Gallivanting Grandma

September 8^th Wednesday: Rain showers on and off all day: 12 – 15 degrees Celsius

Breakfast was included with our room at the Eden au Lac, so we enjoyed their elegant buffet breakfast in the fancy dining room under the white Murano glass chandelier. The Eden au Lac Hotel (I never saw the lake!) was really a resort where people went to spend a week or at least several days. They ate all their meals there, walked on the trails, swam in the pool, sat in the lounge, and did whatever else resort people did. The hotel people tolerated us transient people, because they weren’t fully booked, but they really weren’t especially happy with us…. They kept inviting us to come back when we had more time to spend more time there, etcetera. Actually, our room was on the “warn” side. It had seen better days. However, the bathroom had been totally updated with new fixtures and shiny gray marble walls and floor.  The bathroom was so modern that it didn’t match the dated, but cozy, bedroom.

Luxembourg Countryside

We checked out about 10:00 and drove north along the good Luxembourg roads. We had read about some castles or “chateaus” along the N-10 road and wanted to see them. The weather was cloudy with large dark clouds passing quickly overhead.

The Chateau Beaufort

The first was Chateau de Beaufort, located about 6 kilometers off the main road in a lovely valley. Beaufort is a lovely town with a population of about 1,370 people. The castle was built in the 12th century and restored by the governor of Luxembourg in the 16th century.  Today, it is mainly in ruins, but has a restaurant and a few empty rooms to explore.  Although the light was not so good because of the clouds, we still took photos of the outside.  We decided not to go into the chateau but to continue driving.

An Intersection in Luxembourg

The weather seemed to improve and the sun peeked out intermittently. We drove on the E-421north of Diekirch and onward to the Chateau Bourscheid.

The Chateau Bourscheid

This castle was in better condition than the Beaufort due to the fact that it had been recently renovated and was owned and operated by the government today. The Chateau Bourscheid has its origins in the 11th century, when it consisted of a tower building linked to a chapel. The long surrounding wall with its watchtowers was completed in 1384 when a separate residential building was designed for the masters of Bourscheid.

It was threatening rain so we decided not to pay the entrance fee and go into the chateau and we walked back down the hill to the parking lot. We continued north along the main north/south N-7 road through the beautiful countryside of Luxembourg.

The Luxembourg Highway

The land is hilly and there are many fields and farms in the distance. It is a pleasant road which goes through many small and lovely villages.

We crossed the border back into the Netherlands (Holland) several hours later and followed the signs to the city of Maastricht. We had a frustrating time trying to find the Crown Plaza Hotel because of their vague directions on the Internet, which stated that the hotel was along the river on Ruiterij #1.

The Bridge Over the Maas River

The directions left out the fact that you could not drive along the riverbank, and that the Ruiterij street was a small cul de sac located just in front of the hotel.

Houses Along the Maas River in Maastricht, NL

We found the hotel by some stroke of luck Jeff spotted it from the other side of the river and we figured out how to get there on a car bridge and we finally checked in.

Typical Street in Maastricht

We went out in the late afternoon to explore and find a restaurant for dinner. We found the main market square which was lined with restaurants on one side.

Markt Square

We chose a restaurant and had a good dinner. “Frites” (French fries) seem to come with every meal no matter what you order, which is OK since they’re so good!  But there’s no ketchup –  just mayonnaise and salt.  Maastricht is a pretty city and the historic center is a fun place to explore.

The View From Our Table in the Markt

September 7^th Tuesday: rainy & cloudy all day: 12 – 18 degrees Celsius

It was difficult to leave the Sofitel. The pillows were so soft and the thick duvet covering me all night was so warm, squishy, and comforting. I must be tired of traveling. Let’s see, it’s been only five weeks….

The Sofitel was a wonderful place to stay! When we went down to the lobby to check out, one man went for the car and another man handled the baggage while the attentive receptionist went over the bill with Jeff. One remarkable thing about the Sofitel was how kind and nice everyone was to us. After the men put our luggage in the car and bid us “bon voyage”, we noticed that they left two bottles of cool water in the cup holders and hanging from the rear-view-mirror was a thank you card with tiny mints attached. Unbelievable!!!

