Fete des Lumieres

January 30: As we were walking through the Grande Place (in the center of town), we came across a little festival. It was called the Fete des Lumieres or the festival of lights. It's a common celebration before Ash Wednesday to celebrate the bringing of light into the world by Jesus before the season of Lent.

However, in an all college town, the festival is a little less religious, and a little more relaxed. There were a lot of candles decorating the plaza, as well as free lighters so we could each "have the light". There were also free crepes and hot wine (traditional foods of the festival) as well as a street dance. Because the school has exchange students from all over the world, we learned dances to songs from all over the world - including Cotton-Eyed Joe as "American" music.

Afterwards, we decided to visit one of the bars (Brasse Temps) to try some homemade Belgian beer. I think you might call it a micro-brewery? Either way, we tried L'Ambrasse Temps, which they call a dark amber beer. The most common way of drinking at this bar is from a "giraffe", which is basically a 3-liter cylinder with a tap. No worries though - I shared that with a few people.