I Love Luxembourg: Built into the Rock

If you've ever been to Luxembourg, you probably remember the impressive old town, with its gorgeous cliffs and ancient ruined fortress, and of course, the casemates, an incredible labyrinth of tunnels carved into solid rock with windows offering spectacular views over the valley below.

While the casemates are impressive, they're public.  Everyone knows about them.  It's one of the places you have to take friends and family when they come to visit.  So, for me, they've lost a little of their impressiveness (and I have to admit I lost some of my enthusiasm for them when I learned they were closed for the winter because they provide a safe place to hibernate for thousands of bats.  Ick.  Bats.  You know how I feel about bats.)

So while I acknowledge that the casemates are pretty amazing, they pale in comparison to a few other gems I stumbled upon in my exploration of the city.

Like these houses in the Petrusse Valley:

What I wouldn't give to take a peek inside these houses.  Did the architect leave the rock exposed or conceal it behind a wall?  Doesn't it feel like a cave with an entire windowless wall?  Who lives there??

What do you do when you want to build something but are faced with a solid wall of rock?  You incorporate it into your structure, of course!  One less wall to build...

And then there's this chapel. St. Quirin, also in the Petrusse Valley.  It too is built right into the rock.  I've never gone inside this one but I definitely will someday.

Photo from :  http://www.building.am

There's another little building carved into solid rock that I just noticed the other day, despite the fact that I've driven past it twice a day for a 18 months taking the kids to and from school.  It looks a bit like the chapel above but much more dilapidated, abandoned, even.  I need to stop, take a photo and do a little exploring someday soon.

And if you don't feel like building into the rock, how about perching precariously atop it?

This house looks to me like it should be perched atop a giant sea cliff with enormous waves crashing below it.  But, no, it just overlooks an ordinary street.  Ordinary for Luxembourg, that is...

What I love about Luxembourg

I love Luxembourg.  I really do.  I think it's a beautiful, unique, utterly charming country.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here, I cherish the people I've met, the places I've visited, the experiences I've had, the little (and not so little) differences that remind me that I am in a whole new part of the world.

However, in the past few weeks I've been feeling, to put it bluntly, like I can't wait to get the hell out of this country and go back to America.


Maybe all expats feel like this at some point.  For me, I think it's a combination of a few things:  the endlessly long school year (July 15!); the constant pain of my knee injury (3 months now!) and the uncertainty about whether I'm facing surgery; a husband who travels constantly, leaving me with sole responsibility for house and kids (you try managing two kids and a 5-story house with knees that don't do stairs. 3 months of going up the stairs on my butt!); plus the fact that I haven't seen my family in an entire year.  (Note to family:  COME VISIT!!)

Last week, after nine days away, Roger came home to find me crying on the couch while the kids enjoyed a dinner of chips, crackers and day-old pastries.  It was not a pretty sight.

I know that all of this is temporary.  It's been a rough spring, brutal, I think, when I'm really feeling sorry for myself, but these feelings will pass.  I am sure that a good, long trip home will rejuvenate me, give me some perspective (really, I don't have it so bad.  I know that.), and restore my enthusiasm for life in Luxembourg.

So, to get me through these last couple of weeks before school is out and I can, in fact, get back to the good old U.S. of A. for a long visit with my family (and possibly a knee surgery or two), I thought I'd try writing about some of the things that make me love this country and my experience here.  Maybe a reminder of how lucky I am to be in this incredible place will snap me out of my self-pitying funk.

There are actually dozens of things that I love about Luxembourg not particularly things that other people would appreciate or even notice, which is why I haven't posted them here before*, but if listing them cheers me up and reminds me of why I love it here, then that's a good thing, isn't it?

So, with that said, here it is, the first thing about Luxembourg that I absolutely love, something that makes me happy every single day, without exception:

FORESTS!

The view from my deck in early spring.

