The Little Land of Luxembourg . . .

Luxembourg wasn't somewhere we had originally thought of visiting - but we are so glad we did.  It is a stunning country that leaves a lasting impression.  We fell in love with it's fairytale forests, green rolling hills and beautiful little towns.  With sunny hot days and clear skies at night, just a gentle breeze and peace and quiet.  It was here we celebrated Glenn's birthday with French Champagne, homemade pancakes and a walk through the spectacular forest bordering our campsite.  We visited little towns with houses painted in many bright colours, their gardens in full bloom.  We took a cable car ride up to the top of the hill above Vianden with its impressive Chateau/Schloss perched high above the village.  And we encountered the most difficult of language barriers in a country where there are 4 national languages - Luxembourgish, French, German and (supposedly) English.  Luxembourg is only 85km in length from Nth to Sth and 32km from East to West and yet we only scratched the surface.  A country well worthy of a first and hopefully second visit one day.

Happy Birthday was sung over this stack of homemade pancakes
and toasted with Champagne.
Of course we decorated Swifty too.

Our fairytale forest walk.

The rock formations were just incredible.

The girls got to finish the day with a swim -
brave souls, the pool was freezing!

 

Catching up on some diary writing.

Our camping pitch in Vianden.

The pretty village of Vianden.

The Chateau/Schloss perched above the village.

All the houses in Luxembourg were decorated with flower boxes
or had flowers in their gardens.  And all were neat and tidy -
the Luxembourgish take a lot of pride in their homes.

Looking back at the Schloss from the walk back to camp.

One of the bridges that spans from the old town of Luxembourg City
to the new town of Luxembourg CIty.

The flag flies high and proud above the old town.

One of the city streets.

Here you can see all the different layers that make up Luxembourg City.
In the middle is the old stone wall of the city.

This reflection captures what is supposed to be one of the prettiest balconies in Europe.

Luxembourg is very hilly and very steep and so they have strategically
placed elevators to take you to all the different street levels.
Getting off one elevator at the Grund we walked out into this public
art space where a whole lot of kids had created paintings about
environment and political issues.  It was amazing.

Taashi spotted this sign in a side street in the city and swore she
would never eat somewhere you had to eat someone else's leftovers.