Not long after we moved, we spend a weekend with close friends in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. For those that may have forgotten, Galway is even more wet that Dublin. During our visit, our hosts extolled the virtues of their jackets – the L.L. Bean Weather Channel 3-1 coat. This coat was created for the Weather Channel folks when they were out in the field. It seemed ideal for travel in Ireland (and in Europe). My mom was visiting Dublin not long after that, so I had her order one for me.

Some of you may remember the green jacket that makes me easy to find in a crowd. (As opposed to Will’s silly black outerwear, which he uses to slip away, unnoticed, into crowds of style-conscious European tourists.) Often, I would wear just the fleece layer, taking advantage of the versatile three-in-one nature of the jacket. On the right, you can see me sporting the green on a pleasant late-spring day in the Netherlands.

Many stops in Ireland, particularly in the West, required both layers.

In Lisbon, with little threat of rain, I could tuck away the hood.

I turned out to be wrong about Lisbon, and out came the hood.

It was a great day when I found gloves that matched!

I love my green coat. There is no other way to say it. After four years of hard wearing, however, it is starting to show its age a bit. I had thought to replace it last year, but the only coat L.L. Bean offered at the time was not as good. When I discovered that my beloved coat was discontinued, my theory was that the price of the jacket was keeping people out of the market, so they introduced a cheaper, but not as nice coat. But that would not do for me at all.

Luxembourg’s climate is more dry than Ireland’s, so I found myself wearing just the fleece layer more and more often. About a month ago, I realized I was really wearing out the fleece lining. While I wait patiently for L.L. Bean to realize the error of their ways and bring back my beloved coat, the important thing is to wear out all parts of the coat, evenly. So I needed to find a fleece to wear. A sacrificial fleece, you might say.

Enter Jack Wolfskin. We have come to realize that Jack Wolfskin is L.L. Bean, Lands End and The North Face all rolled into one, for Europe. It is dominant like Crayola crayons. Everyone wears Jack Wolfskin.

Will did an unscientific survey of his photos from the Gala Tour de France and he says, “Of visible logos on plain sportswear, about three-quarters were either the words ‘Jack Wolfskin’ or their distinctive wolf-paw.” So there you go.

Take a randomly-chosen person wearing sports outerwear in Luxembourg (or Germany or Belgium for that matter). Like the one on the right, for example.

Intrigued by the ubiquity of the brand, we stopped one of the several Jack Wolfskin shops in Luxembourg. I found a lovely fleece in a burgundy color — on sale! Now I feel a little uneasy without my green, but I certainly feel more local.

By mid-July, I had given up on L.L. Bean. I had moved on to other brands, including The North Face and Jack Wolfskin, resigning myself to purchasing one of their coats this fall. Not a bad fate, but frustrating — like trying a new email application. Nothing works like the old coat. The good coat!

Imagine my delight and joy when, researching this very blog post, I discovered a miracle — L.L. Bean has reintroduced my jacket! My only concern is that the “fleece” lining seems to be shiny, but I think I can learn to live with that. My beloved green is no longer an option, so I’ll have to choose among Periwinkle, Colonial Red or Coastal Blue.

As you, dear reader, will inevitably be seeing many, many photos of the jacket, I ask for your input. What color do you think would be best for the next four years of photos?

I shopped the idea around to Will and a few friends, but no one was interested in my plan: “Let’s get up and be on the road by 6:15 to see hot air balloons!” I will admit that when my alarm went off at 5:45, even I began to question whether this was a good idea. I checked the weather – overcast, but no rain. I had no excuse to crawl back into bed. To the balloon festival for me!

Technically, this event is called the World Balloon Trophy, an event that began in 1995. The festival started on Wednesday, but the crappy weather has cancelled at least two planned flights. From my previous balloon festival experience, I knew that the air was still in the morning and around dusk, and that makes for excellent flights.

I took off to Echternach on the back roads, since traffic is meant to be a killer, what with the Germans heading off on holiday in one direction, and Belgian and Dutch the other. Last year, we paid to park in the lot close-by, but I hoped that the crowds would be light so early. “Light” doesn’t begin to describe what I found.

The festival’s park was deserted. As I walked towards the viewing areas, I began to grow concerned that the morning flight was cancelled. Not long after that, I saw some activity on the “island” in the lake.

Normally, spectators would be kept off the island during the preparation and the launch. Since there were maybe 10 of us, security was light. I started off on the island bridge, because I didn’t want to be disruptive. It didn’t take me long to get my nerve and walk around and through the various balloon teams.

This experience was… AWESOME! I was right up and around the balloons. It is surprisingly loud during the prep. The balloons are initially inflated using cold air from a generator-powered fan.


Eventually, they switched over to the flame and heated air.

But once all the balloons had their shapes, the only sound was the occasional use of the burners to keep them inflated.


