Luxembourg!

Don't ask me why, but I have always wanted to go to Luxembourg! Some people have said, "Luxembourg, really?" or the Croatian family I ran into on Place d' Paris (Plaza de Paris) waiting for dinner when I told them we live in The Netherlands, "What are you doing here in Luxembourg?". Needless to say, I was super excited to only be 2.5 hours from this beautiful place and to finally make it there to visit! I totally over planned the trip and got super stressed out when we got to Luxembourg City (the capitol) later than I had planned, Sean had to intervene and tell me we were on vacation and to chill out. So I did and so glad I did!

First a little history of Luxembourg: Luxembourg is first mentioned around 963 as a castle on the Bock rock that was exchanged to Siegfried, Count of Ardennes.  It became a strong hold through many wars and changed hands many times (Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria) before finally gaining its own independence in 1867.  It was later occupied again during the 2 world wars and was liberated from the Germans in 1944 by the Americans (yay us!).  Even though the town is very old, there are very few really old buildings (pre-1700's i would say) because the town had been town down an rebuilt many times because of either fires, wars, or changing of hands.  It is the only Grand Duchy in the world with their monarchy headed by the Grand Duke. It is a tri-lingual country, which everyone learning Limbourgish, French and German.  I think that is amazing! Many also speak english so they speak 4 languages!

Onto the trip! We got in a little late so decided to just walk into the center (10ish minutes) and go to the tourist office to figure everything out.  The people at the tourist office were super nice and very helpful! Instead of doing a museum or tour (we had been in the car for a bit) we decided to just walk around and found the Chemin de la Corniche which was a beautiful path on that is very well known and pictured quite a bit. It winds down from the centre to the Grund, which was considered the suburbs back in the day.  Now it is known for its cafe's and music!

A dream come true!

Daddy and Bella looking down onto Grund 

A good smile! 

My baby girl!

Bella wanted to go down a path and we came upon the Bock Casemates (which was below use in the rocks) which I totally missed in the travel book.  So, Bella gets points for this one.  The Bock Casemates was once Count Siegfried's fort around the city (the city sits on top of these rocks, remember!).  It was amazing to see what had been carved out of the rock and build inside.  It has been used as many different things, even a shelter for the locals during the world wars.  Most of the casemates had been destroyed through history to make Luxembourg a more neutral city, so I can't image what the original fortress looked like! The price was really good but I would not advice on a stroller, we brought ours cause the lady said it would be ok and it really was not.  The kids had a great time and both ran all over the place.

In one of the casemate openings

One of the Cannons

Admiring the view of the Grund!

 We were a little sweaty and tired and set off for some dinner.  We came to the main square, Place d'Armes and through any restaurant would be good here. We were kinda wrong.  We picked Le Boucherie (The butcher) which looked like a good steak place.  I would say for the price it was not spectacular.  The best part was the glass of beer that I got that was a big as my head!

Beer as big as my head 

My lamb chops, which weren't bad 

Sean's mixed grill with some over cooked meat.

 We called it a day and got some much needed rest.  The next morning it was pouring, and luckily the sights we wanted to see where inside.  We promised Bella we could ride this train (Petrusse Express) which gave a tour of the Grund area as well as an audio tour in the language of your choice. It was interesting 50 minutes, Zerek was done after about 30 so that wasn't so much fun.

Bella and the train

 Cathedral Notre Dame - It finally stopped raining and we started walking around some and walk through this beautiful church! Note, 95% of Luxembourg are Roman Catholics, which actually really surprised me. The stained glass was beautiful!

Daddy, Bella and Zerek at the back entrance

View from the back to the Alter

Front View

A much needed coffee break at the Coffee Experience (note Sean's girly chocolate drink!)

Yes, this is how Zerek says cheese!

Luxembourg History Musuem - After our coffee break we headed to this really cool building that brought together 4 old buildings to hold this exhibit.  All the signs were in French, German and English so we could actually understand all of it! It was interesting to see the origins of Luxembourg and how it developed over time eventually becoming the small nation it is today (it was actually a lot bigger but certain area's were absorbed by neighboring countries).  There were interactive screens and models that showed the city growth. The area on WWII was interesting and how the Nazi occupation affected the country. This was really inexpensive and a great museum.  The kids even liked it!!!

The Royal Palace - It is only open for a few months in the summer when the Grand Duke vacations in the South of France (must be tough).  It was a small palace but the tour guide was super nice and gave some great information on the history of Luxembourg.  There are only 2 tours in English daily (1600 and 1700) so the kids were pretty much done by this point.  It was cool to see but if it wasn't open or the tour was full, you wouldn't miss much.  Couldn't take any pictures inside so here is one of the outside.

Right now they have a Summer in the City program going on and we were there when they had kids games on the Place d'Armes.  The kids had fun, but it was so overwhelming with all the groups of kids. Here are some highlights!

Observing the street proformer, who was really weird. But hey, whatever will get them to sit for 20 minutes I can take!

Zerek and a board game with blocks

Zerek loved walking on this maze!

Bella mastering the blocks!

After the long day, we decided to find a place to eat by our hotel at the Place d'Paris.  The hotel manager recommended a place called "La Siene" and I am so glad we listened to him! The food was probably the best Italian food I have had other than the stuff from Italy. None of us could stop eating and stuffed ourselves!

Le Parc Merveilleux - Saturday was dedicated to our kids as we headed a whopping 15 minutes outside town to this awesome kids zoo/fairytale village!We got there around 1030 and didn't leave until almost 4! The kids would have stayed longer but they were totally worn out! For the price (9 euro adults/6 euro kids 4-12) it was so worth it. If we lived closer I would buy a season pass and be here all the time.  There were really awesome playgrounds great exhibits and shade (which was nice on a hot day!). I would highly recommend this as a must do with kids!!!

A train ride that Zerek came off kicking and screaming because he didn't want to leave

Looking at the Amazon exhibit

Zerek loved the Lemur's!  

This one was right over our head!

One of like five play grounds!

Even a small one for the little ones!

This one had lots of climbing things!

Farewell! Can't wait to come back!

We headed into town one last time for dinner to hit up the Nespresso store and grab some dinner.  I don't remember the place we ate but felt a little too old and not hip enough to be there.  But, the food was good and the Mojito's were even better!

Sean's Salad

This was Nacho's...really nacho toppings on a large tortilla!

 Our stay in Luxembourg City was awesome! I really recommend it! There is a wine area that we didn't make it to because of the weather, but we can save that for another trip! Our hotel was awesome, The Golden Tulip Central Molitor.  The room's had A/C which was amazing (haven't had that since we left Virginia).  The hotel staff were super nice, rooms were great, and the breakfast was great too.  Only a little 5-10 minute walk into the center of town!

On the way home we stopped in Vianden to visit their castle.  Many remaining castles are in ruin's but this one was reconstructed from 1978-1987 using the original plans.  It happened to be their Medieval Festival weekend so it was quite busy, but there were some cool things and reenactments to see! It was a really cool place and the kids had a good time! Really wanted to check out the town more but it was down pouring and there was no parking because of the festival at the castle and also something else going on in town.  But, on the list to visit again!

Scenic point driving up to the castle

Beautiful owl!

Looking down onto the town of Vianden

One of the dining rooms

The kitchen

One of the main hallways with vendors

Beautiful views!

Zerek loved the birds! 

This is what you see as you walk up the path to the castle

Sorry this is so long, we had a great trip and I wanted to share all the stuff that we did.  Luxembourg totally lived up to everything I thought it would be and I can't wait to come back and explore more (the wine country to be specific)!