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Published: November 18th 2010
Jonny and Joelle's kids
were the sweetest and the girls..OK the dates are all mixed up as the blog dates cannot overlap or the system cannot organise all the entries into one trip, so most of the dates are not right.😞
Today is actually the 23rd of December and sadly we have to leave Verdun and the Augustinis.
The recipe to spend a few cheerful days is definetely in Mesnil sous les cotes! It looks like an uninhabited back country village in the middle of nothing, but here's an extraordinary place - Ben and his sweet little family's home - a feeling like at home, a simple way of life - no barriers, full of exchange, totally truthful, with a bit of eccentricity, just perfect!
The girls loved it here too and to add the cherry to the cake, they discovered Wi-Fi. We did not know about wireless internet as it was not available in SA yet. The girls were over the moon and so was I (I have to admit) Now they could get on mixit and facebook and chat with all their friends back home and all for free(WOW)
Tomorrow is christmas eve and I am really looking forward to spending christmas with our hosts Jonny and
Joelle in Luxembourg. Jonny and I had been planning the big christmas dinner for the past few months already and it was quite exciting, but tonight I received an email from Joelle telling us they would not be able to do the christmas dinner with us due to work and family stress and that we must try and organise our own christmas party. This was shocking as our main reason for coming to Europe was to experience a traditional white christmas with a family and WE did not approach the Orrs for this, it was Jonny who had seen my post on the family welcome group on CS and invited us to their home for christmas. Luxembourg was not even on our itinerary, so this was really upsetting. Ben immediately telephoned the Orrs to find out what the situation was. Ben said that if we wanted to we were most welcome to stay however many days we wanted at their home and spend christmas with them - dear Ben bless his heart!!
Jonny assured Ben that everything was fine and that they were looking forward to our arrival and that we would definetely not be left alone for christmas, so
with that sorted, Ben drove us to the train station in Metz where we said our sad goodbyes and left for Luxembourg with heavy hearts.
When we arrived in Luxembourg, Jonny was waiting for us at the train station with the most adorable little boy, Samuel. it was about an hours drive to the house through some really beautiful countryside. There was something falling, but it was not exactly snow nor was it rain, it was something in between. The Orrs lived in an absolutely beautiful region called the Mullerthal (Petite Suisse-Little Switzerland) in a little village 6km away from the town Echtenach. In Jonny's words, it is something of a hiker's paradise, with paths criss-crossing a forest of heady oak and beech trees, gargling streams in the summer (they were fozen now) and bizarre rock formations all starting 50m from their front door.
We arrived at their old farmhouse and the area around the house was breathtaking. At the foot of the garden was a church leading into the forest and as it was getting dark, the outside lights of the church were switched on, the snow was falling and it was was just magical, a fairytale place
in an enchanted forest!!! My camera battery need charging so I could not capture that beautiful image on film, but I thought never mind I'll do it tomorrow night but unfortunately the next night there was no snow😞
Th Orrs' home was beautiful. We had our own en suite room on one seperate level of the house and it was fantastic. Fresh towels and toiletries were also provided in the room. It felt like being in a five star hotel. When we arrived, Joelle didn't seem that polite as she was busy with their little girl Emily and would not come down to greet us. She seemed frustrated and I got the feeling that she did not like couchsurfing that much, She also seemed tired and a bit bit frustrated with the kids, but after she met us and after she saw how the kids took to us, she loved us too. (Hey what's not to love...blush, blush..). Jonny had prepared dinner for us, a delicious vegetarian dinner after which we relaxed a bit in the lounge.
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