights and rental cars and flew instead. Boy was that a good decision for the preservation of our marriage. After landing, we promptly found the first ridiculous hip country radio station and headed to Fort Worth, where the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were to be held that evening. (The bride was my college roommate, and I was to sing in the wedding...it was a great honor to be asked.)

With some time to kill, we found the Kimbell Art Museum. It's the general art museum in FW. For art reasons, we would have probably preferred the Modern Art Museum (which we never managed to make it to) but the Kimbell was designed by architect Louis I. Kahn. You might noticed the link I provided was not to the art museum general page, but instead to the page in which you can virtual tour the museum, to see this gorgeous building. It's really remarkable. The collection is small, but really quite good, particularly for being such a small collection. Some of you may know I'm not a huge fan of the Atlanta High Museum's permanent collection, despite how incredible the traveling exhibitions tend to be. But the Kimbell's collection was lovely, with at least one Caravaggio, Monet, Manet, Picasso, Mondrian, Pisarro, Munch, and beautiful old Spanish and Dutch paintings, which are some of my favorite genres. The ancient art collection was also nice. All in all, though you can't say there was much, each piece is worth spending time on, which is not something you can say for many other art museums. (Across the street is the modern art museum. We didn't have time to go in, but we did take photos in the outside sculpture.)

We found a Starbucks, because we were starving and wanted to find a place to sit and work for a while. D napped.

Finally, we were able to see K and J at the rehearsal! The wedding was in a lovely (tiny) chapel in Fort Worth, designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, called the Marty Leonard Chapel. It had a beautiful skylight the length of the roof, and it was just gorgeous. And so, of course, was my friend. We then had dinner at an Italian restaurant I can't remember the name of, and drove, late, to Dallas, where we were staying with some friends I met in grad school. J was in choir with me back in the day. It was great to stay up and catch up with them!

In the morning, they took us to brunch at a fantastic little Latin bakery, La Duni. I had a brunch chile relleno and marvelous fried potatoes, coupled with a Latin (foamy) hot chocolate made from melted Godiva chocolate. Oh it was heavenly. J had to work for the afternoon, but S took us to the site of the JFK assassination and the Sixth Floor Museum. This is the museum dedicated to the life and death of JFK. It was a much more serious museum than we expected. We were ready for something full of conspiracies and tawdry ideas about JFK, but it was a very respectful museum about the man, his policies, his family, and then that day. The photos and videos were very moving. I found myself very upset and near tears at several points on the tour. If you go, I highly recommend the (free) audioguide. It walks you through the exhibit very carefully, has interesting tidbits on top of reading the posts, and if you don't you would have to do quite a bit of reading, blocking up the crowds behind you. You can also see the corner where LHO was supposedly sitting when he fired shots (you know, if he did it). It really was quite something to be there. I was not alive when he died, but I feel his death quite personally, nonetheless. Isn't it wild how that happens?

We made sure to drive by the Fountain Place and building designed by IM Pei, which is where S asked J to marry him. Then we three drove to FW to the botanical gardens. It was a really beautiful day in Texas, with 80 degree weather and bright sunshine, so it was a perfect day to be outside and look at flowers. Apparently, the rest of FW had the same idea, so it was very busy at the gardens. Wedding parties were out taking photos, which I always fun. Who doesn't like to see a lady in a pretty wedding dress? After the rose gardens, we went into the Japanese gardens, which were really quite lovely. Coi populate the pond, and there was lots of shade and benches on which to rest. It was such a nice day to be outside and enjoy beautiful things with friends. J was only able to meet us at the end of the day, right before we had to leave for the wedding, but it was worth it for us to see her, at least for us!

The wedding was perfectly beautiful, and so very like our friends. It was gorgeous.
After the wedding and the lovely reception, we drove late into the night to Austin, to S & P's apt. Poor thing, we woke her like three times to find her apt. Sigh. And then we all crashed. The next day was all with friends. We spent most of the time with S & P and their daughter Charlotte, who's just precious, but unfortunately was sick and therefore very sad all day, and their great dog Strazh. We just hung out and talked all day, plus a lovely walk around the Lake in downtown (or close to downtown) Austin. Recently, S saw Matthew McConaughey and Lance Armstrong running there! We also had dinner with our friends, K-A, T, and B, which was also great. We didn't see much of Austin that weekend, but we saw lots of our great friends. In the morning, before heading back to Dallas for our flight, we had brunch with my cousin, L, who is a freshman as UT, and S&P, at the Magnolia Cafe. A southwestern take on breakfast. Man, was it delicious. I sure love good food. And it was cheap! And, I think, organic. What more could a person want? And it felt like it lives up to Austin's ideal: Keep Austin Weird.

Den Haag

On July 2nd we left Paris for two weeks on the road to visit the European institutions we had studied during coursework. Our first stop: the Hague in the Netherlands.

