Day 9 - Castle of Vianden

We went to the north part of the country today, to see a castle in Vianden. This part of the country is on the border with Germany, in a mountain range called the Ardennes. The Ardennes are a very old mountain range; much like the Appalachian Mountains, so they are rounded at the top and covered by forests. The castle is on the side of St. Nicolas Mountain, one of the tallest in Luxembourg.

We ate lunch away from home for the first time this trip today. We didn't eat breakfast, so I was very hungry by the time we got to Vianden. The first two places we tried were closed, so we ended up eating at a hotel called Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo was a French author who lived in that area for quite awhile. Our server was a boy of 12 or 13, which was a bit surprising. I thought that maybe he is the son of one of the hotel owners, Charel thought that it might have been an internship. He did quite well.

 The menu had English, so at least I wasn't completely lost. We started with the soup of the day, which was a sort of porridge, and it was very good. Charel suggested one of the country dishes; I chose the smoked pork neck with beans and bacon potatoes. It looked a lot like ham (which I don't like) but didn't have the ham taste, so it was actually pretty good. Since my explanation would not really do it justice, here is a Wiki for you: Judd mat Gaardebounen. Remembering that I had expressed interest in trying Luxembourgish beer, Charel also ordered me a Diekirch, the most popular brand of beer produced there. It was pale, looking much like a Bud Light or the like, so I was a bit leery of it, but it tasted absolutely nothing like it. It is not a heavy beer, and it went well with the food. I plan to have one again before my trip is over.

After lunch, we began to walk towards the castle. I had not realized that we weren't going to drive up to the castle, so I was not mentally prepared for the hike up the side of a mountain in -9C windy cold (that's 16F). I was complaining quite a bit by the time we walked the half-kilometer up. At least the area was very pretty, with stone roads and lots of houses and shops.

We reached the castle and went inside. One of the first sights we saw was a group of about 20 secondary school students (high school) and a very loud and animated tour guide. Although I could not understand what he was saying, I could recognize that his speech had a lot more of a hard German tone to it than the softer Luxembourgish I have grown accustomed to listening to. Whether or not I should be proud of that fact, I am. We let the group pass us, and we began to tour the castle.

Vianden Castle (Wiki) is a restored castle that was expanded many times, starting as a small Roman fort and reaching peak size in the 1600s. Nowadays, it is set up as an obvious tourist attraction, based on the sheer amount of souvenirs that were for sale. Most of the castle was thankfully sealed off and heated, which was quite a welcome relief from the cold. It is set up much like a museum, with displays of armors, weapons, various stages in the castle's history, and items they used in that time period.

We ended up catching up to the tour group quite quickly, and decided to pass them, instead. That turned out to be a good decision, as the guide continued to ramble on and make jokes (judging by Charel's chuckling). There were a lot of really nice views of the town, too.

After the castle, and the very chilly walk down, we drove up the mountain again. After that, we turned around and drove back home. It took us both quite awhile to warm up, and the trip left me so tired that I fell asleep immediately for two hours before dinner

Full pics here: Castle of Vianden

Day 8 - Trier and Eifel Region, Germany

Our travels today took us into Western Germany. More specifically, the city of Trier, the Eifel region, and several Maare (volcano lakes).

We headed in roughly the same direction as our last road trip, but following a different road, towards the Moselle River. The valley we had driven in before was to our right. Eventually, we turned and crossed the large bridge over the river and into Germany.

Before today, I had never been to Germany. Of course, aside from the river, there aren't any obvious natural signs that you have moved from one country to another. The biggest difference I saw was that the signs went from French to German, an understandable change. Another big change was the speed of driving. It's well known that the Autobahn has no speed limit for a lot of it. Traveling at 140-150 kph (roughly 90-95 mph) certainly makes the trip faster.

We arrived at Trier shortly after crossing the German border. Trier is a city with about 100k people. We had to drive around town for a little while in order to find a parking ramp that would fit the car we were riding in. Most parking ramps are apparently 1.9m, while the van is a few cm taller than that. We eventually found one, parked, and walked out into the cold.

The first major sight was an ancient Roman doorway called Porta Nigra (Black Door). It was built in roughly 180 AD, the town was founded in 17 BC. It was also one of the capitals of the Roman empire at one time. It was quite tall and impressive. There was a way to get up to other floors, but as it cost money, we decided to keep walking.

Through the door was a large shopping and merchant district. The architecture here is somewhat similar to Luxembourg, which isn't all that surprising. Lots of people were out today, despite the cold. A lot of food places, jewelry places, and clothing places. Even some anyone would recognize, such as McDonalds and Subway.

