Vianden and Cologne

So, like I mentioned before, Shawn’s parents were here in Luxembourg with us, and we did some relaxing, some traveling, and the kids had a great time with their grandparents.

The first place we took them was Vianden, because, well, we take all our visitors to Vianden.
I just don’t feel right about sending anyone back to America without seeing it.

We also took them to The Chocolate House for treats.
I definitely wouldn’t feel right about sending anyone back to America without going to The Chocolate House for chocospoons.

After a few days of rest and recovering from the jet lag, we packed our overnight bags, hired (because in Europe, you don’t rent, you hire) a van and drove to Cologne, Germany.  I’ve never been to Cologne before and it sort of reminded me of Trier, except the big attraction is Der Kölner Dom, instead of Porta Nigra.

They call it the Mount Everest of cathedrals and I learned that it’s Germany’s most visited tourist site.
See why?

 
It was cold and rainy the first day we were there, but the rest of our visit was beautiful.

We hopped on (and off) the Hop On Hop Off bus all over the city and went to the Schokoladenmuseum, the Chocolate Museum.  I’ll admit, at first I was a little bored but then we got to the part where you get to see actual chocolate being mixed and poured and I was all THIS IS JUST LIKE WILLY WONKA.

I never imagined that I’d be posting pictures of industrial machines on the blog, but it was kind of mesmerizing to watch all the gooey chocolate get poured into molds, stamped, wrapped and dropped into boxes.
It smelled amazing.
Then we got samples.
I know I’ve admitted before that European chocolate isn’t my favorite, but it is growing on me.

Finley slept in his stroller through nearly the entire thing but woke up when we got back on the Hop On Hop Off bus.  He was all smiles.  He has no idea what he just missed.

Shawn had to take a work phone call so while he was on, the rest of us found a beautiful park to take a walk.  This was the best big sister/little brother picture I got.  I’m thinking of using it as our Christmas card photo this year.

We finished the day with dinner at Hofbräu Früh, which, I’ve been told by a Cologne native, is the place you must eat when visiting.

We had a family style platter of sausages, potatoes prepared all kinds of ways and some type of noodles that were covered in butter and cheese. 
Oh, and those big warm pretzels.
And beer.
It was all so very delicious.
And healthy.  I kid.

We said auf weidersehen, tschüs and bis später to Cologne and returned to Luxembourg, where we hung out at home for a few days, unpacked our bags, did some laundry and packed our bags again.

Then we headed off for our next adventure.
To Be Continued…

When My Mom Came To Europe

We’ve had a very special visitor at our house for the last three weeks.  When Hannah, Finley and I returned to Luxembourg from the US, my mom came back with us!  This was her second trip to Luxembourg – she was also here just before Finley was born and stayed with us for the first few weeks to help out.
I didn’t mention it on the blog, for security reasons, but now that she’s back home safe and sound I wanted to document a little bit of her stay here.

But first.  Before you go thinking that my mom was here on vacation, that wasn’t the case.  Flying 9+ hours from the US to Luxembourg with me, my 6 year old and 7 month old and then spending the next three weeks at our house doing everyday life things with us could hardly be called a vacation. 

I don’t think she minded.

We spent most of the time she was here doing normal stuff – making dinner, going to dance class, packing lunches, ironing shirts, changing diapers, bathing kids, cleaning messes, and dropping off/picking up Hannah from school.

But we also did some shopping in Luxembourg and Trier and went to our favorite spot, The Chocolate House.

We also tried to make the guard at the Grand Ducal Palace crack a smile.  (We failed.)

Luxembourg officially kicked off the holiday season with the opening of the Christmas Market, so we shopped, enjoyed the lights, sampled Swiss cuisine (and glühwein!) and took in the culture. 
Christmastime in Europe is like a winter wonderland and I’ll miss it when we move back to the US.
(I’m also gonna miss this gapped tooth smile when her adult teeth grow in.)

One day while Hannah was at school, my mom asked if there were any nearby Holocaust memorials or museums that we could visit.  I’d never been to one, so after a quick email to a good friend and a few text message exchanges we found ourselves on our way to a WWII concentration camp in Hinzert, Germany which is about 50 minutes from us.   My multi-lingual friend made a few phone calls for me to find out what time tours are offered and if there’d be one in English.  Besides some standard greetings and pleasantries, the only thing I know how to say in German is one dog (don’t ask) and that really wasn’t going to do us any good.