Italian Restaurant in Echternach, Luxembourg

We drove out of the city of Luxembourg at about 10:00 AM and luckily ended up on the correct road out of town heading east to Echternach (pronounced “Esh-ter-nock”) in the country of Luxembourg. We had made a reservation at the Eden du Lac Hotel and the drive took only about half an hour.

Eden au Lac Hotel

The Eden du Lac looks like an old fashioned Swiss hotel with white stucco walls and brown wood porches with red geraniums. It is more of a resort with activities, a large pool, and a famous chef who prepares excellent meals. The other guests also seem to be somewhat older..

Markt in Echternach

We registered and left off our luggage and went into the town. Echternach was a sweet little village. The population is supposed to be only about 4,600 people. Fortunately, it had stopped raining when we walked around the town. We saw a few shops and restaurants and small in-town hotels.

The Main Street in Echternach

We also walked to the Abbey and the historic church which was founded by St. Willibrord in 962. Willi’s remains are in the crypt below the church. We had an excellent pizza lunch at a restaurant near the bus station at the end of the pedestrian street and then walked back to the car to go to Trier, Germany.

Interior of St. Willibrord Church, Echternach

Germany was right across the short bridge over the Sure River. The river was the boundary between the two countries: Luxembourg on one side and Germany on the other. There was a road on each side of the river in both countries. As we drove along, we could see that some towns had walking bridges across the river. We drove along the German side for about 30 minutes and into the city of Trier.

Hauptmarkt in Trier, Germany

The Sure River runs into the larger and more famous, commercial Mosel River. Mosel wine is famous from this region and we saw vineyards on the riverbanks. Trier is located on the Mosel River and is supposed to be one of the oldest cities in Germany. Driving in, the city looked very industrial and there was a lot of truck traffic. We followed the “Centrum” signs and found a parking lot to leave off the car.

Another Side of the Hauptmarkt in Trier

Then we walked to the main market or “Hauptmarkt” and wow!! What a difference from Echternach! The architecture all over the country of Luxembourg was plain wherever we went and the stucco buildings were all painted in soft muted shades of tan or beige. In Germany, we noticed that the buildings were painted all the bright colors of the rainbow and there were decorations around the windows and doors. The architecture was much more interesting!

The Hauptmarkt was lively and exciting and full of people and noise and activities. There were shops and restaurants and fountains and all kinds of things happening. There were several church steeples and signs directing people to a variety of interesting sites. There was even a toy museum with a whimsical tiny automobile parked outside and a wine-tasting booth in the middle of the square.

The Porte Negre

We took lots of photos despite the fact that the sky was overcast and we knew that the pictures wouldn’t be good because of the lousy light. Then we walked around and down the street to the “Porte Negre,” the black gate. This was a “gate” from the original Roman wall which went around the city about two thousand years ago. There was also a Roman amphitheater somewhere else in Trier, but we didn’t have time to go there.

The Porte Negre

We walked back to the Hauptmarkt and bought a still-warm fresh pretzel. Then we went to one of the many outdoor cafes and drank some tea and sat down to rest. Finally we went to the Cathedral of St. Peter/Dom. This is the oldest bishop’s church in Germany of which the Roman centrql section was built in the 4^th century.

The Cathedral of St. Peter

It was an impressive church with a very high Romanesque Gothic-style ceiling. The most notable feature of the church was the lack of stain-glass windows. All the windows had white/clear glass pieces which allowed a lot of light into the space and made the church look very large and airy.

Interior of the Cathedral of St. Peter

When we were downstairs exploring the crypt, a monk told us in German that the crypt was closed and we had to leave. It was about 5:00 PM and it had started to rain again. We decided to go back to Echternach before dark and we returned on the road on the Luxembourg side of the Sure River.

