My European Trip
by Ying Q.
People lives in a specific environment. If you want to understand the outside world, the culture of other countries, but you are not able to live there for a while, travel may be the best way to let you know foreign countries.
I had the opportunity to go to Europe with my family in May. We went to Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg. All the places we visited are beautiful, the weathers were wonderful during the dates. The first time travel of Europe made a strong impression on me.
First of all, no matter where you go or what time it is, big cities are still small towns, you always see a lot of people sitting outside the restaurants, dining and drinking. There is not always food. It seems people are just enjoying socializing and chatting with each other.
In these cities, you can see many well-preserved old buildings, hotels, churches, and houses. In the historic area, new buildings are designed to look as old as possible to blend in, so the entire street feels unique to the local history.
The places I liked most were Gent and Bruges. They were the most prosperous ports during the Middle Ages in Belgium. The old streets and houses were well-preserved. Walking through the towns on roads made of stones, you would see many ancient buildings on both sides of you and magnificent churches that suddenly appear in the street or lane. It reminds you of the spiritual pursuit of human life at that time and the importance of God in their lives.
We also visited Cologne Cathedral in Germany. It is 157m tall. Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires. In the early time, people believed that the taller the church, the closer they were to God.