The first thing I noticed was how close together all of these towns were. I had mentally prepared myself for something similar to Iowa in that the towns were separated by many miles of fields and land. Charel had mentioned the fact that things were much closer together in Europe, but I guess I really didn't comprehend that until I saw it.
The map on the left shows our route. As you can see we traveled up a good 1/3 of the country, but keep in mind that Luxembourg is tiny. Its hard to see, but the bar on the bottom left shows 5mi/10km. The entire trip was about 140km for the whole circle (about 87 miles).
We drove through part of Luxembourg town that I had seen partially, but not entirely. Charel, ever the tour guide, pointed out landmarks along the way. There was a windmill on top of a hill, the nuclear power plant, the industrial parts of town, and then many tunnels and bridges along the way. We missed our exit at one point and had to turn around, so I got more scenery than planned for.
The road we followed first went south to Schengen, a place where Luxembourg, France, and Germany all meet. This is the town where the treaty was signed allowing people free access across the borders of European Union countries (without being asked to show passport). The whole time we could see either France or Germany across the Moselle River, which was pretty neat. We walked around part of the town for a bit, but it was very cold so we didn't spend much time there.
I did see a duck that let me get really close to it. I imagine it is used to being fed. After I took its picture, it halfway followed us back to the car, as if to say "I let you take my picture, so now please give me some food. Sadly for the duck, I had no food.
We drove along the Moselle river for most of the trip north, with a constant view of Germany to our right side. This region of Luxembourg is known for its vineyards and wine. As it is winter, all we could see were the endless fields of dried-up stalks, but there were certainly a ton of them. I have not tried the wine yet, but I plan to. I am looking forward to it.
As I said, all of the towns were very close together (by my standards anyway), so we went through them rather quickly. In Wasserbillig, we pulled off of the main highway to drive along the river. We drove past the lowest point in Luxembourg, at 130m (426ft). We also saw a car ferry, which I was told has been run by the same guy for decades. The view was quite beautiful, but the sun was very bright, so I didn't try to take too many pictures through this area.
We turned around to go back to Luxembourg City at Echternach, a bit larger of a city. The Moselle River had since turned off into Germany, so the Sûre River now formed the border. There was a car dealership selling American cars in a town nearby (pickup trucks and the like). We may stop in Echternach again to see the monastery and to walk around the town.
I haven't talked much about the food that I've been eating here, but tonight's meal deserved special mention. I had never tried fondue before, so it was certainly a new experience. I liked it, although it had a very strong flavor that got a bit overwhelming after awhile.
The eating habits here are a bit opposite of in the US. In the US, lunch is usually light, a sandwich or a small meal, and dinner is the bigger meal with hot food. In Luxembourg, or, at least in this particular house, lunch is the larger meal. It has taken a bit of adjustment.
As usual, there are many pictures I wouldn't have had the space for on this blog on Facebook, found here: Day 6
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