Back to Luxembourg with Ma'ri

Here are few pics for those who have followed us the last few weeks. We are in Luxembourg, the city and country where I grew up before moving to Asia 14 years ago.

The opportunity for me to show Ma'ri a very nice "little jewel" under the sun. Tiffany and Leslie are enjoying there time with there grand-parents...it's barbecue, garden, swimming pool time. You won't have all these pics, but there are full of smiles and love!

It's also for us the opportunity to see a lot of friends, here and around. We are back on the road to Belgium and all over Europe in the next few hours.

But first, let's get back to my hometown. Luxembourg seems to move at the same speed as the growth of the European Union. I was born there in 1973 (That's pretty irrelevant...I know), less than 5 km from the city center. At that time, it was refered as the countryside, with cows crossing the road...today, they have a Mc Donalds less than 100 meters from my first home. We than move closer to Belgium where I went to school.

First stop was the wine region of Mosel...Luxembourg produce a solid amount of very decent white wine of various varietals, including Rivaner, Silvaner, Ebling, Auxerois and more well known Pinot Gris and Reisling. We just forgot to take our camera with us...I know...we are bad!

There is an international crisis all around....but this hasn't stop the constructions all over the country....each time I come back (around twice a year), new buildings are popping up all around. So we went around the area with Ma'ri, and me not trying to get too lost on driving! Luxembourg city is divided in few areas, we concentrated on the Grand-Rue area, the old city and the "casemates", as well as the "plateau du kirchberg".

The city is build on rocks...this is making it today very tricky to dig in order to build new buidling. But it has with history made the place a fortified city, mainly due to Vauban. Luxembourg is built on a very long network of "casemates", meaning by these tunnels going from one point of the city to the other. It does give you somewhere the feeling of being on top of a swiss cheese full of holes...rather well managed and organised holes I must admit!

The next place moving so fast with the years is the Kirchberg. This used to be the place of the European Union Institutions, mainly the secretary of the EU. Today it's a lot more than this...banks...a lot of them, sport facilities, and more buildings that I've got no idea why they are there for. What we did not have the time to visit is the new Museum of Modern Art...but we'll be back!

Next stop, the city center and what is refered as the "old town". The beauty of a rich country, is there abilities to invest a lot of money in renovating old buidlings, and they have made a wonderful job....but beware...if you are wearing high-heels...it can be tricky! That's a little note of sorry to my love Ma'ri...I did forget about this "little" technical fact! In french you call these "paves"...and there where a lot of them! We spent a full day going around, lunching with an old friend of mine and stopping for a drinks with others.

I haven't included any pictures of the kids in this entry. The reason is pretty simple, they did spend more time in the garden and swimming pool than spending time on the road to see things they visited the last two years.

We'll be back soon...this morning is a rainy day in Luxembourg....hopefully few hours of driving will bring the sun back.

With love from 4 of us!

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