I was shocked by how much I really liked the Hague. Beautiful Dutch architecture, tons of English from the Dutch, and great site visits. When we arrived, we checked into a very nice Ibis hotel and walked around the downtown area. There was tons of shopping, cool bars, and laid back people. While in Paris, you're bombarded with wanna-be supermodels--Parisians always dress nicely, and you never see tennis shoes. In the Hague, people wear jeans, T-shirts, shorts...normal people clothes. It was pretty refreshing. We also stopped at a bar located in the back of a church to eat the local bar specialty: bitter balls. They're meat, potatoes, and gravy--deep-fried. Awesome.

After dinner in the hotel, we went out as a group to a bar nearby. Alcohol is a million times cheaper in the Netherlands. It was a nice night out.

The next day was our first site visit. We were at the International Criminal Court while they heard postponement arguments from former dictator Charles Taylor. We had a briefing from people in the pre-trial and judicial assessment divisions. I found it fantastic, particularly since the briefing supported some of the research I've been doing lately. After lunch on the bus, we went to a briefing at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It was extremely informative, and we had a chance to sit in on the trial of two alleged war criminals. The defense was attempting to discredit the report of Human Rights Watch. It was really nice.

We found out that typical Dutch food is bar food, and that the best food to eat in the Netherlands is Indonesian food. Drs. D and H went out for Indonesian food with D, C and I. It was so delicious! Afterward the students all went to the beach to a piano bar while I stayed in to grade papers. I thought at the time it was a smart idea, but afterward I regretted it.

The next day, we took a tour of the beautiful Peace Palace. This is where the International Court of Justice is housed. We weren't able to have a briefing or observe a trial, but the building sure was beautiful. After a lunch of even more bitterballen, some of us went to the Mauritshuis. This museum houses some of the most beautiful Dutch art in the world, including several Rembrandts and Van Rijns. The highlights, though, were three Vermeers. There only exist 35, and three of the most famous were there. I stood in the presence of the Girl with a Pearl Earring. Amazing.

Finally, that afternoon we paid a visit to the Dutch parliament for a meeting with a parliamentarian. She spoke to us about immigration issues in the Netherlands, as well as being a woman and a black person in politics. It was really marvelous!

We then headed to Brussells.

Le Destin de Emily

June 7 and 8

The 7th was spent working, although I did a little reading in the Luxembourg Gardens, created, as most public parks were in Paris, as a playground for the royals. The really are beautiful, mostly because they are simply enjoyed. Everyone comes to relax, picnic, read, and exist. It's wonderful.

On Friday, the 8th, the study abroad group visited the US Embassy, located on the Place de la Concorde. One of the officials of the US government gave us a briefing on French politics and US-French relations. I thought is was fascinating, and I was reminded of my undergraduate desire to be a member of the diplomatic service. I'm not designed for it, but I did want it, once upon a time.

In the afternoon, though somewhat cloudy, Shama and I went to Montmarte for a leisurely walk through the playground of Amelie Poulin. We exited the metro system via a bajillion stairs, since we decided to walk rather than lift out of the deepest metro station in Paris. However, we ended up outside of one of the beautiful art nouveau metro stations around Paris, this one made famous from the movie (and other things, I'm certain).

More stair climbing to the top of Montmartre, past tourists and shops to the Basilica Sacre Coeur. It's the highest point in Paris, so says the guidebook, and it really is something. Amelie sent her tricky metro photo booth lover up the winding stairs in from of the church, and the top provides a beautiful view of Paris. Well, when it's clear. The inside of the church is incredibly beautiful, with tiny chapels tucked back behind the alter and mosaics everywhere. Not as breathtaking as the St. Louis Basilica, but oh so much older...

We walked past the myriad of artists attempting to sell their mediocre oil renditions of the Eiffel Tower and had a crepe covered in chocolate, ice cream and goodness. A walk past Van Gogh's former residence and the last remaining real windmill in Paris (Moulin, of course, means windmill) brought us to the Cemetiere de Montmartre. I, for one, love to see buried famous people. I think it rocks. So we paid respects to Alexandre Dumas, Hector Berlioz, Edgar Degas, and Francois Truffaut, in the (dead) flesh. Remarkable, how the French can stuff so many people in tiny tiny spaces. They just stack them one on top of another. Incredible.

We also got a little too close to the red light district in an effort to photograph the Moulin Rouge. It's super expensive to catch a show and dinner, so we just hit the outside. It looks just as you'd expect, but it's still worth it to see it in the flesh. (Heh heh.)

Empires and Ice Cream

Choir tour began after a (thankfully) non-stop flight to Rome. We de-planed, passed customs, checked into our hotel (actually a religious institute run by nuns) and then went on a guided tour of the Colosseum and the Roman forum. It really is remarkable to see the things that you've seen your whole life in books and in mediocre Academy-award-winning films. The Colosseum was, well, colossus. It has weathered time well, and is awe-inspiring.