 Luxembourg is surrounded by forests, and they are glorious.  Having never lived anywhere near a real forest, I didn't realize how much I would love it.  Spring, summer, winter, fall -- it doesn't matter.  I love the forest in every single season.  In fact, I really can't decide which season I love best. Fall is spectacular, with all the magnificent colors, but then spring is so exciting with the neon green leaves, the bright color after all the months of drabness.

But then winter can also be spectacular:

Really, the forest is gorgeous in any season.  And did you know that from any point in Luxembourg City you can walk to forest in 15 minutes or less?  I'm even luckier because I don't have to travel 15 minutes, I have the forest literally in my back yard.  Even though I can't spend hours walking in the woods (because of my knees) like I used to, I can still sit on my back deck, enjoy a glass of wine and watch the birds and butterflies--and bats--swoop through the trees.

Now who could be depressed with a view like that?

Not me... :)

* Okay, so maybe I have posted about forests before, once or twice or twelve times.  But it's a big one for me.  

Springtime Summary

I know I haven't been posting much here lately but that doesn't mean we've been sitting around doing nothing.  On the contrary!  I also know that it's technically summer, but since the kids are still in school, in my mind it's still springtime.  So, with that in mind, here's a picture review of what we've been doing in the last month or two:

Hanging out at Parc Merveilleux,

where we renewed our love affair with these adorable little monkeys:

They're called Tamarins and I WANT ONE!!

Walked around the lake in Echternach where we stopped to make a few daisy chains:

and to jump on the crazy bungee trampoline:

 Took a few swimming lessons:

And visited the zoo at Amneville, France:

These two little monkeys were much cuter than the real thing.

 Made friends with the neighborhood cows:

Ate some popsicles and enjoyed their aftereffects:

Made only with natural coloring, I'm sure.

 Spent a lovely afternoon enjoying the free games and activities set up in honor of Luxembourg's National Day:

While Kate visited the face-painting booth,

Will decided to try something a little more strenuous:

He made it up about 15 feet before declaring it impossibly hard.

And stopped at a scenic point to enjoy one of Luxembourg's most beautiful views...

This picture reminds me of why I love Luxembourg so much.  Look at that view!

Amsterdam

Since there was no school this week and Roger had to work in Amsterdam for a couple of days anyway, the kids and I took the train from Luxembourg and met Roger there.  We managed to do quite a bit despite the fact that I'm still nursing a fairly bad knee injury and had to hobble around the city like an old lady.  I suggested to Roger that we rent one of these bikes so he could pedal us all around, but he  didn't like that idea.  I can't imagine why.

Anyway, it was beautiful.

Kate and Roger were happy to pose on the bridge with all the bicycles

Will was not so cooperative.

I have about 100 pictures like this

But finally I got a good one... or at least one with him in the frame.

He lost a bet with me (that we'd see at least 10 houseboats on our walk back to the hotel) so he had to pose nicely with his sister for at least one picture.  He was not happy but he did it.

We also took a canal boat cruise...

...and hopped off at the NEMO Science Center.

Wow.  The kids thought that was the. best. place. ever!  It's a lot like the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and the kids could touch, experiment and play with things as much as they liked.





Fortunately for us, all the exhibits were labeled in both Dutch and English so we could even understand everything.  Unfortunately for us, we had less than two hours there and I think we could've easily spent an entire day.  Next time!

We also stopped by the Van Gogh Museum for a quick visit.  I'm the one who wanted to go since I love Van Gogh, but I thought Will would also like it since he studied Van Gogh in school last year and recreated his Sunflowers:

His painting was even selected to hang in the library in our town!

I was mildly right. The kids thought it was "fine," but they were much happier after we headed over to the nearby Vondelpark.

There we fed some ducks... 

...walked over picturesque bridges...

 ...and explored the playgrounds.

We actually went there two days in a row... thus the different clothing.

It was such a great trip. On the train ride back, Kate said, "I already miss Amsterdam.  When can we go back?"  Very soon, I hope!

