Luxembourg!

We are back from our first big road trip! My long-time friend and colleague Erik is currently staying in Luxembourg where his university (Miami of Ohio) has a European campus. They have both local faculty and staff and also several Miami folks who come to teach there for a period of a few months or a few years. The university rents a castle in the southern Luxembourg town of Differdange, where they have classrooms, offices, and faculty apartments. We were able to stay in a guest room/mini apartment at the castle. The weekend was wonderful! Here are some details and pictures.

It all started somewhat inauspiciously on Friday morning, when I received a call from Enterprise Car Rental that the car I had reserved well in advance was actually not available after all. I had flashbacks to the Seinfeld episode about making a reservation vs. keeping a reservation. After a few more phone calls and negotiations, they came up with the idea to send a driver to pick me up from my apartment and then  take me to a car rental place in Mannheim. On the way, we got Alex from school. When we got to Mannheim, the place we were dropped off turned out to be a BMW dealership with a little rental counter. Here's Alex waiting at the posh dealership amazed at all the swanky accessories etc!

When we finally got the car, it turned out to be a black, 6-speed, convertible, Mini-Cooper! I thought of Hilary the whole weekend! Well, we left Mannheim in our stylish car and from there it was only a 2.5 hour trip to Luxembourg. We literally crossed the border at the town of Schengen. All that marked the border was a small sign on the side of the highway (and a text message from my cell phone provider).

Erik really truly lives in a medieval castle and he greeted us in the castle courtyard.

He then showed us to our quarters. Here's Alex settling in.

And this was the view from our window into the castle courtyard. Please note the stylish black Mini-Cooper parked in the snow.

Erik gave us a tour of the castle, which included the spooky attic, main medieval dining hall, beautiful library etc. We then had a walk in the town and dinner at home. Alex went to sleep and Erik and I hung out for a long time over a few glasses of wine.

The next day we made good use of the rental car and went on a road trip through much of Luxembourg. We drove past Luxembourg city and I learned that Luxembourg is the richest country in Europe (per capita income). Who knew? It also boasts large numbers of immigrants, many from Portugal apparently and there are colorful painted houses (Portuguese style?) all over the country. They looked especially fun and vibrant given the rather dreary, foggy, and overcast weather. Our main destination was the town of Vianden which has a large and wonderfully restored castle. It was built on the foundation of a Roman fortress (!) and perched on a hilltop. The town's other claim to fame is that Victor Hugo stayed here for a while while writing some of his novels. If so inclined, visitors can walk along the Victor Hugo trails.

But we were there for the castle. Here are Alex and Erik approaching Vianden castle.

 Here is another view of the imposing structure.

Once inside, we were treated to all the trappings one would expect of medieval castles - including suits of armor and canons.

As the castle grew and expanded over the centuries, they masterfully built it around the existing rock and I loved seeing the natural and man-made structures intertwine.

There was, of course, a chapel. This one connected two stories. Here is the view from below:

And from above. They had painted the columns in medieval colorful style.

At one point, Alex was using an inner courtyard to frolic in the snow.

We also loved the well which was 53 meters deep!

I've been to many castles over the years, but this one was really great. After our extensive tour of the castle, we had lunch in the town. The restaurant we chose turned out to be smoky and the food was marginal, at best, but the town itself was almost impossibly charming. I would love to come back here on a sunny day. Anyone want to join us?

After Vianden, we headed across the border to Germany. Both Erik and I wanted to see Bitburg. The small city is famous for its brewery (Bitburger) - though we had coffee instead -

and the military cemetery where Ronald Reagan ran into so much trouble in 1985.

We searched in vain for the US soldiers who were supposed to be buried there, but we did find the graves of a few SS men. Ugh.

The road back to Differdange was lovely. The next morning, we said good-bye to Erik and the castle and made our way back to Heidelberg. We had a wonderful weekend full of new impressions, great conversation, yummy food, and two nights in a real castle!