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Published: April 14th 2009
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Where to even begin…I guess three Mondays ago! After my trip to Spain my mom returned to Luxembourg. That Monday we took a train north of Lux city to a town called Clervaux. We saw the outside of the castle there (it was closed) and hiked up to an abbey. We sat in for a few minutes on a service where monks chant. I had seen this at the beginning of the year, but my mom wanted to watch.
On Tuesday evening my mom and I went to dinner at a restaurant I’d never been to. There was only one other couple in there, so we didn’t know what to expect. The man running the place ended up being a one man show…the chef, waiter, and everything else. We sat right next to the kitchen window and got to see him cook. We got talking with him, and he showed us an award he received for best chef of the month. He also told us that he was on tv once! I told him that I love to cook, and he said I could come in and help him sometime. I told him my family was coming and that we’d come
back, so he said I could help then!
The rest of family arrived that Thursday. I met them in the city and we walked around the grund area (a quieter valley area of the city with medieval caves) and showed them the city center. We took a train to Differdange and I showed them the chateau, my house (and they met my family), and the town. Then we went to the restaurant where my mom and I had eaten two nights before. The guy (Dominique) had set up a table just for us and had a menu created too. I helped him debone and spice the fish, set up the presentation for the main dishes and dessert. It was so cool because he would teach me little things along the way. He never went to culinary school, and he learned all from his grandfather and father. This was one of my most memorable times over here. I told him I’m coming back to help again. Although there’s not much time left I hope to get back one or two more times.
Paris with the family: After getting situated in the hotel, we went out to see the Arch de Triomphe.
The grund
where the soldiers used to hide out while protecting the city We went to the actual monument so that we could see all the streets branching off from the round about surrounding the arch. After watching the crazy drivers speed around the circle( (and even a nutty bicyclist), we walked to the Eiffel Tower. We got to go all the way up this time, but unfortunately we couldn’t see much because it was a foggy day. After we got back down the tower (partially by walking down stairs!), we walked around a cute market street area and got dinner. We enjoyed being entertained by two homeless people fighting over a chair that each claimed to be theirs to sit on while drinking from their bottles of alcohol outside the grocery store…the lady actually starting hitting the man with her cane….good times! After dinner we went on a boat cruise on the river and got to see the city as it got dark. Right when we arrived back at the starting point (near the Eiffel Tower) the sparkling lights went off, so it was perfect timing. It really was a beautiful site!
The following day we went to the Louvre. We saw the obvious ones: the Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks,
and two sculptures by Michaelangelo. On the way to the Latin Quarter we stopped at a corner crepe place for lunch. I confused the French lady b/c I ordered too fast, and she got part of the order wrong. The man working with her tried to tell her that I didn’t speak French, but before when she was naming off what we ordered I told her it was correct (which it was). They got in a huge argument and the lady wouldn’t let the man help her. After we left they continued arguing for probably 15 minutes. My mom went back to get a drink and they were still arguing so much so that they wouldn’t wait on her. This all was pretty entertaining, so Katelyn and I managed to get a few pictures of it. Afterwards we went to Sainte Chapelle, a private chapel that its known for its amazing stained glass windows. We walked around the Latin quarter for a little while then went to Palm Sunday (really Saturday) mass at Notre-Dame. This was really cool, except that it lasted an hour and a half!
The last day in France we actually traveled to the Normandy beaches. We
Sean on the train to Differdange
he drooled right after this and it dropped from his mouth trained to a little town called Bayeux, and there we got a guy to drive us around to a few of the sites. First we went to the American cemetery. I didn’t realize that it was right on Omaha beach. Unfortunately, we didn’t have very long to walk around. The next stop was Point Hoc. This was a crucial point to occupy because it over looks both Utah and Omaha Beaches. It was my favorite stop because there were still remains of German hide outs. The land was covered with evidence of bombing because there were deep caters (sp?) and the ruins of the German forts. You could actually go into some of the hide outs, so that was very cool. The last stop was Omaha beach. There was an old war ship that was on the beach that now supports a sort of board walk. The beach comes up to a slanted wall that ends by turning up vertically. This was the German anti-tank wall.
Back in Paris we got dinner at café around the corner from our hotel. We never really had that great of luck with our restaurants in Paris with the exception of maybe 1 or
two. This was followed the unlucky trend…Sean spotted a mouse scurry across the ground near Katelyn during dinner. The rest of dinner me, Katelyn, and my mom had our feet up on the chairs.
I don’t have time at the moment to write about Ireland, but it was one of my favorite trips!! It was so pretty, and luckily it only rained 2 or 3 times! I go to Berlin with my English class today (leaving in an hour and a half…that’s why I can’t continue this). I’ll be there until Sunday. Its hard to believe, but after I get back I have one week of school they one week (really only three days) of exams before I come home!
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