To start of the second field trip we were taken to the US military cemetery in St. Avold, France. It is the largest US WWII cemetery in Europe, and over 10,000 US soldiers are buried there. The visit to the cemetery
was supposed to represent that Europe was built on blood, and the recent European integration marks a new age of peace. It was a very beautiful cemetery and impressive in the fact that these 10,000 dead are from only one war, but I still couldn't help but compare it to Arlington cemetery, which is an extremely impressive site.
After the cemetery we continued on to Luxembourg City, where we were scheduled to go to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Luxembourg really doesn't have much going on, which is probably why we only stayed there for an afternoon and not any longer. We arrived around lunch time so they let us loose in the old town/down town area. Food prices were very expensive and we were really hungry so we ended up at Qui
ck Burger, the Belgian alternative to McDonald's or Burger King. I don't recommend it. After that we toured around the city a bit. It is a very cute old town. We passed by the palace of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, went into the Notre Dame church of Luxembourg, but the best part was the view from some old rampart type thing along the river valley that runs through the city. See picture included.
After walking around the city a bit we went to our meeting at the ECJ. My first impression was that the building was hideous. It was tall and imposing and trying to be modern design, but what was worse i
s that it was an ugly yellow color. Yikes. See picture, but the picture even gives it too much credit, it's uglier in person. A little background info on the ECJ: it is widely known as the most trustworthy EU institution. It's judges are regarded as highly independent and not influenced by any national agendas. Given this information, I was really hoping for a more beautiful and dignified building... Oh well. Aside from the ugliness of the building, it was still really cool to go to the court. We actually got to go inside the big courtroom where the magic happens.
In class we learned that Luxembourg would pretty much refuse to give up having the ECJ in their country if the EU ever wanted to move it. Now I know why, it needs something to represent their power in the EU. Luxembourg was one of the original six member countries of the European Coal and Steel Community, the harbinger of the European Community (now the EU). So my advice to Luxembourg: hang in there little guy!
was supposed to represent that Europe was built on blood, and the recent European integration marks a new age of peace. It was a very beautiful cemetery and impressive in the fact that these 10,000 dead are from only one war, but I still couldn't help but compare it to Arlington cemetery, which is an extremely impressive site.After the cemetery we continued on to Luxembourg City, where we were scheduled to go to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Luxembourg really doesn't have much going on, which is probably why we only stayed there for an afternoon and not any longer. We arrived around lunch time so they let us loose in the old town/down town area. Food prices were very expensive and we were really hungry so we ended up at Qui
ck Burger, the Belgian alternative to McDonald's or Burger King. I don't recommend it. After that we toured around the city a bit. It is a very cute old town. We passed by the palace of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, went into the Notre Dame church of Luxembourg, but the best part was the view from some old rampart type thing along the river valley that runs through the city. See picture included.After walking around the city a bit we went to our meeting at the ECJ. My first impression was that the building was hideous. It was tall and imposing and trying to be modern design, but what was worse i
s that it was an ugly yellow color. Yikes. See picture, but the picture even gives it too much credit, it's uglier in person. A little background info on the ECJ: it is widely known as the most trustworthy EU institution. It's judges are regarded as highly independent and not influenced by any national agendas. Given this information, I was really hoping for a more beautiful and dignified building... Oh well. Aside from the ugliness of the building, it was still really cool to go to the court. We actually got to go inside the big courtroom where the magic happens.In class we learned that Luxembourg would pretty much refuse to give up having the ECJ in their country if the EU ever wanted to move it. Now I know why, it needs something to represent their power in the EU. Luxembourg was one of the original six member countries of the European Coal and Steel Community, the harbinger of the European Community (now the EU). So my advice to Luxembourg: hang in there little guy!
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