Objective Number One: Ride the big swings!

We loved the swings, especially the spinning view over Luxembourg. I think it was better than the Ferris wheel, although it requires a stronger stomach (and a warm jacket).

But wait, what’s the La Liberté doing? Looks more like La Libertine if you ask me. And since when is there a male version of the Statue of Liberty? Maybe one of Bartholdi’s men decided to visit the United States in mufti. Or this is a metaphor for intercultural appreciation. Any ideas?

There were comical representations of American culture all over the rides. It’s my favorite part of the fair — for cultural value, even better than the sex games and the beer gardens.

This year, we got a massive six-story waterfall as part of the water rides area. This is Luxembourg, so it was about 50°F — but that didn’t seem to make the splashing water any less attractive to the masses. Not us, no way!

The food is at least as important as the attractions, especially when the Jean La Gaufre is serving the Best Wafels in the World, with a VIP Room no less!

You can have your waffle plain, or loaded with whipped cream and strawberries (fraises). There’s chocolate sauce, too — and a gelato stand with a great Belgian chocolate flavor.

To assure us of their authenticity, there were several copies of the Manneken-Pis adorning the Jean La Gaufre stand, including one that periodically drenched the crowds walking by.

We’re becoming more Luxembourgish all the time, so we were sure to meet friends at one of the fair’s restaurants, to partake of the traditional meal of whole fish. (Alas, we have no idea what kind of fish it is.)

There are a few more photos (of things other than fish heads) in a new photoset, so be sure to click on over to Flickr.

If you’re looking for more, the Schueberfouer website is super media-savvy, with dozens of videos and a massive number of photographs. I can’t help kibitzing, though: Be prepared for a visual assault of bad website design (and turn down the volume if you’re at work — random sounds may be built into the webpages).

When I see an ad for a one-day sale, I assume it’s little more than a scam to create false urgency.

Oh, there’s Black Friday, of course. (And Woot, I guess.) But even the post-holiday sales have been lackluster for years. The upcoming Labor Day sales seem more like an excuse for lazy advertising than a real chance to score a bargain.

“Not so, in Luxembourg,” I was told, by several Luxembourgers. “You must go to the Braderie on Monday. Stuff is really cheap. All the stores will have bargains.” All the stores? You mean that they cooperate and all have sales on the same day? “Yes,” they said, “It’s always the same. Go to the Ville-Haute.”

The Braderie isn’t such a bizarre idea. Say you’re a shopkeeper in the city center, selling nice women’s clothes and competing with the big box stores on the periphery. “I’ll have a sale,” you think. “I’ll put a bunch of my stock out on the sidewalk, at really good prices.”

But how to bring in the shoppers? In any given week, only a small proportion of Luxembourgers will walk past your shop. Advertising helps a little, but will people make a special trip just to see your overstock? Plus, this is Luxembourg — it will probably rain. Who would come then?

The answer: Everyone will come, if they know that every store in a walkable area will have a sale. Especially if the food shops serve inexpensive beer, champagne and sausages on the street. And if, on that day, you’re bound to encounter friends and family from all over the country, because they want high fashion and cheap food, too.

It’s just a matter of picking that day. And one day for that, in Luxembourg, is the second Monday of Schueberfouer. (It’s not the only one. There’s also New Coat Sunday.)

Fortunately, it wasn’t raining when I visited the shops of the city center this Monday. (If you’d like a multimedia experience, LesFrontaliers.lu has a video report in French.) There were thousands of people strolling among the tents on the streets. There were banks and charitable foundations and radio stations and newspaper publishers, giving away gewgaws and handing out brochures. There were lots of signs announcing markdowns of 60% and 80%. The big shops, like M&S, didn’t seem as committed to the idea, but hardly any stores appeared to be doing business as usual.

It’s a good thing, this Braderie. Sure, it’s materialistic and all that, but it’s the most civic-minded One-Day Sale I’ve ever seen.

I didn’t buy anything. I didn’t really need anything that was on sale, which was mostly women’s clothing and shoes anyway. I don’t think one goes to Braderie expecting to find something in particular, and I wasn’t in a browsing mood. But I don’t think the shopkeepers of the city center were depending on me, this Monday.

