Today the horses were feeling refreshed from the show and all the riders flatted around the farm. Taylor really enjoyed riding her horses out in the grass because she is used to always flatting in a big grass field. This place feels like home already! Everyone enjoyed cooling their horses out by walking around the long track, and the horses also got to spend time eating grass in the paddocks. So far, this week is proving to be very relaxing and enjoyable.
Lizzy, a representative from the USEF who was largely responsible for organizing the Young Riders Tour, arrived today. She is very nice! She is determined that all the riders and grooms will get to see some of the nearby cities, so this afternoon when everyone was done in the barn we drove about 45 minutes to the Dutch city of Maastricht. We really wanted to tour the St. Pietersberg Caves, a famous maze of underground tunnels, but arrived in the city after the tours were already over. We also tried to exchange money at a bank, but it turns out the only places in this area that exchange dollars for euros are airports and train stations. It will be miraculous if we all make it through the week without having to beg for food! Credit cards are truly beautiful things. Although we did not get to go inside, we did see the Church of St Matthias, a really beautiful cathedral located in the center of the city.
After wandering around Maastricht for a little while, everyone loaded back into the car and drove back to the smaller, somewhat less impressive city of Liege, where we met Lauren Hough and Laura Teodori for dinner. We were all a bit apprehensive about going to Liege because a woman in a small store where we purchased postcards in Maastricht overheard us discussing dinner plans and warned us that there is a lot of crime in Liege and to not walk around alone. On the way there, we were driving down a small city road when someone in a tiny car (about 99% of the cars here are about the size of a Smart Car) pulled out of a parking space and side-swiped our van! It was a very non-climactic collision and the van was barely scratched, so we continued on our way. It was just a little reminder for everyone that driving in Europe is TERRIFYING! After the eventful journey, we arrived safely in Liege and found a parking lot right next door to the restaurant, so we felt fairly sure that no one would mug us in the 100 or so steps to the restaurant door.
The restaurant was very cute, but everyone was confused when a small blackboard with French on it was placed next to our table and no menus were handed out. As it turned out, the menu is changed every day and the options are posted on the blackboard. It took everyone a very long time to decide what to order because the waitress spoke little English and figuring out the menu proved to be difficult, but finally we enjoyed a delicious meal and drove back to the farm.
It was great to go out and see two European cities today! Since we have been abroad there has been little time for sight seeing, so this week is a great opportunity for us to experience Europe a little bit, rather than just experiencing European horse shows. Our only regret in going exploring was that we missed seeing Ocean's Thirteen on TV tonight... The riders all curled up on a coach in the guy's apartment and watched Ocean's Twelve last night. Apparently there is an Ocean's movie marathon going on in Belgium this week!
- Jen and Taylor
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