One by one, the balloons were released and each floated up into the sky.

But these are professionals, vying for the World Balloon Trophy. They were excellent pilots. They went up, then dropped back down.


Some went close to the water while others dipped in the trees.


They floated left, then back right.

They hovered over the launch site, while we gaped up at them.

Everyone enjoyed the amazing view of the graceful craft against a beautiful backdrop. It is not often you see 11 hot air balloons take off at once, in a small space. I was giddy with excitement. Below is a panoramic shot, so it’s really almost 360 degrees of balloons surrounding me.

Check out the video — you can hear the burners that I mentioned above.

Eventually, they started to spread out and float off into the distance. The chase cars packed up and rolled out…. my balloon viewing was done for the day. I made the long trek back to the car. In my concern about crowds, I parked about 500 meters farther away than I needed to. Heck, I think I could have driven directly up to the launch island before anyone would have said “Boo.”

Seeing the launch confirmed my desire to take a hot air balloon ride. I believe they are relatively common to do here in Lux. So I’ll be adding that chore to Will’s agenda.

If you’d like to see more, you can wait to see our full photo set, or you can look at the official photos from Saturday morning.

Bugle Public Engagement Officer’s note: If you’d like to take a balloon ride in Luxembourg, be sure to mention it when you book with the BBB&B!

In the past, I was a Diet Coke gal, but then Coke Zero stole my heart.

Anyone that spends a day with me will realize that caffeine has a powerful effect on my system. In the US and Ireland, I tried to manage that by drinking caffeine-free Diet Coke as much as possible.

Then we moved to Luxembourg.

For those not as knowledgeable about the world of Coke, Diet Coke is not sold on the Continent. Instead, we get Coke Light. The formulations are different enough that while I can drink Coke Light, I do not enjoy it as much as Diet Coke — and Coke Zero blows them both out of the water. Slowly, over the last two years, I’ve been drinking less and less Coke Light “sans caféine” and more and more Coke Zero… with all the caffeine.

In a perfect world, Coke would produce a caffeine free version of Coke Zero. However, I learned during my correspondence with the Coca-Cola company that they wanted to build the Coke Zero brand before putting additional versions on the market. (Yes, I did write them. Yes, I did receive a personal response.)

Then, a miracle happened. In February, I was on a business trip in the Netherlands. I was discussing my soda habit with a colleague and I mentioned that one of my greatest desires was caffeine-free Coke Zero. I nearly fell off my chair when he replied, “Oh, they have that.”

Indeed they do. Since February 2010, France has been selling it. France was the first country in the world to get caffeine-free Coke Zero. The Netherlands got it in January 2011. When I learned all this, my heart raced — and I had to get to France!

On the first possible Saturday morning, I coaxed Will into the car and we drove to the closest chain grocery store across the border. As we walked through the store, I dared to dream. Would they have it? How much should I buy? We headed down the soda aisle and there is was, in all its black and gold glory.

I would have bought it all. Will convinced me to stop after 16 six-packs and 11 one-point-five liter bottles. The cart (and the car) were a joyous wonder of Zero.

The only aspect that took a small shine off the day was the prospect of shopping in France every three or four weeks, to resupply. But that wasn’t a big deal, with the border so close, and I was smiling all the way back to Luxembourg.

I’m happy to report that Coke Zero “sans caféine” is just as tasty as the regular. I’ve slowly titrated down from the caffeinated variety, as to not feel the effects of going cold turkey. I thought that life couldn’t get better.

I was wrong.

I was shopping at our local grocery store the very next weekend after our trip to France. Will needed some regular old Coke, with sugar and caffeine — because he is a (pudgy) rebel! As we rolled down the aisle, I could not believe what was on the shelf in front of me — Coke Zero “sans caféine” had arrived in Luxembourg!

It was a miracle! I would no longer have to drive to France to get my beverage of choice — it had come to me. Life could not be any better…

…unless I could convince them to start stocking Diet 7-up again!

But recently, we have been going to the Farmer’s Market at Place Guillaume. The market is open on Saturday mornings and we love getting some fresh produce, delicious apple juice for Will and cut flowers for me.

The prices are so reasonable, I’ve been going…. well… a little flower crazy.

Hence last week’s purchases:

This was taken five days post-purchase, so they aren’t at their very best. But aren’t they beautiful? Beautiful…. but deadly!

Our advancing ages have made both of us susceptible to the pollen from the lovely flowers. Apparently, our allergies cannot handle the continued, unrelenting exposure and even the various antihistamines we consume daily haven’t kept us from sneezing and headaches. Will was convinced for a couple days that I had a nefarious and complex plan to off him, except I was suffering as much (or more) than he.

I was forced to accept that four different kinds of cut flower at once is too much to have in our home. So this week, I had to do with only daffodils (or jonquils as they are known at the grocery store) and hyacinths.