By the way, this tradition — which strongest in Lille, but also exists in Belgium and the Netherlands — is thought to originate centuries ago in the Middle Ages, naturellement.

Lots of news from the Luxembourgish Department of Obviousness

CEPS/Instead has been conducting a survey into attitudes to immigrants. For the first time they’ve looked to see if men and women have different feelings about migrants here, and also what immigrants themselves think of other immigrants. The survey found that both men and women are equally concerned over the impact of immigrants on Luxembourg society. Immigrant men and women worry that more immigration will mean more competition for jobs. Indigenous men and women seem more worried about their impact on social security and crime figures. But second generation immigrants seem to start sharing the concerns of the indigenous population the longer they live here.

And in another important piece of social research, National Statistics Bureau STATEC has discovered that wealthy people are generally happy. Researchers say people with high incomes feel better about life than those who struggle financially. 94% of people in the survey’s top income bracket said they satisfied with their life. Only 71% of the poorest surveyed said things were going their way. But its not just about money, the researchers say. They also found that the more educated a respondent was, the more likely they were to feel positive about life.

Unions and Employers: Fighting together against change

Unions and Employers have joined forces to condemn proposed legislation to prevent harassment at work. LSAP deputy Lucien Lux has been trying to get his legislation adopted for nearly 9 years. He says there must be a legal framework to prevent harassment in the workplace. But unions and employers say they have already implemented a voluntary code of practice concerning harassment, and legislation isn’t necessary. They want to see how well self-regulation works for 5 years before deciding on any other measures.

Campaigners say self-regulation isn’t good enough to protect employees against harassment. Last week, a coalition of unions and employers were lobbying the government to scrap proposed legislation to outlaw harassment at work. They say an agreement they have come to should be given a chance to work. But a support group for victims of harassment says the agreement doesn’t afford enough protection for staff at small and medium enterprises. They also say the agreement between unions and management lacks clear definitions of what constitutes harassment.

All criminals are international criminals in Luxembourg

A jewellery dealer was robbed yesterday afternoon near Redange. He’d just finished an appointment at a shop there and was in his car when he noticed a dark Audi A4 with a flashing blue light on its roof behind him. The driver of the Audi indicated he should pull over and stop. Thinking it was the police, the man stopped, only for a masked man to jump out of the fake police car and demand he hand over all his jewellery at gunpoint. The fake police car then fled in the direction of Bastogne with a valuable haul of gold. Police are appealing for witnesses. The dealer had to be treated for shock.

…and you’d better make it across that border

A man was spotted pinching 6 bottles of Cognac from a delivery truck in the Grand Rue yesterday morning. When a witness approached the thief, he cursed her before fleeing. He didn’t get to enjoy his booty though, because he was picked up minutes later by a police patrol.

All politics is international in Luxembourg

The Saarland business confederation, the VSU, has bit back at Jean-Claude Juncker’s critique of German wage policy. Last week, Mr Juncker said low wages in Germany were causing problems for companies in other countries. VSU president Joachim Malter said German companies had won customers globally because of their excellent products and first class service. He added that Luxembourg, with a business model built on low taxes on savings accounts and banking secrecy was in no position to lecture other countries on how to run their economies. Mr Malter also said that Mr Juncker was being economical with the truth when he said millions of Germans take home less that 700 euros a month. This data relates to part-time workers, something the Luxembourg prime minister failed to mention.

Take care driving around Luxembourg

There was a slew of driving incidents at the week-end, even by local standards Two Belgian cars were stopped on the way to the Stausee on Saturday. Both had two more people than permitted on board. The police fined the drivers, but agreed to take the 4 extra people in their minibus to the lake. Another man from Belgium was booked twice for drunk driving on Saturday. He was picked up in Sanem on the A13 in the early hours of the morning. He failed a breath test and had his license taken away. His car was left in Rodange station car park. Ninety minutes later police found him back in his car in Rodange. He has lost his car as well as his license now. A driver rammed a police car while trying to evade a checkpoint in Leudelange on Saturday night. He continued on his way but was picked up at his home later and arrested. A man in Petange was spotted reversing around a roundabout before he tested positive. And in Ettelbrück a drunk driver was picked up parked in the middle of the road, fast asleep at his steering wheel on Sunday morning.

