Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Luxembourg - 3/18/09

We arrived in Brussels close to midnight on the 17th. I had neglected to print directions to the hotel, but fortunately we found it near the train station after very little wandering. After 6 hours in Brussels, not nearly enough to feel rested, we were off to Luxembourg. My great-great-grandfather, Heller Schmidt, came over from Luxembourg around 1880, so we thought it would be fun to make a quick stop. I don't know where he was from, but I'm guessing a farm in the countryside and not the city. We also guessed that the Schleck brothers must be from the countryside, or they'd be bankers. (I just spent 2 minutes researching this on Google. It looks like they grew up in Mondorf-les-Bains and spent time organizing races against the neighborhood kids up the local mountain.)

Here I am at the train station:



We picked up a pamphlet and took a long walk around the city. We had about 3 hours. Luxembourg City is gorgeous, hilly, and cobbled. Here is the view from Chemin de la Corniche, a pedestrian promenade touted as the most beautiful balcony in Europe.



There were a bunch of kids hanging out (we think they were Czech tourists), and we got one to take this photo.



This at the top of the Casemates du Bock. We were in a rush and didn't realize there were tunnels. Ed will be sad when he reads this. I believe that is an old Roman aqueduct in the background.



Nutella to Go: European Pocky.



Great dining cars on the trains. Here Ed enjoys Duvel ale and a Belgian wafel.



Next stop: Paris.

1 comment:

sudarshan bengani said...

thats a very beautiful place to be in