Rainy Drive in Echternach, Luxembourg

We went back to the Eden au Lac Hotel, left our cameras in the room and looked at the hotel’s restaurant menu. We decided it was too expensive and too much food. We wanted a simple dinner, not a multi-course meal, so we returned to the little Italian restaurant where we had lunch and we ate a wonderful Italian dinner!

I combined two days to give me a chance to catch up and also because they were take-it-easy days.

Sunday – September 5^th

Sunny & comfortable – warm sun & cool breeze – perfect travel day

First thing in the morning, Jeff and I went out early to take photos of the magnificent train station and check on the car. The car was OK and the station was a visual treat.

The Liege Train Station

We met two men who were also photographing the building.  They said they lived 50 kilometers north of the city and had come to photograph the station.

Train Station

We had good European coffee and croissants in a cafe at the station.

Another View

Afterwards, we checked out of the Hotel de la Couronne in Liege, Belgium, we loaded the trunk of the car with our luggage, and got on the A 26 – E 25 highway.

Another View of the Train Station

I have no idea why the highways have two numbers, but all the highways in “Benelux”seem to, which makes sign-reading an extra hassle. We left Liege and expected an easy highway drive to the capital city of Luxembourg. When we were about three-quarters of the way there, Jeff said that we needed gas. There were no gas stations along the highway, so we got off in some town that looked big enough to have a gas station. Since it was Sunday, many of the businesses were closed. We couldn’t find a gas station in any town. Traveler’s nightmare number two!

Off the Highway

We nervously continued on the highway and just across the border of the country of Luxembourg, was a huge IKEA on a hill, in the middle of farmland! We got off the road hoping for civilization and a gas station. IKEA was closed and the huge parking lot was empty of cars. A few more anxious miles down the road and there was a large gas station with long lines of cars at each gas pump! Another lesson to learn: fill up before you leave town!

We arrived at the city of Luxembourg without a reservation, late on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a lovely city. The sun was shining brightly. Many of the shops were closed and there weren’t a lot of people out and about. We found the Tourist Information office at the train station and I went inside to ask for a city map and hotel guide.

Short Story Ending: We stayed at the Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand Ducal Hotel for two nights and fell in love with the hotel chain!

Sofitel Hotel – Luxembourg

There is something wonderful to be said for luxury! A parking attendant whisked the car away and brought our luggage to the room. We have to pay for parking and the Internet, but the mini-bar is complementary. There is a Nespresso machine in the closet with a full compliment of coffee pods. I love the separate cabinet for the toilette! There are large closets, a huge dressing area, and best of all: a glass-enclosed shower in the bedroom with red & blue lights and an overhead “rain” shower-head. It defies description….

Lobby of the Sofitel Hotel

I decided to stay in the room and relax for the rest of the afternoon while Jeff walked to the center of the city to take photos. This was one of my better ideas………

Later, we went up to the 8^th floor bar & restaurant for drinks and dinner.

8th Floor Bar with View of City

There is a panoramic view of the center of the city from there. I tried the Luxembourg sparkling wine and Jeff had a grape martini. Then we had a wonderful dinner prepared by their famous “French chef”. It was a wonderful way to end the day.

Monday – September 6^th It was another sunny and cool morning.

We went up to the 8^th floor breakfast room/restaurant to enjoy the morning view and have breakfast. Without boring the readers with the details, I can only say that the service was elegant and the breakfast was amazing!

Eighth Floor Breakfast Room

Then Jeff and I went out to explore the City of Luxembourg.

Place d’Armes

It’s a lovely place with an air of refinement and wealth. There seemed to be a combination of tourists and business people and we walked around to explore and take photos.

Guillaume II Facing the Grand Ducal Palace

The architecture is rather plain especially in comparison to Bruges, but it was still interesting to visit the center historical part of the city.

Medieval Bridge in Bas Ville

We returned to the hotel about 4:00 PM to relax and plan for tomorrow. It became cloudy in the afternoon and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.

