Luxembourg

Our first serious road trip! Brugge, Belgium I guess, was our first foray into traveling away from Amsterdam a month or so ago. It was 2 1/2 hours, staying overnight. Luxembourg is 4 hours, and it was just Radhika and I this time on the trip. I mapped out the first trip, and there was concern on the return to Amsterdam that we wouldn't get Dimple to the airport on time. We did, with time to spare, but the tricky and time consuming exit from Brugge caused a little anxiety in the car with certain passengers (who will go unnamed). ;) Anyway, with the car parked close to the apartment, we left Amsterdam Saturday morning at 10am, setting the TomTom destination of the Luxembourg Hilton. It was a pretty straightforward drive. We stopped for a quick break and snack a little more than an hour north of Luxembourg. The terrain is varied as was the weather. Flat, green pastures and fields, rolling hills, to small more rougher terrain at the higher elevations. We traveled through sun, overcast darkness, ice, snow, rain, back to sun... it was constantly changing. We arrived around 3pm, got a nice upgrade, dumped our baggage, and drove to the city only 7 kilometers away. Parking underground, we walked the stairs where we were deposited in a square. We walked the streets in the vicinity getting our bearings. They were very nice and clean. We heard music coming from a large, outdoor tent-like structure. How lucky were we when it was discovered they had 60 musicians from New Orleans there for a 4 day festival for Easter! We listened for a while, watched people, walked around, and got information from the tourist office for the next 2 days. When we got hungry, we bypassed the one McDonald's that managed to infest the city right next to the tent, and ate in a French restaurant fro dinner. The country does have it's own language, but French and German are spoken there due to their close proximity. Our dinner was tasty and the service was good. But as we finished, our server, who was working diligently all evening had a little problems with balance right near our table, and several plates came crashing off of his tray. Some liquid splashed up off of the floor and onto Radhika's lap and sleeve! Oh boy what a hubub!! The female manager, who reminded me a little of Leona Helmsly and our server engaged in several vocal exchanges over the next 5 to 10 minutes. We don't know what was said as they were speaking in French, but the couple next to us sure seemed to be amused by it all. We were concerned for a while, because our server went AWOL for a while, and I thought Leona may have tossed him out on his "croissant". But he showed up after a few minutes and apologized again. I told him not to worry, that it was Radhika's fault. He smiled a little, but insisted it was his, and he gave Radhika 10 euros towards the cleaning. He and Leona went at it a couple more times. It was almost out of a sitcom.... all the fast-flying French dialogue and hand gestures. I just know someone was calling the other an idiot! Finally, one of the other servers asked if we had our desert yet, as it had been forgotten in all of the action! We had our ice cream and called it a day! Such an exciting first day. BTW... whatever it was it came out of her clothes when she washed them at the hotel.

The next morning I got up and went down to the indoor heated pool. That was sweet! Got a little exercise in and even managed 10 minutes in the sauna. We ate breakfast, as the Hilton had a really nice buffet, but we were also still full to a degree from last night's dinner. We drove into the city around 9:45am, and it was pretty empty! It's cool to have a city almost all to yourself. It was a little chilly to, but as the day continued, the sun came out and it was glorious sunshine all day!! We walked all over, went into the "Casemates", which are underground caves that have been carved out over the centuries. Down through history, Luxembourg has been the most fortified city in Europe. We listened to some dixieland, blues, and jazz, and had a really nice day. Something funny... as we sat listening to music, Radhika got a coffee from the golden arches, and I went to the tent to check out the Louisiana food they had there. Ended up getting 2 sausage sandwiches for us. They were pretty good, but as Radhika bit into hers, it squirted water/grease in a direct line right to me... there was no escape!!! Damn it was like it was planned!!! I didn't even laugh the night before when she got victimized by "Clumsy Claude"!! Luckily there was no major damage, but it sure seemed like it was payback for something. We did some more sightseeing, taking advantage of the great weather! Ended up driving back to the hotel around 9:30pm.

The next morning I went straight to the gym and lifted a few weights before hitting the pool and sauna (yes, my punk-ass is a little sore as I type). Put me in a mood to do a little 'ol school damage on the breakfast buffet! After I felt I had signed my masterpiece, we took the hotel shuttle to the city instead of driving. Unfortunately this time of year they drive in at 10:45am, and pick up at 8:30pm, so we checked out before we left. It snowed heavily overnight and continued on and off throughout the day, which made for different pictures. I did some shooting while Radhika listened to some Gospel. Luckily, the tent did not catch fire! I came back after some shooting, we listened for a while, and then went walking through the markets the city had set up along some streets and squares. I bought Radhika a pair of shiny, black earrings and then we headed back, picking up the car after taking a city bus back to the hotel around 2:30pm. We drove around and outside the city for about an hour before heading back to Amsterdam and arriving at 8pm. It was a great trip, with good sights, some nice photography, a comfortable hotel, good food, great music, and little stress! Our next trip is 2 weeks away! Snowing again... let me see if I can take a good picture to throw up on the blog. Until next time......