Addendum to Conversation with Kate: Will's perspective

Me:  Will, Kate said she wasn't sure if she'd love me if I were ugly and stinky.  What about you?  Would you still love me?

Will:  Oh, sure, I'd still love you.  I just wouldn't hug you.

Conversation with Kate

Kate:  Mommy, you know why I love you?
Me:    Why?
Kate:  Because you always look pretty and you smell so good.
Me:    That's nice.  But would you love me if I were stinky and ugly?
Kate:  (long pause)  Maybe...

How I spent my day...or, I am not an idiot -- am I?

People ask me all the time, Now that the kids are in school full-time and you don't work, what do you do all day?  As if the laundry, housecleaning, French classes and, ahem, endless coffee-drinking with friends, weren't enough to fill my day, I find myself spending inordinate amounts of time doing things that should take no time at all.  Do all expats do this?  Or is it just me?

For example, a simple trip to the grocery store to gather ingredients for the special Dutch pancakes Will loves might first require a visit to Google Translate to look up the French word for "buckwheat flour," because I certainly didn't learn that one in French class.  Then, once at the store, after circling countless times for a parking spot out front,  giving up, heading to the underground parking garage to attempt to squeeze my car into the miniscule slots they call parking places here, I traipse five miles through the sprawling hypermarché to reach the baking aisle.  I then scour the shelves -- closely examining all 500 different types of flour -- for ones likely to be buckwheat flour.

At this point I discover that all the labels on the likely candidates are in Luxembourgish.  Crap.  Not even my friend, Google Translate, can help me now since it doesn't do Luxembourgish.  Double crap.  I'm just debating whether to waylay a friendly passerby to ask after "farine de sarrasin," when  I see that some of the flour sacks also have German labels in small print at the bottom.  This, Google Translate can do!  So I use my handy iPhone to look up "buckwheat flour" in German (Buchweizenmehl, in case you were wondering).

And so, just two short hours later, success!  Will was very happy.  And I was too.  After all, I have all day to myself so I'm thrilled to spend two hours tracking down just the right flour for my son's favorite treat.

And then the latest one.  I needed to call the place that's hosting Will's upcoming birthday party to tell them how many children would be attending (and that they'd need to provide the cake because I am not risking any more trips to the baking aisle in the immediate future).  Simple, right?  Having already researched (again using my best friend, Google Translate) what I was going to say, I check their website, dial the number I find on the page -- and get a message that this number doesn't exist.  So I check the website again and realize -- silly me -- that number was actually their IBAN number.  Oops.

So I scroll down and find, in tiny print, the actual phone number.  Feeling very silly for having made such a dumb mistake, I dial the new number -- and get a busy signal.  Okay, no problem.  I'll try again later.  Which I do, every 15 minutes for two hours.   Very strange for a business that is, according to its website, open right now.  Then again, this is Luxembourg, and they could just be having an extra-long lunch.  At this point, I suddenly realize that, despite the fact that this place is 15 minutes from my house, it is actually in Belgium, not Luxembourg.  A whole different country.  With a whole different country code.  That would explain it.

Again, I feel like an idiot.

Of course, I don't actually know the country code for Belgium, so I once again turn to the Internet.  After Googling "country code Belgium" I find this very handy website called howtocallabroad.com.  Plug in your location and the country you need to call, and it tells you exactly what to dial.  Perfect!  So I dial the new number and, once again, get a busy signal.  Though I feel that something is probably not right with the new number, I try again every 15 minutes for another hour.  Then, in desperation, I start randomly deleting zeros since there seem to be too many of them.  Success!  Apparently there was an extra zero between the country code and the real number.  Who knew?  Not howtocallabroad.com, apparently.

So, there you go.  That, my friends, is what I do all day.    I have to wonder if all expats face this or if I am I just extraordinarily slow.  Whenever I consider looking into getting a job here -- you know, to fill up all my free time -- days like this bring me right back to my senses.