Good news for Oktoberfest

There will be an extra two flights a day to Munich from Luxembourg once the winter timetable comes into force. Lufthansa’s City Line subsidiary will operate the flights. Luxair already flies three times daily to the capital of Bavaria. Munich airport is an popular intercontinental gateway for passengers starting their journey in Luxembourg.

Tough old ladies: not just a comic sketch!

An elderly lady drove off a mugger on Monday by hitting him with her walking stick. The young man tried to grab her handbag in the Rue Dicks in the early evening. The feisty old woman however managed to land several hits on him with the stick before he abandoned his assault. Two passers-by also got involved and attacked the young man too. He eventually broke free and ran off down the Avenue de la Liberte. Police are appealing for witnesses.

Try to wrap your mind around a tradition that old. More than 30 generations.

As an ex-pat, I’m interested in looking at it from the perspective of cultural integration — or how long it takes to be considered a native. Consider the Daughters of the American Revolution, who have surely been in North America long enough to be considered well-integrated. Yet each of the white DAR members today can only trace her family’s presence in North America back through about 10 generations. So let’s say that a family that stays in the same area for 10 generations is not exactly a far-flung gypsy clan. More like local nobility — or land-bound serfs — but surely local.

Consider what that means for the Schueberfouer. A merchant at the first Schueberfouer could have migrated to Eastern Europe, founded a village there, and his family could have stayed in that village for as long as the USA has existed. Then, one of his descendants could have married a traveler and moved to Ireland. Her family could have lived in a town in Ireland for 10 generations before the upheavals of the 18th Century drove one of her descendants to the American colonies. And then one of her descendants could be a DAR member today, visiting Luxembourg during a summer trip on the family money.

The entire time, the Schueberfouer has been an annual event in roughly the same spot. (But no roller-coasters until the 20th Century, or for about one-tenth of its history.)

Anticipation is growing among the residents of Luxembourg that we know, life-long and short-term alike. Some people are looking forward to the hubbub of the outdoor beer gardens. Others, the giant Ferris wheel that takes you high above the city.

To get you ready for the Schueberfouer, we’ve posted photos from our visit to the fair last year. Enjoy the photoset, but be warned that some photos may not be safe for work (i.e. NSFW). The phrase “family fun event” means something slightly different in Luxembourg than in the US.

First up, the Bruxelles-Spa stage, which was the first day of a real bloodbath that set the tone of the Tour until it reached the Alps. Here’s the link to the slideshow, which includes thorough notes on the drama of the day. (If you don’t see the descriptions, click on “Show Info” in the top-right corner.)

A 90 minute drive brought my companions and me to a wet and windy spot in Basse-Bodeux, Belgium.

The spectators are part of the fun, of course — as are giveaways like polka-dot caps. But it was a miserable, rainy day.

It look a little while for the cyclists to arrive, but there was a race, too!

As usual, some photos didn’t make the cut — but you can still see them in the leftovers photoset.
Finally, a cheer for Andy Schleck, who lost the yellow jersey today under unfortunate circumstances.
Go, Schleck go!
Speakers of Luxembourgish, please correct me when I attempt to say:
Dajee Andy, weider sou!

Luxembourg’s national holiday began, in the 19th Century, as a celebration of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg’s birthday. From the start, however, it was rarely celebrated on the reigning monarch’s actual birthday. The current date, June 23, was fixed in a national act of pragmatism. In 1961, both Grand Duchess Charlotte and Heir Apparent Jean had January birthdays. The weather in January was sure to put a damper on any celebrations. So it was decreed that June 23 (Grand Duchess Charlotte’s half-birthday) would be the National Holiday. And so it remained, although Grand Duke Henri’s birthday is in the relatively pleasant month of April.

The day of June 23 is reserved for formal, somber ceremonies. The Grand Ducal family, government ministers, and ambassadors celebrate a Te Deum at the national cathedral, followed by a military parade.