While we are still running at a high pollen count, the level is tolerable. The joy and pleasure I get from the flowers easily offsets the small price to pay. As a Midwesterner, I’m thrilled to have spring flowers available… in March! I think we can say that Spring is just around the corner for Luxembourg.

Especially when the crocuses are popping up everywhere:

I’m going to guess that you chose option A: Anita goes to a wine tasting, not option B: Will is sick all weekend and jealous that Anita got to go to a wine tasting.

Indeed, I spent both Friday and Saturday night exploring the wonders of the Bordeaux and Aquitaine region with the Fédération des Vignerons Indépendants d’Aquitaine wine tasting. Our friends, Dick and Kristy* went to the event last year and raved about not only the awesome wine, but the reasonable prices.

I took the bus to the event after work on Friday, meeting Kristy and Dick. Since they had prior experience, they immediately informed me of the action plan. We needed to hit the great ones from last year first, before exploring. No wine was to be purchased on Friday night, as that was the tasting night. Wine would be purchased on Saturday. Since I was along for the ride, any strategy was a good one to me. So I grabbed my glass and followed along!

While I tried a lot of great wine and a few other items, I only purchased from two chateaus. (Will says it should be «chateaux» — what a snob.) I thought I would tell you a little bit each one and what I took home for the BBB&B wine cellar. Guests booking for 2011 may reserve any of the following bottles. (Supplies are limited!)

Chateau #1 is Chateau Haut-Chatain for their excellent Pomerol. Before moving to Luxembourg, I had never heard of Pomerol. It’s amazing – a simple blend of Merlot (90%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (10%).

[Ed. note: The name isn't from the blend, but the region. That's the way French wines are named.] [Author's note: Will, you're just sounding pompouser.]

We sampled the 2001 and the 2002. Both were terrific. Still, they were quite different. I was surprised to learn that they came from the exact same vines and have the exact same blend of grapes. Then I learned one of many of the evening’s fun facts: The summer of 2001 was much warmer than the summer of 2002, which gives the 2001 a more spicy taste (to me, at least).

Chateau #2 is Chateau de Bonhoste. This Chateau had a broader selection with three different Bordeaux that I fell in love with: the Bordeaux Rouge, the Bordeaux Superieur and the Bordeaux Superieur Cuvee Prestige. The Rouge was smooth and creamy, the Superieur a bit more spicy and the Prestige even more spicy and complex. The sellers were kind enough to speak English with me, so I learned the reasons for the differences. The Rouge is done in steel with juice and skins, but the skins don’t stay in for very long. The Superieur is also done in steel, but the skins stay with the juice much longer. The Prestige is done in oak, with the skins.

Basically, the more time with the skins, the more “spicy” the wine becomes – or at least that was what I got out of the conversation. Please feel free to tell me in the comments I got it completely wrong. Will, you may not “translate freely” from your silly Hachette guide.

With all this wine tasting, you need a snack. Does anything go better with wine than cheese? How about some duck? Not only was there a French cheese producer offering some of the most challenging and delicious cheeses, but there was also a French duck farm selling a multitude of items. While duck has never been my thing, this fell under the “when in Rome” category of life. Dick, Kristy and I split a duck sampler platter – two kinds of pate, duck sausage and the incomparable smoked duck breast. In fact, the smoked duck breast was so incredible that I purchased some for Will and me to share.

The cheese was incredible too. It was Ossau-Iraty which is far more special than I realized, as it is only one of two sheep cheeses that has been granted Appellation d’origine contrôlée status.

Personally, the goat cheese was a bit strong for me, but I loved the “vache et de brebis” – cow and sheep. I bought a chunk to bring home on Friday and more on Saturday.

Saturday night we were joined by two more friends, Pete and Kathy*, the owners of Sylvester. I enjoyed dragging Kathy to the two Chateaus that I was planning to purchase from. I needed a second opinion since my wingman Will was absent. Kathy agreed with my choices (and wasn’t nearly so supercilious). So I made the purchases. My biggest decision was how to decide between the two Pomerols. Both years were great – just different. Thankfully, I was spared the agony of a decision when the gentlemen from the Chateau suggested a split case – 3 bottles of 2001 and 3 bottles of 2002. Sold!

Since the wines from Chateau de Bonhoste were reasonably priced, I ended up with four cases: one Rouge, two Superieur and one Prestige.

Between my purchases — and Pete and Kathy’s — we needed a hand truck to get them to the car. Kristy and Dick chose to go back on Sunday and get their purchases, so we didn’t have to worry about room in the car on the way home.

This type of event is one of the many where Will and I would say “Oh, we should go….”, even mark our calendars … but then never leave the house. That’s the best part about friends: they drag you out to fun and enjoyable activities, which this was, in spades. I dare say that Will cannot wait for next year and I hope he is healthy and can join me…. although we will have to be careful to avoid over-buying!