It’s so pretty here.  It’s hard to believe that a concentration camp used to be right at this very spot.

From inside the museum, you can look out the window and see what the view was like in the early 1940’s.

My mom (and Finley) listened to survivors recall stories from their time at Hinzert.

At the end of the war, when Hinzert was liberated, bodies that had been buried in shallow, mass graves were exhumed.  Those that were able to be identified were returned to their countries for proper burial.  Those that couldn’t be identified were moved to a newly created cemetery, to be buried in a respectful manner.

*****

Before she left, we took my mom to Bacchus, another of our favorite restaurants in Luxembourg City.  We love it because it’s kid friendly, the owners treat us like we’re family and the food is delicious.

On Saturday morning we drove my mom to Brussels to catch her flight home.  Of course, no one in our family travels without incident and this was no exception.  As her plane was taxing out to the tarmac, the pilot slammed on the brakes because a vehicle pulled out in front of him.  This resulted in a three hour delay only for the flight to be canceled altogether.  The good news is that they put all the passengers up in the (very nice!) airport hotel and gave them vouchers for dinner and breakfast the next morning. 
So, I guess my mom did get a little vacation out of this after all?

Anyway, she’s home and settling back in.
Thank you, Mom.  For everything.
See you at Christmas!

Visitors

Somewhere in the ballpark of oh, I don’t know…say…SEVEN MONTHS AGO we had some special visitors at our house.

I wanted to wait until they were home to write about it, you know, for safety reasons, and then I started to put a blog post together, got lost in sorting through the pictures and then never posted it.

Oh, the shame.

Anyway, last spring, my aunt and uncle came all the way from the US to spend their vacation with us.

So, what did we do?
Oh, lots and lots of things!

We toured all over Luxembourg and showed them what a great little country it is.

We even rode the Hop On, Hop Off tour bus.

And took a ride on the Pétrusse Express, a petit train touristique (little tourist train).  You can’t miss it.  Seriously, you can’t – it’s painted a bright lime green and travels at about 4 miles per hour around the city (I have no idea how many kilometers per hour that is) holding up and blocking all kinds of traffic.

We took Tinkerbelle to Vianden Castle for the afternoon…

…where we ate sandwiches out of the back of the car in the parking lot.
(How very American of us.)

We took the high speed train to Paris.  Pictures from my cell phone are here.

(Nice photo bomb, Shawn.)

We ran into a wee leetle problem when the subway line we needed was closed for the weekend, without signs or warnings.  Basically, the train stopped and everyone was told to please exit…

But we managed.  About an hour and 2 miles on foot later, we made it to our hotel where we took pictures of each other out the window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took a walking tour of the city with this chap as our guide. 
Loved his vest and socks.
(And skinny jeans.)
(And hair.)

Sometimes you do what it takes to entertain your kid.

We hung out at La Tour Eiffel…

And did the obligatory tourist pose.  Oh, yes.  We did.

Hannah and I ran laps around the fountains.  Again, sometimes you do what it takes to entertain your kid.

We rode bikes…

Then we took a day trip to Trier, Germany and showed them Porta Nigra, a large Roman gate that was built around the year 200 A.D.  That’s one old gate, yo.

We couldn’t leave Trier without having a traditional German meal.

We also did some this-is-our-real-life-not-just-a-vacation stuff.
Like grocery shopping and laughing about how many men hang out at the bar at the entrance of the store while their wives shop.

And noting how the “USA” section really is not much more than a bunch of Old El Paso brand items. (That taste nothing like they actually do in the USA, by the way.)

Dropping off/picking up Hannah at school…

…playing with her at the park…

…and eating at our favorite Friday night spot.

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. 
Our time together in Luxembourg went way too fast.

Thank you, Chris and Jerry for such a wonderful visit.  We loved having you.
(In fact, we all moped around for about a week after you left.)
But what a time we had!
You are the first of our family to see what our life is really like over here.

Let’s do it again, shall we?