Tonight, the Grand Duke makes his way to Luxembourg City to attend the torchlit procession (and to ignore, benevolently, the antics of his subjects).

[Editor's Note: Sharon is a founding member of the Friends of the Bugle. Due to our recent crisis in content-generation, the Bugle's editors foresee an expanded role for Friends of the Bugle. To learn more about this exciting development, please contact us!]

I was a guest of the Bakker Bugle B&B just a few weeks ago. I could tell you how much fun we had traveling & enjoying time with our friends & their hospitality, as well as Belgium beers, wine, and food, but instead here is a snippet of what Will & I did one day……

We decided to walk around the city center in Luxembourg City, then the crazies came out… but this isn’t about them…it’s about us. We strolled through the park near the B&B and found a fading smiley face.

Minutes later, a strange girl handed us a free hat & pen without so much as a credit card application. As we walked farther, we saw a balloon plaza with the same emblazoned emblem of TANGO. Not only is it my favorite dance, but also a communications company in Europe. But this was no ordinary balloon….it was gigantic & Helium filled!!

Our two magnificent balloons were tied to my purse & I proceeded to carry them for at least the next hour. Wind, sharp street signs, tree branches, French tourists, crowds tried to deter me from goal, which was to arrive home safely with balloons intact — for my joy & the delight of others.

On our last stop before home…..I decided to sit for a minute on the new space-saucer-shaped bench. To my dismay Will continued to snap photos….which resulted in a stop-animation/ short-French inspired
film that I like to call Balloons Bleu.

I have to say I was really impressed with the outcome…. it was way more entertaining than my accidental digital shorts which were odd but funny. [Ed. - Thanks to FotoosVanRobin and Atelier Vanessa Maurer for the CC-licensed photos.] Click on the image below to see the award-winning compilation.

So what were the balloons for? Pure enjoyment and the promotion of the advertisers for the night marathon… but more about that later.

Here are some additional topics for further blog posts on my trip to Luxembourg. I’ll write more based on popular demand….

1. Homonyms and other problems when trying to speak English
2. Can cheese really be too stinky?
3. What’s wrong with day old croissants?
4. Hoegaarden is not what it sounds like
5. How much wine is too much?
6. What’s wrong with a nightmare-athon?
7. I never knew that Anita was a cat person!
8. Tantrum! Tripoint! Tantrum!
9. 1 flush 2 flush, red flush, blue flush
10. Land pirates!
11. Ducks are great but swans are evil spawns of satan.

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?

Our guests in Ireland would sometimes visit, in the same day or two, three important Irish sites: Kilmainham Gaol (1796-1923 CE), Newgrange at Brú na Bóinne (3500-3200 BCE), and the Guinness Storehouse (2000-present).

Even the most historically aware tourists had trouble grasping the time periods involved: what was going on other places, how long monuments were originally used, and how long it took civilizations to change.

To help visualize the things we talk about on this blog (and in person at the B&B), we are proud to announce the beta version of our timeline.

It has some unusual technical requirements, so it lives on its own page. You can find it at http://bakkerbugle.com/timeline/timelineParallels.html.

Comments are warmly welcomed, and we’ll be tweaking it over the next few weeks. Also, we’d really appreciate a snappy name for the thing.

We’re often unclear on the numbers, particularly with respect to non-native residents. You can imagine my delight, then, when I found the following article, “Luxembourg: A City of 156 nationalities,” in 352 Luxembourg Magazine, the leading English-language weekly in Luxembourg.

The article’s origin is the multilingual news site, news352.lu. Due to their gracious permission, I will quote the entire article, which was written by Adam Walder:

There is no doubt, the capital of Luxembourg is an extremely cosmopolitan city. According to the mayor of Luxembourg the City has no fewer than 156 different nationalities. In total, foreign residents are even more than native Luxembourgers.

91,857. This is the figure released this morning, that has been doing the rounds, and a figure that Luxembourg’s mayor Paul Helminger, is particularly proud of.