* Names changed per the Bakker Privacy Protection Policy.

Faithful Tumblr followers might remembering seeing a post that the city was opening the tunnel for just a few hours one Sunday. I’ll be honest – it wasn’t the tunnel that I thought we were going to get to see. I thought it would be the tunnel under the Petrusse River that once connected two sets of casemates. Instead, we saw a tunnel that is under the ENTIRE old city. For those who have been lucky enough to come to (or live in) Luxembourg, we can be more specific: we walked directly under the old city plateau. So it wasn’t “ancient rocky fortress” cool but “we’re really walking right under all that” cool.

Now, if Will were writing this post, you could count on some awesome maps, some historical details and an over-arching theme. Me, I’m going to show you a map I whipped up with powerpoint and a couple stars and prattle on a bit.

[Ed. - It was awful! She sent me this PDF file that I had to re-convert, and I'm concerned about copyright violations -- please don't sue us, Ville de Luxembourg, and thank you for the map -- and the stars look flattened because powerpoint is not an appropriate tool to make illustrations.]

At the yellow star (close to the Golden Lady), we entered the tunnel. The dotted line follows our path under the city (or a close approximation). The red star is where we popped out.

I’m not positive, but I think that every third person in Luxembourg came out that day. The critics agree. See the line?

It took less time than you would think before we entered the tunnel. As this is an underground tunnel, the photos aren’t going to be so exciting. But we’ll show you what we can! (Very low light photography is very hard. We’ll just call it “artistic” okay?)

The tunnel is big and easy to move through, as long as people didn’t cluster.

But what’s that, you say? Aren’t there supposed to be exhibits to learn about water and other water-related matters? Well, yes, there are – and they are perfect to cluster around!

The tunnel is over one kilometer long, and for the most part, it was very clean and tidy. At this point, it does not surprise me that the underground tunnels in the Ville are neater than my garage.

We enjoyed looking at some of the displays, but there were so… many… people….

Mainly we enjoyed the walk. Maps hung here and there allowed us to see where we were along the way.

Towards the end, I teased Will, saying, “The only thing this tunnel needs to make it a traditional Luxembourg experience is a band and someone selling sausages and beer.” Not long after that, I heard the music and smelled the meat. Indeed, close to the end of the tunnel was a band playing next to the refreshment stand, where you could get your sausage and drinks.

Overall, it was not the most impressive Luxembourg outing we’ve had. However, I’m glad we did it because (1) it is awesome to walk underneath the area that I work in everyday and (2) we confirmed our suspicion that the only way to get locals to come out is to serve food and drink!

If you’re lucky enough to be in Luxembourg on February 13th, the Aqua Tunnel will be re-opened, by popular demand. Is there a better way to start Valentine’s Day with your loved one? Or to celebrate World Water Day a little early?

If Will is really sweet, he’ll work up a Flickr set tomorrow, and link to it in the comments. Until then, the polyglots can enjoy video, while English-only underachievers are stuck with a few snapshots from a local website.

For those who haven’t been counting, we have lived in Luxembourg for just over a year and a half. In the last 20 months, we’ve created a home that we love and enjoy.

Except for the pantry.

Our pantry had, over the last several months, morphed into a nightmare. Returning from our US holiday, I knew that I could not just throw the new food in there — the whole thing needed to be cleaned and reorganized. Hello Ikea!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a shot of the pantry before some items were removed. This is with about 30% pulled out already.

Like most organizing projects – it must get worse before it can get better.

Of course, we had to buy new stuff — from Ikea!

And we had to sort through every piece that was in there. Which was an excellent exercise, even it if did make us both want to cry.

We had an “Us Against the Pantry” attitude, so there was much less bickering than you’d expect.

In the end, we have an organized, clean and pretty pantry. It took nearly two days, but it was worth it.

Living in Luxembourg can’t be all wine and wonderful. Sometimes, you just have to be normal people… although I’m sure some of you would challenge me on just what “normal” means!

Can’t get enough pantry pics? There’s a little Flickr set for you!

It’s a special time of the year in Luxembourg – it is the fall wine season. Our preferred grocery store had issued a special flyer listing all the wines that would be available.

Will took his responsibilities seriously. Like a young boy with the Sears Wishbook, he sat down with the flyer, his Hachette guide and a fresh sharpie. His goal – find excellent wines at a reasonable price for us to sample.

There were several that he was excited about.

With the preparatory work complete, we headed off to the grocery. Will took the cart and started finding his wines, while I gathered our regular groceries. After a time, I rejoined Will. He has filled one paper box with six bottles of wine, our traditional way of bringing wine home. (We tend to avoid wine in plastic jugs.) He had several more bottles, so we needed a second box. Since he normally handles the wine duty, I was uncertain where to get the boxes. So we walked together to get a second box.

