The folly of travel without our trusty tech guru is that somehow we've had photos go missing. My camera card was full so we downloaded photos to the computer. Well we thought they downloaded but something apparently happened so we are missing several days of Luxembourg and Rome :-( Perhaps Paul can figure out if they are lost and gone forever.
Friday, Oct 10, 2014. Catherine met us at the train station and took us to her lovely home. I had no idea Luxembourg is such a commuter city with thousands of people coming in from France and Belgium to their jobs in Luxembourgh. Catherine said some people commute 11/2 hours one-way. Traffic is very heavy in the mornings and evenings. There really aren’t a lot of people walking around downtown in the evenings and weekends. Catherine fortunately is able to walk to work.
It was really wonderful to be able to spend a long weekend with Catherine and share what each of us has been up to all these years. Luckily for me Catherine is very fluent in English (as well as Spanish and of course French and I am pretty sure she knows 2 or 3 other languages a well). Not only does she speak English and Spanish conversationally but for business as well. I remember how impressed I was as a 16yr old when I observed her spend an entire evening translating back and forth between French-English-and Spanish. Never before had a I seen anyone do that and definitely not a teenager!
Friday night we went grocery shopping and to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Saturday we walked to the city center and ran a few errands.
Luxembourg has a Grand Duke who lives in a large residence right in the pedestrian area. It was interesting to see that the front door has a single guard. Even more surprisingly, at night the guard goes home and the metal barricades were put away.
We had lunch and later went to a museum night at a Luxembourgh history museum. That was very interesting. The building was a nice blend of a very old building with modern aspects. We returned home and had a yummy dinner followed by a variety of delicious cheese. We could get quite use to finishing dinner with a cheese tray!
It was really wonderful to be able to spend a long weekend with Catherine and share what each of us has been up to all these years. Luckily for me Catherine is very fluent in English (as well as Spanish and of course French and I am pretty sure she knows 2 or 3 other languages a well). Not only does she speak English and Spanish conversationally but for business as well. I remember how impressed I was as a 16yr old when I observed her spend an entire evening translating back and forth between French-English-and Spanish. Never before had a I seen anyone do that and definitely not a teenager!
Friday night we went grocery shopping and to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Saturday we walked to the city center and ran a few errands.
Luxembourg has a Grand Duke who lives in a large residence right in the pedestrian area. It was interesting to see that the front door has a single guard. Even more surprisingly, at night the guard goes home and the metal barricades were put away.
We had lunch and later went to a museum night at a Luxembourgh history museum. That was very interesting. The building was a nice blend of a very old building with modern aspects. We returned home and had a yummy dinner followed by a variety of delicious cheese. We could get quite use to finishing dinner with a cheese tray!
Sunday Catherine took us about an hour away to a castle in the town of Vianden. Victor Hugo once lived in town. Enmgamer was feeling a little under the weather so stayed home to rest. Serendipitiously, we discovered the town was having a walnut festival that day so it was filled with all kinds of nut related goodies. Ltmgamer tried his hand with a crossbow that shot nuts. Det55 and I toured the castle while Catherine sat with Ltmgamer outside as he had decided he didn’t want to go on the castle tour. There were nice displays throughout the castle as well as a booklet in English.
Monday Catherine went to work and the kids and I ran errands. We got a little lost walking through the park near Catherine’s house and stumbled upon a great playground. It had a huge wooden pirate ship, the tallest slide I’ve ever seen on a public playground and a fun water feature that had a few Archimedes screws for moving water from one level to another. The kids feel a pirate ship would be a good addition to their school playground. (these pictures are among those missing)
Unfortunately, Enmgamer’s knee gave out while we were at the park resulting in a great deal of pain. We helped her get back to the house, got her settled in bed then headed back out a little later. We got lost walking around downtown so it took a while to find the stores Det55 wanted to visit but we eventually found our way thanks to a fortuitously placed tourism information office. We returned home to make dinner. Catherine cooked us delicious meals all weekend. Since she was at work all day I told her the kids and I would cook dinner. We had meatloaf; roasted Parmesan potatoes, salad, bread and green beans Catherine had prepared the day before. Det55 made us a wonderful dessert of parfaits of vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit (more missing photos).
I do have some video of the playground (although as things have been going they may upload reversed-- ha, ha!
Unfortunately, Enmgamer’s knee gave out while we were at the park resulting in a great deal of pain. We helped her get back to the house, got her settled in bed then headed back out a little later. We got lost walking around downtown so it took a while to find the stores Det55 wanted to visit but we eventually found our way thanks to a fortuitously placed tourism information office. We returned home to make dinner. Catherine cooked us delicious meals all weekend. Since she was at work all day I told her the kids and I would cook dinner. We had meatloaf; roasted Parmesan potatoes, salad, bread and green beans Catherine had prepared the day before. Det55 made us a wonderful dessert of parfaits of vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit (more missing photos).
I do have some video of the playground (although as things have been going they may upload reversed-- ha, ha!
Oct 14, 2014. Tuesday morning we started on our journey to Rome via Brussels. Before we left I quickly walked to the post office to mail a package of souvenirs home. Catherine had offered to mail it for us but I didn’t want to trouble her with it, or worry if I'd left enough money for postage. Luckily I got to the post office right after it opened and I was the only customer. We said goodbye to Catherine at the train station and thanked her for her kind hospitality. I could not have imagined when I was 16 that 32 years later I would have the great pleasure of spending time with “my French family”. Visiting Catherine in Luxembourg and her family in Lille has been a real highlight of the trip for me. Next stop- Roma!