This is the figure for the number of inhabitants in the capital in late 2009. A great leap forward, since the population was 89,907 in late 2008. “12,000 arrivals a year, it’s huge!” Exclaimed the delighted mayor. To this figure the internal migration must also be added to the City. 7,000 people have simply changed neighbourhoods.

“Luxembourg is a highly mobile city” continues to brag Paul Helminger which highlights the fact that in 2009 there were more births than deaths (1,099 against 635).

Many Portuguese and French

The most striking information released is the percentage of foreign residents: over 64% of the total population is of foreign nationality. Among the most represented countries are the obvious ones with 13,990 Portuguese and 12,536 French. They are mainly located in Bonnevoie or Kirchberg.

The residents of Luxembourg nationality however are much less likely to live in the capital: they represent only 35% of the total population. “We have noticed, even since 2007, that the population figure of Luxembourg nationality has increased slightly” stated Paul Helminger.

The voting problem

A big dilemma is noticed when you look at the number of residents of Luxembourg City registered to vote. There are 223 non-Luxembourgish voters less than in 2008. “This is probably due to migration movements” the mayor said adding “but an effort must be made. I can not imagine running a city with more than 60% foreigners, and they can not vote! ”

I think this is a great presentation of the numbers, and a bit of local perspective on their implications. Thanks again to Mr Walder and news352.lu for their good work.

Reference: Walder, Adam. (24 Feb 2010). Luxembourg: A City of 156 nationalities. Retrieved from http://hello.news352.lu/index.php?p=edito&id=24320

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.

We spent all day Sunday marveling at the fierce, steady winds and violent gusts that battered our apartment. We didn’t know if it was just an ordinary spring storm, experienced from a fourth-floor apartment, or something else. Since we didn’t venture out, the worst we saw were up-ended satellite dishes, some flying tree branches, and a few trashcans blown over. From our perspective, it was as threatening as a bad summertime storm in Chicago, without the lashing rain or thunder, but also with damaging winds for a much longer period.

We woke up this morning to a news report on Radio ARA that named the storm “Xynthia” and listed dozens of closed roads all over Luxembourg.

Roads were blocked in over 50 different places over the week-end as the storm depression Xynthia brought gale force winds to Luxembourg. The rescue services were called out on over 750 occasions as the storm wreaked havoc in the Grand Duchy. Flights from Findel Airport were also disrupted by the high winds, which were at times very close to hurricane levels, topping out at 110 km/h. 15 hikers who had ignored warnings to stay indoors had to be rescued from the woods. 4 people have been injured by flying debris. And the Sûre river in Diekirch has risen above critical levels.

Now we know that the storm was quite serious indeed, especially in western France.

From news sources:

• BBC report, photo gallery
• BBC’s collection of reports on the ground
• Overview from Boston Globe
• German coverage

For fans of weather images:

• Large still image of Xynthia
• Video of Xynthia’s approach on YouTube
• Time-lapse of Xynthia over Europe

The damage and loss of life doesn’t approach the recent disasters in Chile, Madeira and Haiti. We’re mentioning the storm for its local interest alone.

• A very large PDF (more than 50 megabytes), also visible as a slideshow at the link
• A small PDF (with lower graphics quality)
• A photoset of the book’s pages on Flickr (best to watch as a slideshow)

We also made a teacher’s guide (PDF) with more information about most of the photos.

Finally, we’re building a photoset on Flickr with more photos than we could include in the booklet. The BCGCU 3000 is still balky, so check in later this weekend to see more photos and better descriptions.

We spent most of our time trying to find good signs at the borders, so we have an odd collection of “sights” around the Luxembourg area. We didn’t go to many of the pretty or historically meaningful attractions, but that actually made the tour very interesting for us. Anyway, it’s difficult to make even Little Switzerland look good on a gray and rainy day in February.

We’d like to share some of our photos and a few observations. Hopefully, we’ll be able to give it the full Bugle treatment before long!

The first sign that we’d arrived in Diekirch were pedestrians in coordinated costumes. But the parade’s been underway for an hour… hey, guys, hurry up!

We found the parade route with no problem. Our first sight was a marching band. Okay, looks good.