As we walked up to the area of the store with the wine cartons, the day turned from good to fantastic. The day became the day I will remember for a very long time. The day became…. the day I found the reusable wine shopping bag!

I had spied other shoppers for months with various reusable wine shopping bags. I had coveted, from a distance, their awesome compartments that keep wine (and olive oil) separate and safe. Oh, how I had wanted one!

It is unclear how long the bags had been available. Apparently, I had not effectively communicated my desire to my life-partner, as he was shocked and amused by my joy.

While I was gushing over my new bag, he was eyeing the wooden crates used to store and display most of the wine. He wanted a box – oh, how he wanted one of those boxes!

We continued strolling the aisles when we saw an empty wine crate, just sitting there – practically begging to become part of the Bakker storage system. Will asked the women working one of the wine tasting booths (yes, there were multiple wine tasting areas in the grocery store at 10:30 on a Saturday morning) if we could take it. She gave her blessing and off we went, with our very own crate!

And a second, smaller crate that Will grabbed at the last moment. But we needed both, since he found a bottle or two……

I think we are set for a winter of fine wine tasting. Plus, I now know where I can find the perfect Christmas gift for everyone. You too will love the reusable wine shopping bag – it’s the best thing ever!

By the way, this Sunday is Mantelsonndeg — also a remarkable shopping experience! Even if you aren’t in Luxembourg to get the full experience, you can still celebrate. The Bugle staff suggest the following family-friendly activities:

• Make an animal coat rack.
• Parents, check your closets to see if your child’s coat has a homicidal streak.
• Show the uppity Europeans how to roll really green with an up-cycled plastic coat.
• Begin a copycat coat-related crime-spree.
• Visit the Go Fug Yourself website, search for “coat” and laugh at the fashion choices of celebrities.
• Have a bit less snarky experience (but only a bit less) with Tom & Lorenzo.

But feeling safe and actually being safe are two different things. So, in the interest of learning as much as possible, I checked my usual online newspapers on Monday. The most prominent piece was in the Wall Street Journal. The article was reasonable in its tone, but the photo and video captions made be laugh. Not a “ha-ha” laugh: I was laughing at you, American newsmedia. You amuse me.

A screen grab of the article:

The first video caption reads “With armed soldiers patrolling under the Eiffel Tower in Paris, tourists seemed undeterred by the warning…..” Of course the tourists are undeterred — those soldiers are there EVERY DAY, all the time! I think their primary job is running off guys that are peddling the cheap Eiffel Tower statues. In fairness, the Journal did capture that aspect of the situation.

Still, to me, the picture with the Eiffel Tower statues is entirely unrealistic. First, the guy pushing the vacation tchotchkes memories would have scooped them up and gone running before the soldiers arrived. That shot was totally set up by the photographer.

For a more realistic view, here are our photos around the Eiffel Tower from September 2009. (Please keep in mind that we weren’t trying to capture soldiers in the original photos. They were so common that they were just included in the frame of some of the photos we took last year.) Click on the photos for full-size versions.

Soldier on patrol underneath the Eiffel Tower; Champs de Mars in the background

Peddlers underneath the Eiffel Tower

Why are they running?

I mean “soldier” in the broadest sense. There are many different police forces in France, almost all with militarized components.

Peddlers relax at “home base” just across the street from the Tower — on this day, it really looked like a half-hearted game of tag.

But wait! There’s more! The Eiffel Tower isn’t the only Paris landmark that the Journal dug up.

To anyone that spends time in Paris, the caption is totally misleading: “French soldiers patrol around the Louvre museum in Paris, Sunday.” Guess what, WSJ? The soldiers patrol around the Louvre EVERY DAY. We were just in Paris in September and we were at the Louvre a bunch. And we saw those guys all the time. Those soldiers may be patrolling on Sunday, but not due to any new alert from the US.

Voilà: our photos from early September of this year. Pretty much the same patrol.

But the part about the whole thing that I really appreciate is the fact that the State Department is warning travelers. Tuesday’s WSJ:

The knowledge that, on average, some 100,000 Americans are traveling in Europe at any one time also factored into U.S. decision-making, said the counterterrorism official.

What about those of us living here? Are we not a concern? At least the Canadians care about us:

I mean, there are only 1.2 million of us over here. Perhaps we should focus on that, along with the 100,000 that are traveling? However, not one article that I have read in our beloved American press has thought to point that little nugget.

I suppose the American press is focusing on those who are reading their newspapers and watching their television shows. That would make perfect sense — except I pulled all the WSJ information above from the European edition. Thanks for caring, my English-language “local” press.

