Anita’s work frequently takes her to Zwolle, a city of about 120,000 in the western half of the Netherlands. Will tags along, as often as he can.
We like Zwolle, a lot.
The Bugle accepted no promotional considerations from the tourist board or anything. Will just thinks that a public declaration of our fondness for Zwolle is appropriate at this time. (more…)
We love living in Luxembourg, but we haven’t always made the most of the various opportunities to enjoy the local culture. As part of the 2011 Bakker Betterment Program, we committed to take advantage of the random local cultural events.
I’m proud to say in January we wandered out not once, but twice, to enjoy some small slices of our adopted homeland. Will is going to tell you about the first. (If he ever gets his post finished, that is. I knew buying the companion guidebook would only lead to analysis paralysis.) I’m going to tell you about our second adventure: The Aqua Tunnel.
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. (more…)
Luxembourg’s forests gave us a great show of colorful foliage this fall.
More words later. Pictures now!
(more…)
We were promised sun in Luxembourg yesterday, but we got something more like early winter. So my thoughts turned to our cruise to the Greek Islands this spring.
Corfu was the first actual Greek island on the itinerary. It was also one of the largest, and one of the least Greek! It lies very close to the coasts of Albania and Greece, but its history lies closer to Venice and Dubrovnik.
You’ll learn that, and more, from the photoset on Flickr devoted to our day in Corfu. If you’d rather just look at the pretty pictures, we recommend the slideshow. And, of course, there’s always the set of leftover photos.
What? You want a preview before you commit? (more…)
Day Three of our cruise (in May and June of this year) took us to Venice’s medieval rival: Ragusa. It is now known as Dubrovnik, Croatia — and it’s an UNESCO Heritage Site! So we could tick another box on the list, at the very least.
Regardless of what the UN thinks, Dubrovnik was an ideal stop for us. It’s a gorgeous walled city with lots of historical significance, from the first millennium to the present day. We walked around the high city walls and then descended into the Old Town for more.
We have lots of photos to share — as usual, in two photosets on Flickr:
Here’s a preview of what you’ll see: (more…)
The Schueberfouer will end Wednesday, so we visited one more time this Sunday. It was packed! We took lots of photos, of course, to give you a feel for the event.
Objective Number One: Ride the big swings!
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You 
may remember that, this May, we celebrated our long-term success with a cruise. Now, our short-term delay in posting our photos from that cruise has come to an end!
As usual, we’ll release photosets on Flickr with extensive captions — one or two days at a time. We wouldn’t want to overwhelm you! To begin, you can enjoy our pictures of the first two days, as we travel to Venice, board the ship, and thrill to the sailaway down the Guidecca Canal. You’ll see parts of our Crown Princess cruise ship, the city of Venice from dozens of high angles, and a few other treats.
If that description isn’t enough to tempt you, (more…)
This year’s Tour de France is one of the most exciting in recent memory, especially after yesterday’s events.
Two weeks ago, the Tour began with a few stages in Holland and Belgium. I attended two stages within a two-hour drive from Luxembourg.
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. (more…)
Technically, we arrived in Baden-Baden at the end of a long day two. We checked into our hotel, found a lovely place to dine al fresco (with blankets to help keep us warm in the chilly May air) and enjoyed a relaxing night after a busy and interesting day. We retired early, intending to spend the day exploring the town and possibly a bit of the Black Forest south of town.
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. (more…)
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just two days, Luxembourg will hold the 670th annual Schueberfouer.