We briefly stopped by St. Gangolf Catholic Church, which was nestled in a small alcove through a doorway right in the middle of some shops. It was quite pretty, but I must admit the most enjoyable part was the small relief from the cold. We began to walk around more of Trier, and saw many things on our way. A lot of Roman history here, at least, a lot of the history told to me was Roman in origin. I can't recall everything we saw, but it is also a beautiful city with lots of history, like Luxembourg.

We stopped by a cafe that Charel's grandfather used to go to when he visited Trier and got hot chocolate. The stop was definitely needed, as both of us were reaching the limit of how much cold we could stand. The place was cute. As we were leaving, though, I heard "It's Raining Men", which amused me greatly. I don't think Charel was nearly as amused, though, since I started singing it as we left the cafe.

We left Trier and headed for a portion of Germany with volcanic lakes, called Maare. We did lots of driving at this point, only getting out once. The first lake, called Holzmaar, was frozen over, so there were a few people ice skating. The others we drove past, they were called Pulvermaar and Dauner Maare. I would have liked to have spent more time there, but it was getting very cold at this point. Maybe someday we'll go back when it is warmer.

We were going to go to Bitburg and the US air base at Spangdahlem, but we couldn't find signs until well after we started to head back. The sun was beginning to set, so we began to make the drive back to Luxembourg, passing Trier again. I haven't fiddled with my shutter speed setting enough yet, so I wasn't able to take pictures of the lights as we passed.

Two albums today: Trier / Eifel Region

Day 7 - Bonnevoie, Itzig, Belvaux

We took another walk today around town. We started in Bonnevoie, since that is where Charel lives. The beginning part of our walk took us through the actual town, lined with many houses and a few stores. The houses here are of the type I've been taking pictures of all trip; the "smushed together" houses where 3-4 occupy a building. I suppose this is to be expected since land is a bit less spread out here than in the US. I've been told that the outer regions of town resemble our house layouts more.

We walked past many places that are familiar to Charel, from schools he has substitute taught in to places people he knows have lived. I would not pass a quiz of these areas, but it is obvious that this place has a lot of personal history as well as the wider history of the area.

 I included the picture on the left for the simple fact that it amuses me. In Luxembourg, a background of white with a red border means "forbidden", which means this almost literally says "No Dumping".

We then followed a road out to the edge of town; an open field that looked more at home in Iowa than in Luxembourg City. Charel told me it was for corn, so I am quite familiar with the view. Next to this field was a trail, which is what we walked on to get to a more wooded area, and a giant hill. I wish I would have had my bike to ride down it (but not up it!).

We eventually got to Itzig, a neighboring town. There, the remains of a water mill and an area for kayaking waited for us. There was also a dam. Here is where we began to see many other people walking around, mostly other couples. Most of them gossiping, which I could tell even without Charel telling me so. Some things are universal.

We then headed back to Bonnevoie along a very beautiful trail that ran along a river. We passed a place where, 100 years ago, people would go to wash their clothes in a pool of water. There were many ducks in the same area, and even more trees. The stone cliffs rose along our right side, many of the buildings actually built into the walls.

Later, we drove behind Charel's mom as she took one of their cars to the shop to be looked at. After we picked her up, we drove to the southern part of the country, a town called Belvaux, where steel industry used to be a very big thing. The main plant we saw is mainly inactive now, but there are parts that are still in operation even today.

Full photo album here: Day 7

Day 6 - Schengen, Wasserbillig, Echternach

We decided to take a road trip today to the east side of the country. Our trip was basically one big circle, although big is really a relative thing.

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

Day 5 - Inside the National History Museum

We decided to stay indoors today and go to the national history museum in Luxembourg town. Sadly, they don't allow cameras, so my pictures today are very few.

It was colder today, but at least the wind wasn't blowing. Still, the walk to the museum was quite brisk. We entered the museum and went down to the lowest floor, where the exhibits began with ancient human civilization and worked its way to modern times. The museum itself is quite beautiful; they built down into the sandstone, and instead of putting up walls, they left the sandstone as is (though sometimes there was glass).

Everything was in French, so of course, Charel had to explain everything to me. Don't feel sorry for him, though, he enjoyed every minute of it. He is going to school to be a teacher, after all. Plus, history, especially Roman, is his specialty. I think he should become a tour guide there, honestly.

