Monday 4th April we went to Strasbourg by bus to visit the European Parliament, which paid for us the transport, the meals and accommodation for the two days.
We left at 5 o'clock and we were all tired! We arrived at Strasbourg at 12 o'clock and we had lunch ‘Chez Yvonne’ a famous restaurant. After lunch, we went on an excursion by boat on the river L'Ill, and then at 5 o'clock we went to visit the European Parliament. It's a modern round building with lots of glass and it looks like it's not finished. The guide explained that this deliberate to show Europe was still growing. Inside we attended a debate about granting and retiring international protection sponsored by Sylvie Guillaume. There are 863 seats, and 736 deputes for the 27 member countries. What I found strange was that there was not a lot of people present, about thirty, and they were not very attentive. After the debate, we met Malika Benarab-Attou who is the Green MEP for Savoie, and talked with her about the parliament, Libya and she explained why they paid for us to visit the parliament; it's because a lot of people don't know what it does. I learned that there are 3 major institutions: the European parliament, the Commission and the Council of the EU. We finished at 8 o'clock and went to the youth hostel where we were going to spend the night.
The next day Tuesday the 5th, in the morning we visited Strasbourg on foot. I liked the old district called “la petite France” with their old wooden buildings especially “la Maison des Tanneurs”. We also visited the cathedral which is immense, and inside there is a huge old organ.
From 11 to 1 o'clock we had 2 hours free time. Then in the afternoon, we visited the Kronenbourg brewery before being driven back to Savoie.
Susan KEMP 1ES2
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