Culture consists, in part, of the customs that you take for granted. So we know that we’re adapting to European culture (or Western European or French-inflected or whatever) when we’re surprised by how things are done in the good ole USA. Some more examples: You know you’ve settled into a European state of mind when…

• You find it unspeakably rude when, at a restaurant, your server brings you the check before you ask for it.
• “Of course it’s a topless beach. Why not?”
• You are uncomfortable when someone takes your credit card out of your sight.
• You get frustrated at having to sign a bill for small purchases with your credit card.
• You are excited to find a parking space within a quarter-mile of your destination.

We think of these little differences several times a week, and we’ll post more in the future. Guests of the B&B, what seemed alien to you about daily life in Ireland and Luxembourg?

The BBB&B favorite guide Rick had a walk through Baden-Baden that hit all the major (and some of the minor) sights. The photoset will take you through the details, but I thought I would give you a preview of some of the lovely things.

Blooming flower beds

Beautiful buildings

Snacks!

And, of course, sun and smiles

After we finished Rick’s walk, we decided we could use a short break and possibly a light refreshment. We found a lovely place near the river which seemed to be perfect – in the sun, with good beers and wines and a nice atmosphere.

It wasn’t long, though, before some deep, dark and menacing clouds floated above. The Ladies of Baden-Baden had a decision to make: stay at our table under the umbrella or make a run for it through the gentle rain. As we were debating the decision, large drops of rain started to fall – in earnest. It was an outrageous downpour. Under our umbrella we were safe and dry, but had we tried to leave we would have been soaked through instantly. Jaime took a long look at the rain and declared it a “tantrum.” She was confident that the weather, much like a difficult two-year-old, was simply throwing a fit. She predicted a quick end to such terrible weather. Sharon and I had faith in her declaration and we decided to wait out the rain – with a second drink and a delicious lunch!

Jaime was right. Within 20 minutes the rain had spent itself, much like an exhausted toddler. The clouds passed and we were again left with a sunny sky and a beautiful day. The only lingering down-side was our abuse of the word tantrum for the rest of the visit. But it wouldn’t be a road trip without a little tantrum, now would it?

After our long repast, we finally ventured to the car. We headed into the Black Forest for a while, before turning towards Luxembourg. Will was happy to see us arrive safely home, with a plan to stay local for a few days. Next up: exploring Luxembourg!

[Ed. note: As expected, we haven't even gotten the May photos and posts up before our 4 July deadline. The staff continues to be "under water" from dealing with necessary business travel, World Cup games and holiday parties. The remainder of July looks promising for the staff to get caught up on some of the outstanding items, unless the Netherlands wins the World Cup. If that occurs the staff makes no promises as to when you'll see a cruise photo. Hup Holland!]

But not for long! We had one weekend to “turn” the guest room for Sharon and Jaime, our friends who were making a second trip to see us. In order to make the most of their visit, we decided on a three phase approach: I would pick them up in Frankfurt on Friday and the three ladies would enjoy a Germany weekend. We would return to Luxembourg on Sunday night and I would return to work on Monday, allowing three days of Luxembourg sight-seeing with Will. Since most of Europe had a holiday on the Thursday of their visit, I would faire le pont, which meant we could go to Bruges, Belgium. In their 10 day visit, we packed in five countries and a lot of sight-seeing.

My hope is to get caught up on photos from their visit — and our Greek Island adventure — before the 4th of July (which means we will clear the backlog by Labor Day). Wish us luck! Today, I will tell you about the first part of our Germany adventure: Munich and the castles.

Day 1 – The airport and Munich

After a short delay, both Sharon and Jaime had arrived and we were able to escape the airport. The drive from Frankfurt to Munich is about four hours, which was enough time for some short naps for the travelers. Since we were in Munich for a brief time, we did exactly what you must do when you only have one night in Munich: you drink!

We started our adventure at the Viktualienmarkt. We wandered a bit, taking pictures of the Maypole before settling in for a snack and a beer.

Even though they were jet lagged and groggy, the travelers did great. Beer count: 0.5L each for Jaime and Sharon

Next up was the Hofbräuhaus, a required stop for all tourists in Munich. We enjoyed the Bavarian meats and spätzle, plus the great beers. After dinner, the lack of sleep (or the amount of beer) was beginning to get to both travelers, so we called it a night. While we barely saw Munich, we enjoyed our time tremendously. Beer count: 0.5L for Sharon and 1L for Jaime.

Munich beer total: 1L for Sharon and 1.5L for Jaime. Well done!

Day 2 – The Castles and Austria

Saturday morning found all of us well-rested and bright-eyed. Our plan for the day: drive to the village of Hohenschwangau and attempt to visit both Hohenschwangau Castle and Newschwanstein Castle, time permitting.

We found Hohenschwangau without trouble. After a quick check of the time, we purchased tickets for both castles, with a visit first to the older, smaller castle of Hohenschwangau and then to the newer and larger Newschwanstein. We even had enough time for some photos between the two castles.

