Friday, September 7, 2012

Echternach, Luxembourg Sept 3-8 Part 1

 

Well, we finally figured out what train station we needed to go to to get here.  We made it to Echternach, we thought, about 8 pm and waited to be picked up by the owner of this farm.  We started getting concerned when she was 20 minutes late.  We had her phone number, but no phone, so we went looking for someplace to use a phone.  The nearest place was an emergency room and they were nice enough to call for us.  We found out that we were not in Luxembourg, but we were still in Germany.  Luxembourg was across this small bridge, so our hostess was waiting for us at a different bus station, one in Luxembourg.  All’s well that ends well.

So we get settled to the sounds and smells of cows.  What do you expect when you book a place that is a farm.  How we got to stay here is sort of weird.  I found a website that was talking about a town where you could go hiking.  That sounded different and we were looking for different.  We had seen enough history, now on to nature.  So I emailed this place to find out what their rates were.  She emailed back that we had reservations for 2 nights.  I asked if she had availability for 5 nights and she emailed back that we were confirmed for 5 nights.  Sometimes communicating in different languages is difficult.  I even sent some of my emails in 3 languages, English, German and French.  Now I am not sure if any of the messages were understandable, since I used Google Translate, and it can’t be counted on.  It sure is better than nothing.

Anyway, here we are.  We wake in the morning to a view of a valley filled with cows all covered in cloudy mist.  Just gorgeous.

So we walked into Echternach about 4 miles round trip.  Past a beautiful lake on a sunny day.

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Duane stealing, I mean, picking apples     a 9 4 (17) (1024x768)

This time of year is off season, but during the summer there are a lot of athletes, or would be athletes here.  One example is the adventure park, now closed, on an island in the lake.  Looks like crazy stuff to me.  Must be fun.

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I love these port-a-potties      a 9 4 (46) (1024x768)     actually they are very clean and new.

The square      a 9 4 (47) Stitch (1024x587)

Isn’t this plaque on a building neat.  It shows a man killing a snake or serpent      a 9 4 (78) (793x1024)

The fun part is that it is on the police station      a 9 4 (79) (1024x768)

Another fun thing we saw was this cross walk.  Even with Duane standing there, you cannot tell that the crosswalk goes right into a wall.  There is no sidewalk or walkway on that side of the crosswalk.

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This town does not let anything go unused.  Even the old towers of the town are used today.  Either someone lives there or the rooms are rented out to tourists.  Imagine staying in the tower of a town wall…..wonder what that costs?

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