The first float featured a homemade confetti shooter. Nicely done, gentlemen. We would learn that confetti is one of the pillars of the Diekirch Cavalcade.

I shouted, “Anita, look! It’s Obelix and Asterix!” She broke my heart this Valentine’s Day by responding, “Who?”

I can’t read it, but I’m pretty sure this group had something to say about the plans to close the Diekirch brewery.

Now you’re seeing more of the spirit of the Cavalcade.

Most floats focused on one clear joke or commentary on recent events. Voici, the swine-flu pandemic.

From what we could tell, every float must be (1) pulled by a large farm tractor, and (2) equipped with a keg.

The evidence points to this: each and every DJ residing within 20km of Diekirch is compelled to lend sound equipment to a float, and serve as keg-master during the Cavalcade.

One great feature of the Cavalcade is that about half the spectators are dressed in crazy costumes.

Maybe the culture gap is much wider than I thought, but it looked to me like the dominant theme of the spectators’ costumes was, “Well, this looks bizarre and make no sense at all. I am fabulous!”

The donkey is the mascot of the city of Diekirch, so gussied-up donkeys figured prominently in many floats.

Really, there’s not much more to say, but plenty to see. We’ll work on a more thorough report when the sun stops shining here.

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!

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.

Here’s the best description we can find, courtesy ARA City Radio here in Luxembourg and prepared by the ever-entertaining and informative Mark Weedon:

It’s the feast of St Blaise today or Candelmas. There’s a local tradition that children go out with lanterns this evening and sing songs on doorsteps. The point is that they are wishing you good health for the rest of the year and you are supposed to reciprocate with sweets or money. Modern children are likely to be rather disappointed if you hand out bacon and peas, which is actually what their asking for in the song.

I remember celebrating the Feast of St Blaise in my Catholic grammar school: It was always cold, and we lined up on the playground so that the parish priest could cross two candles across our necks. As I recall, it was to keep us from choking. Weedon said, on air this morning, that Candelmas is more about sore throats. St Blaise must be the Saint of Necks in General.

If your curiosity is not sated:

• A general account of Candelmas
• The Catholic Encyclopedia on Candelmas
• The always-useful Wikipedia on Feb 2, the Presentation of Jesus

If children show up at our door tonight, you’ll be the first to know!

As it often happens with these things, the actual purchase of the globe was constantly delayed. The globe store had limited hours; I didn’t like the colors that I saw; and so on. Globes are expensive so I wanted my globe to be perfect.

Christmas 2009 arrived and I had not yet gotten around to buying a globe. Will was fed up with my antics and decided to take matters into his own hands. He reached into the interweb and, once again, found something to hold me until I find that perfect globe.

So I am now the proud owner of a Ravensburger Puzzleball. What he didn’t know was I had nearly bought the same thing a few weeks earlier! I saw it in a store in Luxembourg, but they only had the Puzzleball in German or French — and English names is one of my (many) requirements.

We opened it last night and started it. We had fun looking at the pieces, testing our geographic knowledge. (We don’t know much about islands and oceans.) We also found:

Chicago

Luxembourg (Look carefully!)

Ireland (and some of the British Isles)

I envisioned a quiet evening after work that would end with a nice little globe. I’ll admit that I didn’t realize how time-consuming the Puzzleball may turn out to be. There is a lot of ocean out there, kids.

We plan to keep you informed of our progress. I managed most of South America last night, but now we need to tackle the ocean around Antarctica before we can go any farther. Personally, I can’t wait to get to Russia as it will cover a lot of ground!

(Insert obligatory “I can see Russia from my house” joke here.)

SMOKING BAN TO BE EXTENDED
Health minister Mars di Bartolomeo says he’s considering extending the national smoking ban from restaurants to include bars and discos also. He said the government wanted to afford better protection to non-smokers who worked there. Mr Bartolomeo said the legislation would be brought into force next year and that objections would be ignored. He added that since a smoking ban in restaurants and workplaces was introduced in 2004, the number of smokers in the country had declined.