A taste of what we saw:




After our afternoon of castles, we had just enough time to “dip our toe” into Austria before turning north to our end of day destination: Baden-Baden. We were on a schedule, as we had to check into our hotel by 9pm. What we didn’t realize is that the GPS assumed we would drive the normal speed of 120-130 kpm. I’ve found I am comfortable on German roads at a much greater speed…. and we burned a full 30 minutes off our travel time over the original estimate. I’ll take your guesses in the comments at my average and maximum speeds during our time in Germany…..

For more photos, take a look at the photoset!

Coming soon: Baden-Baden and tantrums!

But what I didn’t realize until about a week ago: we will not be counted in the census. Intellectually, I understand the reasoning. We don’t live in the US. Why should we be counted in the US numbers? But emotionally – I don’t want to be left out!

The fact that we will miss being in a census count could be important – not today or tomorrow, but 50 or 100 years from now. Recently, we have been working on a genealogy project for both sides of the family. (Mostly Will’s work.) The census data from the early 1900s was a treasure trove of information. My heart is a little sad to know that, for 2010, I will not exist from a US perspective.

Perhaps I’m being over maudlin from the long winter and I just need spring to come. For all our friends and family in the US, please remember that the census is important. Take it seriously and return those forms — the due date is this week!

The dog in question is an adult labradoodle, and he is a very well-behaved and friendly companion for walks and playing catch.

There are dog parks all over Luxembourg City, but they are the kind of muddy, befouled mess you’d expect for early spring. Still, it was great fun to play catch without a leash.

Our friend lives atop a hill in Belair, so we’ve seen two beautiful sunsets as we walked Sylvester between the rain-showers. Someone else has Sylvester until Friday, but then we’ll have three days with him.

Any ideas on how to amuse ourselves with our new friend?

So I challenge you, Bugle Nation, to pay attention to building exits over the next few days. See if my defense of self holds true: It’s not that I’m slow, it is that I have been culturally trained to push a door open when exiting.

TRAFFIC WARNING
Drivers are being urged to avoid travelling this week-end if at all possible. The start of the half-term holidays means heavy traffic as families head off for winter-sports breaks. The ACL says people should leave on Friday morning if they can or wait for Sunday. The combination of heavy traffic and difficult driving conditions, could make for extremely long journeys, especially for those headed for the Alps.

Other traffic-related news

LONG COMMUTES
The average commuting time for people working in Luxembourg is 37 minutes. A study of 13 different European countries by the Regus Group puts the Grand Duchy ahead of all the others when it comes to long journeys to and from work. The study revealed that 15% of commuters here were sick of spending so long travelling and would actively consider changing jobs to avoid it.

ROAD SAFETY VIGILANTES
Three men beat up a motorist on the A13 motorway late on Saturday. They forced him to stop near Bascharage by overtaking him and blocking him. They then wrenched his car door open and pulled him out, beating him up and leaving him on the verge. The victim told the police they seemed to be upset about something wrong with his brake lights. The police have not been able to trace the attackers.

The Bugle would like to take this opportunity to remind all motorists to check their lights: brake, indicator, headlights and fog lamps.

Less traffic-related news

KNIFE ATTACK
A knife-wielding robber attacked a delivery truck driver in the early hours of Saturday morning in Esch. He climbed into the cab of the vehicle and tried, but failed to steal the driver’s coat before fleeing. The driver got out and gave chase, but the robber turned back and stabbed him in the stomach. The attacker is described as being young, tall, of African heritage and dressed like a rapper.

Paraphrasing Mr Weedon on Radio ARA: Which rapper? Was he without a shirt, like 50 Cent, or wearing gold chains? Track suit bottoms, or Jay-Z Armani? Maybe the police could use some high-tech tools to clarify the issue.

DOG RESCUE
The fire service rescued a stranded dog at the week-end. It had got stuck half way down a cliff in the Rollingergrund, and had ended up taking refuge in a small cave. Walkers noticed at and called the fire service, who were able to reach the dog with their ladders. The dog was unharmed by its ordeal.

No kidding: Will almost got stuck half-way down a cliff in Rollingergrund recently. That’s a photo from his autumn stroll over hill and dale.

CASH MACHINE CON
Tricksters are out and about again in the capital, this time targeting people at cash machines. They tell people that they have left a 20 Euro note in a machine that they had just used. Then they advise them to check their account in case the machine had issued more money than requested, and while the victim is distracted, they steal the card and claim the machine has retained it.

MYSTERY ABDUCTION
A young man was abducted near the station in the capital yesterday morning. He was walking with his girlfriend when a car stopped to talk to him. One of the passengers then got out and bundled him into the car, which sped off. His girlfriend ran to the nearby police station, and they put out an international alert for the car, which was registered in France. Belgian police picked it up around an hour later near Athus. The victim was freed without harm, and the two kidnappers arrested. Police say they can’t yet completely explain the background for the kidnapping.

