The town of Bouillon is situated in the Belgian province of Luxembourg, adjacent to the country of the same name. Our destination for the day is the town of Bouillon (like the soup). Unfortunately the town is not connected by Belgium’s rail system, and so the adventure begins with a run to Brussels-Schuman station to catch a southbound train for Libramont. Our train arrives just before 11 and we exit to see that there are few buses daily to Bouillon, and that the next one arrives at noon. At this point we take a look to the left and right and realize what a complete crap hole we’re in, but we decide to walk about and explore. The town is completely shut up, and all we’re looking for is a place to get a café and croissant. We walk the empty roads and finally find a small coffee house open, there’s no café a emporter (take away), but we get a pair of croissants in a paper bag and head back to the train station, resolved that getting stuck here for the day would be a fate worse than death.
The bus arrives and its another 45 minutes to Bouillon, a kindly Chinese family on the bus gives Tatevik and I a map, and we start our walk to the castle. Bouillon castle dominates the town bellow it, strategically placed on a hill and on the river, it seems able to guard against every direction. We walk the cobbled roads to the top where we pay our entrance fee and cross the draw bridge in. Unlike many Medieval castles such as the Tower of London, the castle in Bouillon has not been subjected to extensive work to make it more like a museum. As one walks through the dark mud flooded passages of the castle, it feels like a castle, and not an exhibit of a castle. At one point Tatevik and I crawl down a low-ceilinged crevice completely unlit to discover we were inside some sort of drainage system. This along with walkways without guard rails, dangerous stone steps, and puddles of mud and lack of light make it arguable less pleasant, but I personally found 
that it kept the castle more authentic. I have long grown tired of huge light up displays with an interactive display panels and crappy speakers pumping poor recordings of era music.We emerge from the castle to see a show with a falconer, with his giant leather glove and various pets, performing tricks. After the castle we descend back in town and sit at a restaurant to have a couple croque monsieurs (a French cheese toasty with ham and a fried egg). We head on the river and hire a paddle boat to see the town from the Semois river which runs through the middle. We paddle the length of the town, and occasionally amuse ourselves by chasing down ducks. As the day wears on we finish with a beer at a café on the street and then begin our 2.5 hour trek back to Brussels.
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