THIEF LOCKS HIMSELF UP
A young thief managed to lock himself in the supermarket he was robbing on Monday evening. The incident took place in the German town of Irrel, just over the border from Rosport. Having got into the supermarket through the main door, he allowed it to close behind him. He was then unable to open the inner entrance door and became stuck in the lobby of the store. Vigilant residents noticed him stuck there and called the police, who arrested him.

POLISH TRUCKS TAKEN
Thieves made off with two trucks from the Aire de Berchem on Monday night. The trucks, which came from Poland, were loaded with computers and monitors. Both drivers were in the shop at the service station when their trucks disappeared. They were both last seen headed for France. It’s the second time in recent months that a pair of Polish trucks have been taken from a Luxembourg service area.

Later in the week……

SMOKING BAN REACTION
There has been a strong reaction to health minister Mars di Bartolomeo’s bombshell announcement on Monday that the government intends to ban smoking in bars and discos. Local newspapers reported record levels of below the line comment on their websites as readers debated the effect of a smoking ban. The association of bar and restaurant owners said the smoking was yet another burden on their business which are already struggling. But Mr di Bartolomeo remains combative saying the smoking ban was hardly unexpected and that he wouldn’t be doing his job as health minister if he didn’t try to protect the health of employees, regardless of the economic consequences.

DUAL NATIONALITY
Over four thousand people have applied for dual nationality since the law was changed at the start of the year to allow it. Just over 3000 have been granted Luxembourgish citizenship while still retaining that of their former homeland. One third of the applications have come from citizens of Portugal. Many of the applicants come from neighbouring countries. And citizens of the nations of the former Yugoslavia make up the other main significant group of applicants.

ESCH OPENS FOOTBRIDGE
Esch sur Alzette’s stylish new footbridge is finally open to the public. It was inaugurated on Tuesday, a couple of months behind schedule. The 3½ million euro project allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross the railway tracks from the town to reach the Galgebierg park. Its 100m long and has a striking avante garde design, incorporating a useful roof. Esch residents have not had a direct link to the Galgebierg by foot for 4 decades, and its hoped the new bridge can brighten the atmosphere around Esch Railway station.

BORDER CONTROL
There was a co-ordinated border control throughout the night of Wednesday into Thursday this week. Police and customs officers from France, Luxembourg and Belgium all took part. The object of the action was to try and trap cross border burglars. But in the event, they picked up a series of drunk drivers, confiscated one telescopic cosh, some cannabis and hashish, and a bag of magic mushrooms. There has been an increase in the number of burglaries recently, particularly in the south of the Grand Duchy.

CHRISTMAS MARKETS
The Christmas markets open in Luxembourg city today [Thursday]. The largest is in the Place d’Armes and will be open from 10 o’clock in the morning until 8 o’clock at night. The smaller St Nicolas market will also be open on the Place de Paris at the same time. Details of all the fun and games for the festive season laid on by the council are on the website winterlights.lu -– although if you’re at work might want to turn the sound off on your computer because the site is ridiculously noisy.

Although Trier’s market is just 30 years old, and sometimes described as small, we were impressed. If you can’t be there in person, you can enjoy the market online, with a special Christmas-market-video-game (a Weihnachtsmarktspiel), or a page of promotional media. If you need to distract the kids, there’s a coloring book, too! (It’s a little weak, but do those little rugrats really deserve better?)

By contrast, Dresden’s Christmas market is now 575 years old. (Dresden is 680km away, about 6.5 hours by car. Maybe we’ll go next year.)


By Friday, Luxembourg City’s market was underway. It’s not as large or as well-decorated as Trier’s market, but we look forward to returning regularly.

At both markets, Will found glühwein (also known as hot red wine, or mulled wine). It was typically sold in decorative mugs, which could be returned for a deposit, or kept as souvenirs. We found the best mugs in each market, and we’re quite happy to share them with you:

Please note the lovely crest on the toe of the Luxembourgish boot.

You can look forward to more photos in the near future, and maybe some deep thoughts about the mix of secular and religious during the European holiday season. In the meantime, we present to you a brief video of the gigantic Christmas carousel pyramid in Trier.