One of the most striking things to me was to see objects in their actual size, vs high quality photographs or shows on TV. A lot of the smaller artifacts were much tinier than I imagined them to be. I also saw many parts of natural history (such as the ice age animals) as they were in Europe, not North America. There were a lot of similarities but quite a few differences, as well.

It was also interesting to see a relief of the town (in 1867, but still), it helped to put a perspective on where I had been. I also didn't know that the big bridges I had taken so many photos of were that old, either. They survived through WWII, which is a relief. All in all, quite a good experience, though all the walking around hurt my legs and back after awhile.

Here is the website for the museum, though it is in French, so...good luck!
http://www.mnha.public.lu/

Day 4 - Grund and Old Luxembourg

Another cold day as we set out to walk around town again. A bit warmer than yesterday, but still with a wind that felt like it would blow through you no matter how many layers you were wearing. We still set out in the afternoon today, but walked down a different path than we took the day before; down towards Grund, a part of town we looked out over yesterday.

Our path started down a bike trail that went past some older houses, their gardens, and by an area where they are expanding a train bridge. I had seen the bridge from the higher ground yesterday. There were a lot of frozen footprints and bike treads in the ice covering the paths and bridge, meaning lots of people were still out walking and riding. I have seen several bikers, walkers, and runners out since I came here, although that is something I'm used to seeing back in Iowa.

Today is also Liichtmëssdag, a sort of candle mass, where children have paper lanterns that they carry around door-to-door and sing songs. They then are given candy or even money sometimes. We saw a few groups out, despite the cold wind. The largest group consisted of 8-9 kids and a couple adults.

We then began to walk up a very long hill, which I am told is where the Tour de Luxembourg (bike race) must pass. I couldn't imagine trying to climb that one on a bike. Even walking was quite the chore, but the area was beautiful. We then passed through the original town gate.

We took shelter in the oldest church in Luxembourg, Mëchelskierch (St. Michael's Church) for a few minutes to try to warm up. It was built in 987, and then reconstructed several times before the present day.

The next place we walked through were the remainders of the outer walls of the old town back when it was still a fortress. This took up most of the rest of our trip. The views into the valley were amazing, especially because the sun was beginning to set, and cast light on some places and shadow on others. We could see the bridges, the newer buildings from yesterday, the older buildings, the houses, and the historic streets and walls of the castle.

Our last stop was a souvenir shop, where I bought a keychain and a Luxembourg flag. I felt like a major tourist after this point. We took the bus home again, and then I hid under the covers for quite awhile, trying to warm up. The tea at dinner completely took care of the chills.

I am still not sure what we are doing tomorrow, Charel is still busy trying to decide. We will see what the weather holds tomorrow.

Full picture album from today is here: Grund and Old Town

Day 3 - A Cold Day in Luxembourg

Well, today was the first "real" day here in Luxembourg, although I had trouble sleeping last night. Woke up halfway through the night and was O.O wide awake. Well, after a sleep aid and an hour or so on the internet, I managed to fall asleep again. I was a bit irritated at my boyfriend, who after 9 hours asleep sort of acted like an excited puppy. (I just got a pillow to the face for typing that one). I managed to convince him to let me sleep another half an hour, somehow.

We took a short trip to the Belle Étoile mall in order to purchase things such as shampoo and conditioner that I didn't want to deal with the hassle of bringing in my suitcase. We enjoyed a quick walk around the mall, and then back to the house for some lunch.


After lunch, we began to walk through the town. I'm really not sure how far we ended up walking, but we walked for 2-3 hours at least. 

Our travels were full of quite a few landmarks and beautiful sights, so many that if I were to post them all it would take up a colossal amount of space. Here is the facebook album link if you did not already see them: Luxembourg City

The architecture here is very, very different from Iowa. No surprise there. It is a very refreshing change to the drab gray and white square buildings. There are many more hills and valleys (so far).

We passed some houses and a couple schools, then walked down a street past the police station and some hotels. We reached, then crossed, the old bridge over the valley. The wind was quite strong, and very cold, so I was unable to enjoy the scenery as much as I would have liked. We then passed the WWII memorials, the judicial buildings (swarming with Japanese tourists), and then down the street to a market district. I took quite a few pictures here, as well.

I never got bored of the scenery, but eventually we had to stop for hot chocolate at an Italian cafe because my fingers were cold to the point of agony. The Italian waiter spoke German, and American hip-hop videos played on a screen behind us. It was sort of strange.

After the hot chocolate, we decided to ride the bus home, due to the cold.

We will be going back into town tomorrow, so hopefully we get to see the things we missed today.