Day trip from Luxembourg City
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2008
1
9
40
Trip End
Dec 16, 2008
Vianden,
Diekirch,
Luxembourg
Sunday, September 28, 2008
We are both very excited to be here in a new country, and one of the smallest European countries! The keyboards here are wonky, so you may have some typos to contend with.
We left Trier on Friday and took the very short train ride to Luxembourg City. This city is built around a deep gorge-like valley of the River Pétrusse. It was built as a fortified castle in the 10th century and many of the old walls and ramparts, including the tunnels inside of them, are still open and accessible. We checked in to our hostel on Friday and it is a VERY nice hostel. It is right on the river front, meaning it's down in the gorge and it's a LONG hike up to get anywhere. BUT, this makes for a picturesque surrounding:
We met a guy in our dorm room almost immediately. His name is Ken and he's from Vancouver. The first thought that struck me is that he has blond hair, a beard, and glasses and is Canadian. Hmm. After we spent the whole afternoon doing laundry (very frustrating), Ken, Alex and I went out to the Place d'Armes, and it was ALIVE. Lots of people out, all the restaurants and pubs were wide open and it looked like everyone was having fun. We went to a pub called Banana's, which was VERY smokey inside (Ken wasn't pleased) but we sat there for a good two or three hours anyway. They served full litres of beer in a huge stein. Let me tell you, you can't put back much more after finishing that one. Speaking of beer, we've been trying lots of different kinds of beer during the past three weeks. This brand was the same as I had in Heidelberg, Löwenbräu Oktoberfest bier. Very smooth!
Anyway, to say the least, the next day I had a headache! But we explored the casemates (the old battlements) and the city in great detail. Ken joined us halfway through the day. It was an amazing day, very warm and sunny too! Luxembourg is easily in my top three of visited cities so far.
Today (Sunday) we took a day trip to the north of Luxembourg (though crossing the country took all of 45 minutes!) to three villages: Ettelbrück, Diekirch and Viqnden, where one of the most picturesque (supposedly) castles in Europe is. Well, it took forever to find the way to the castle, and the place was over run with loud, slow-moving tourists and LOTS of motorcycles everywhere, with each rider wearing the stereotypical motorcyclist garb, someti,es even including assless chaps. So the castle (and Vianden) wasn't as great as we thought. Also, we had planned to do the whole day as a bike trip from Ettelbrück, but the bike office was inexplicably closed. Kind of a disappointment right off the bat.
Tomorrow, we head to Paris to visit Alex's sister, Angela. We will be in Paris three days, then one extra day to go on a day trip to Normandy to see the D-Day beaches. Then we will be off to Brussels, in Belgium!
Hope everyone is doing well! I am craving so,e of Baba's French Toast! The breakfasts here don't compare to good Canadian ones!
Adios!
Wayne
Comments
Mom says H-m-m-m. . .
'H-m-m-m-m. . . Baba's french toast.' We'll have to wait for another summer because Baba + Gigi have already closed up the cottage.
From Francine
Great entry! Sounds like you're having a lot of fun! Can't wait to hear about Paris!
Big hugs,
Francine