As usual, our main source for news is ARA City Radio’s useful website. That’s mostly because Will doesn’t get around to translating the French sources in time for these updates. Let’s go, Will!

Next, Will managed to connect Australia and some of south east Asia to the main section.

Some puzzle work escaped the all-seeing eye of the camera. As you can see, Europe, most of Asia and Africa came together too quickly for Will to grab a snapshot.

We must admit that the puzzle has some “cheats” because each piece has a number and an arrow pointing to a neighboring piece. We do believe that the oceans would be nearly impossible without these aids. Here is a view of the inside of the puzzle.

We were able to get most of the land masses connected, giving us what we briefly called “the Pac-Man world”:

At this point, the puzzleball was sturdy enough that we used the stand to hold it up.

Will’s own challenge was the Pacific Ocean. So while I finished the little bits here and there, Will filled out the Pacific.

And then it was time. We had the Pacific ready to attach to the rest of the puzzle.

We thought it would be easy! We were wrong.

We will spare you the 45 photos and 10 minutes of video. It was a lot more difficult than I expected to get it all in there. Finally, between the two of us, we got it together.

We love our puzzleball! It is really sturdy once you get it together. I appreciate having a globe in the house, as it give you a much different perspective of county/continent sizes. Most maps don’t do the southern hemisphere justice.

Hearty recommendations for the puzzleball from this house. Ravensburger had a ton of designs — not just globes. Perhaps you and your sweetie could have a Valentines day challenge!

Filed under “Overkill”

HELICOPTER NAILS SHOPLIFTER
The police helicopter was in action in Ingeldorf on Saturday afternoon. It was hunting down a man who’d stolen a shell suit from a local shop. He had run off after staff noticed him trying to smuggle the stolen gear out of the shop in a black bag. He was eventually tracked down hiding behind a hedge in a barnyard, and is facing charges of shoplifting.

The follow-up story, filed under “CYA”

WE WILL NEVER KNOW
The Police say their helicopter was not called to track down a man who stole a shell suit in Ingeldorf at the week-end. Reports in the media caused uproar at the cost of using a helicopter for such a small theft. According to the police, the helicopter was in the area anyway on other business so they deployed it at only a marginal cost. The police did not however reveal why they had the helicopter out in the area in the first place.

And, in other news:

PECHERTEN SUPPORT NEW LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS
The trade union representing traffic wardens, or Pecherten as they are known here, says its members could play a vital broader role in policing. The government has wanted to extend their powers to cover minor criminality such as vandalism for some time. But the council of state recently rejected the government’s proposals. Pecherten representatives from the FGFC public sector workers union yesterday urged the government to continue to push the legislation through. They pointed to the success of legislation extending the powers of traffic wardens in Switzerland, freeing up the police to deal with more serious crime.

FIRE IN THE PALACE
The was a fire in the Royal Palace yesterday afternoon [2 February]. Part of the building had to be evacuated while the fire brigade tackled the blaze. The cause of it was a broken washing machine in the basement of the building. The fire caused little damage but heavy clouds of smoke meant the fire brigade had to use breathing apparatus to get into the cellar.

FARM FIRE AT CHRISTNACH
A huge fire at a farm in Christnach has destroyed a barn full of hay and several surrounding buildings. Over 40 firemen and women were needed to get it under control. [Bugle: Outside Luxembourg-Ville, Luxembourgish firefighters are volunteers.] No one was hurt in the blaze. The fire started early yesterday afternoon, and the cause of it is as yet not known.

WHEN COWS ATTACK…..
And in a bad week for farmers, a woman had to be treated for injuries to her chest and shoulder caused by one of her cows. The 600kg beast panicked and ran over the top of her as she was trying to back it into a stall. The cow took leave of its senses at around midnight on Wednesday in Eshdorf.

At several social functions during our recent visit to the US, my spouse Will told a somewhat humorous story involving the shooting of a movie in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland. I would like to address my remarks on those occasions.

In the course of his story, Will sometimes speculated that the movie being shot may have been Leap Year and cited evidence to support that guess. In most cases, I ridiculed this conjecture, claiming that the timing was impossible.

Recently, ads promoting Leap Year have appeared on local television. In response, I indulged my curiosity regarding the movie and its making.

I discovered that Will’s adventure in County Wicklow did, indeed correspond with some dates that filming occured in Ireland, generally. Thus, it is at least possible that Will’s hypothesis was correct.

I regret any impression of implausibility that I may have generated regarding that hypothesis. I also have deep regret for having deprived Will’s listeners of the pleasure of a story untainted by my commentary.

In all good faith,
Anita