Our tour guide knew much more information than we, jet-lagged and weary choristers, could really handle, but it was great all the same. Once you get inside, you can see the rooms that were underneath the wooden floor in ancient times, where the gladiators powdered their noses and the animals took their final snooze. You can also see the marble stairs where royalty watched the events from shaded areas and the archeologists still digging for lost artifacts. To attempt to get a mental handle on how old the place is can be baffling.

We then continued to tour the Roman forum and the various temples and archways around the area. The forum is where the soldiers hung out, gambling and going to market and whatnot. The house of Vestigal Virgins provides a good story, though not much to see, and the nearby palace was restored by Michelangelo himself. Though I didn't see where Julius bit the dust, we did see the place where his funeral pyre burned.

That night, after a bit of a necessary rest, we had a group dinner. We had one provided group meal in each city, which was a nice reprieve from the money that I didn't have but was spending anyway. The Italians eat what I would consider an outrageous amount of food at any given meal, and we did the same at these group meals. So bread, two pasta dishes, a meat dish, and a dessert. While the first meal was fairly uneventful, the dessert was remarkable--mille folgie--or a thousand leaves. It's many layers of pastry filled with a delicious custard. I melted.

On our way back to the institute, we traversed through the Vatican City, right through Saint Peter's Square. At night, the fountains and the buildings are lit on all sides, which is quite remarkable to behold. Since I am old, and a wuss, I did not go out after dinner that night, but the walk home through the Vatican City was a perfect way to end the evening.

The next day began with the Piazza Navona, a cute little piazza surrounded by cafes and filled with fountains. From there we walked to one of the great architectural finds of the world, the Pantheon. Its dome is poured concrete, and it's still unknown as to how it was constructed. And at the center is a hole for light, which tells the time on the walls of the internal structure. Here lies great emperors, and Raphael.

We then continued on a walking tour of the beautiful sights of Rome. We visited the Trevi Fountain, of La Dolce Vita and Frank Sinatra fame. It's the fountain of "Three Coins in the Fountain." According to local legend, if you throw one coin into the fountain, you'll return to Rome within the year. If two, you'll find love in Rome, and if three, wedding bells will soon ring. Since I didn't need the latter two, I only tossed one. We also went past the former home of Lord Byron, and took a hike up the Spanish steps, most famous, for me anyway, from Roman Holiday. A jaunt into Piazza Populi, then we headed out for pizza and some gelato. It was a busy day. In the late afternoon came our first performance of the tour. We sang, as a choir, as part of a mass at Saint Peter's Basilica. While I expected it to be, say, "neat," I was amazed at how wonderful the experience was. Being in the cathedral itself was remarkable, knowing I walked on ground over the body of Saint Peter, and passing the marvelous Pieta, now behind bulletproof glass to protect it from axe-wielding maniacs. We sang our own pieces as the regular parts of the mass, during the preparation of the gifts, communion, etc. The whole experience was very solemnifying for me--perhaps not for others in my group, but at least for me. While the mass was said in Italian, I could tell at which point we were and go along in English. It was incredible. Except the pigeon traipsing his way across the altar. The altar boys almost lost it.

Dinner that night on a side street near Vatican city with some fellow graduate students. In each city I attempted to eat at least one dish that was not only Italian, but was specific to the region in both recipe and ingredients. In Rome, that was pasta ala carbonara, and it was delicious in this particular place. Again, I ate too much. However, I still managed some gelato for a passagiata (post-dinner walk) through Vatican city. The place we ate that night remains my favorite gelateria of Italy--it was so incredibly creamy and wonderful. The flavors were gloriously vibrant. It was like a masterpiece of Italian ice cream.

On our last day in Rome, Dipika (my roommate for the tour) and I did a little more back-street exploring. We climbed to the top of the Castel Sant' Angelo, where the pope once saw a vision of an angel sheathing his sword, bringing an end to the plague in Italy. From the top, you can see the whole of Rome, which is fantastic to see. From there, we walked to the Campo dei Fiori--the flower market--to wander the stalls. I purchased spices, ready made for delicious pasta. We had pizza for lunch in the Jewish ghetto, which was once run down but is now a great place for liveliness and food. In this area, which pushes up against the ancient city, there is a church, called something I can't remember but is similar to Our Lady of the Fish Market. This is where the Jews were once forced to go to mass, but they defiantly put wax in their ears. It's a beautiful medieval church, and in the front is an old drain cover known as the Bocca della Verita, or Mouth of Truth. According to legend, and Gary Cooper, the mouth bites off the hands of liars. I passed the test.

That night we left the city of Rome for a concert in the surrounding hills, in a town called Fiorentino (I think). The roads in the city were so small that we had to park the bus outside it and walk to the center to the church. It was perfect. My camera battery had died, so I have no photos of this place, but it was remarkable. It was a smallish crowd, and we sang terribly on almost every piece. It was a nice experience, nonetheless. Back to Rome that night for a pizza dinner once again, and the next morning we headed off to Florence.