My friends and I went to Dinant in Wallonia, which is the southern, French-speaking region of Belgium. We had mostly visited cities in Flanders, which is the Dutch-speaking part, so we wanted to see another part of the country. We went to Dinant where Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone, and as it turns out, the city has a rich history. We took an aerial gondola to the top of the Citadel, which was actually a World War I and World War II museum that told the Citadel's timeline since its inception. One exhibit required us to go underground of the Citadel and walk through a room that was all lopsided like a bombed trench from World War I. None of us could stand straight, and our bodies were very confused from the experience. The discomfort of being in that trench made the experience more tangible and was honestly frightening - as we were probably meant to feel after going through the exhibit.
The Vasa Museum in Stockholm was also a very unique experience. When you walk into the museum, the mammoth Vasa ship is the first sight that you see! It was a huge undertaking in the seventeenth century that employed a number of Swedish people and would have set Sweden up for success during a time when warfare and trade by sea were vital for a country's power and prosperity. However, just as the Vasa departed for its maiden voyage, it sank in Stockholm's harbor. There are a number of reasons why this could have happened, and the museum with its free 20-minute long movies in multiple languages and the included audio guide with 15 stops spread out over five floors of this museum tell a deep and involved story about the Vasa.
