I was out the door of the dormitories and headed down the street at 6:55am Saturday morning. It was chilly and wet and not even the bakeries were open. I caught my train at 7:19 to head towards Brussels where I was meeting the other Fulbrighters at 8:30 to catch our bus towards Luxembourg.

We left Brussels at 9am and headed east. We arrived in Basogne where we saw a number of statues of small children, one of which the history professor deemed as "manekin moon". You can assume what this particular statue was doing. Now onto more serious matters.

We visited a memorial thanking the Americans for their assistance in the Battle of the Bulge/Battle of Ardennes. The weather was chilly and grey, which somehow added to the impressive size of the monument.

From there we went to lunch where I believe I ate more than I did all week. I could barely move afterwards, but it was definitely delicious. Then it was back to serious matters.

We went to a war museum in Diekirch, Luxembourg. This musuem had a number of different artifacts from both the Germans and the Allies that were left in the region after the Battle of the Bulge. The curator of the museum graciously gave us a tour of the museum which is housed in an old brewery. In addition to the artifacts, the curator had collected personal stories from soldiers on both sides of the lines during the battle. It was a very educational and very moving tour. It was also something that made me very proud of my grandfather who was one of the soldiers there.

From there we had a break from seriousness and went to riches. Upon arriving at our hotel, we all changed into are nice clothes and made ourselves presentable for a reception that was being sponsored by the Fulbright Alumni Assoc of Luxembourg. We arrived at Cercle Munster (a dinner club of sorts) in Luxmbourg City at 7pm. We had appetizers in a sitting room on the second floor. After an hour and a half of that, we went downstairs for dinner, which we did not finish until 11:30. By this point, I had eaten more than I had since I got to Europe and enjoyed a never ending glass of wine. Luxembourg white wine is phenomenal. I also was amazed by the toilets. When you flushed, the toilet seat spun around to get cleaned by an instrument on the back of the toilet. Hm, interesting.

From there, Laurent, a lawyer and Fulbright alumus, took us to a bar for people in their mid-20s to 30s (which the majority of us are). I only stayed a short time, being too full to move and just wanting to lay down.

The following morning after our breakfast buffet. A few of us went for a short walk before meeting up with everyone else to go on a walking tour of Luxembourg City given to us by Fulbright alumi who were raised there. Luxembourg is extrememly beautiful and worth visiting.

After the tour, it was on to, guess what, more food. We had lunch at a small Italian place, where I had pasta and conversed with our bus driver Pascal. Then it was farewell to Luxmbourg City and back to seriousness.

We went to the American and German Military Cemetaries. Both had a calming effect. The American Cemetary is where Gen. Patton is buried.

After that it was back to Belgium. We had a minor delay when our bus was pulled over by an unhappy looking police officer. There was the threat that Pascal (the bus driver) was going to get a 500€ ticket for not having a number written down correctly (he had written that he was carrying 20, but there was only 19 of us). BUT, luckily, after 15 minutes of sitting at the side of the road, the police officer let him off with a warning.

That sums up the weekend. You should check out my pictures if you're interested in seeing some of what I described (click on photos at www.geocities.com/manderhill).