Lower City with the River Petrusse

September 4 – Saturday: hazy in the morning – 13 degrees Celsius

We left Ghent and drove south. The plan was to drive south into France and then continue eastward through the French countryside to Luxembourg. Neither Jeff nor I had ever been to Luxembourg and we thought it would be fun to see what it looked like. We spoke to a young American last night in the restaurant, who looked like George on the Seinfeld TV show, and he said the French countryside north of Paris was beautiful.

The Belgian countryside is lovely with green and brown fields stretched out to the horizon. Cows and sheep dotted the meadows and small farm villages could be seen in the distance. We noticed that the signs were written in French as we approached the French border. We crossed uneventfully into France and would not have noticed that we were in a different country if it wasn’t for the small sign with the single word: “France” written on it surrounded by stars.

The French farmlands were similar to Belgium’s and we visually hunted for differences. Soon after we crossed the border, we saw a sign for our favorite French supermarche, Auchon. We loved the giant Auchon in La Seyne sur Mer last year which had every possible French gourmet food available. We stopped at this one to pick up some cheese and a baguette and cookies for a lunch pic-nic and continued east. It was too early to stop for the night in this town, so we drove on.

As the afternoon progressed, we decided that we didn’t want to continue through the farmlands because there were no towns large enough to have hotels, so we went back into Belgium. At about 4:30 we decided to drive to the town of Charlesroi to look for a hotel. It looked like a sizable town on the map. We entered the city and drove into the center and drove around the main area, but there were no hotels! We were very surprised because the city with the Auchon had several good-looking hotels.

We looked at the map and decided to continue north to the next city, Namur, Belgium. We could not believe it, but this city also lacked hotels! Actually, there were two hotels in the entire town, as verified by a local person who we asked for information. We went to the local Ibis and they were fully booked. We didn’t like the looks of the hotel across the street from the train station. It didn’t look very safe so we decided not to stay there.

There was an Internet cafe down the street and we went there to find hotels near Namur. There were none. The next large city was Liege, Belgium about an hour north, so we did a Google search on hotels in Liege. Fortunately, there were many hotels listed. Then we tried to book one for the night! Believe it or not we could not reserve any of the hotels in Liege. They all seemed to be fully booked. It seemed incomprehensible, so we jotted down the phone number of the Liege Holiday Inn which was advertised as having 217 rooms, and we called them. Yes, they were fully booked! We couldn’t understand what was happening in Liege to cause all the hotels to be full. Liege must be a happening place, we thought. I asked the receptionist at the Holiday Inn if she knew of another hotel which might have rooms and she recommended a “new hotel which just opened and was sure that they had rooms available.” She gave me their phone number and we called them.

It was now 7:30 in the evening and the sun was setting. We made a reservation at the HUSA De La Couronne in Liege and asked for directions to their hotel. The French-accented man at the other end of the phone said the hotel was across the street from the railroad station. He couldn’t give driving directions, but we should be able to find the station. We got the car and drove on the highway to Liege. The sun was setting as we continued on the road and the city was an hour away from Namur.

Of course, we got a bit lost in Liege because the road turned into a tunnel under the city, but we turned around and followed the signs for the TGV Train Station. Then we spotted the station! It was a brand new, ultra modern, well lighted very impressive building! We found a parking spot on the street. Jeff took photos of the station and then we went into the Couronne Hotel.

Despite the beautiful station, the street where the hotel was located can only be described as “seedy”. There were several bars with loud music coming out onto the street and several boarded-up shops. The entrance to the hotel was small and between two closed stores. If we weren’t desperate, if we hadn’t made a reservation, I think we would not have gone into the hotel.

Fortunately, past the street front, the small hotel lobby was clean and new and modern. The young man was very nice and helpful. Best of all, the hotel (and our room) was new, clean, modern and safe. It was 99 Euros for the night, not including breakfast! This was an outrageous amount for a small room across from a train station, but “beggars can’t be choosers” and it was better than the alternative of no room for the night! We slept safely and soundly but worried a bit about the rental car we left on the street.

We survived the “Traveler’s Nightmare” of no room for the night and perhaps learned a lesson. It’s difficult to strike the balance between careful travel planning and the freedom of not planning…..