Luxembourg Impressions

We were in Luxembourg for just a few days, staying in an apartment walking distance from the train station. We had a balcony where we would hang out sometimes to watch people on the street below and to chat. We tried eating there a couple of times (there was a nice large table), but the yellow jackets would find us immidiately and attempt to take over the food. 

The location was great - very convenient for access to (free) transportation within the country, with lots of grocery shops and bakeries nearby. We explored the city and took a couple of day trips to the nearby castles (Vianden and Beaufort). 

The city itself is wonderfl - fun to explore, lot of historic sites, very beautiful views.We mostly explored on foot, but also took trams when we were tired.

Some of the things we did in Luxembourg:

• Shoah memorial
• The casemates du Bock
• Cathedral Notre-Dame of Luxembourg
• The Chocolate House (the cocolate was delicious! we also had some traditional Luxembourgh food there) (the cakes were really cool)

• Wondering through old streets and gawking at the ancient walls

Vianden and Beaufort castles took about an hour to get to by train and bus.

Vianden Castle was a break-taking experience: we got off the bus and - oof, there was the castle, a giant thing plopped on the hill, both beautiful and forbidding. The kids loved Vianden Castle and all the activities there. We watched sword fighitng demo and falconry (one of the eagles flew off and refused to come back, sitting and sulking on one of the roof tops). There were artisans and merchants making and selling different things. Once you were in, you kind of forgot about the size of it, just wondering thorugh the restored halls and rooms. We also did a one-way chairlift (amazing views) and had treats at the cafe on top of the hill - very touristy but the views were breathtaking; interestingly, there were a lot of people speaking Russian at that cafe! We also some exploring of the town and surrounding areas on foot.

We went for a hike near Beaufort Castle - I wish we had more time to explore the trail and hang out at the stream, but we had to hurry to make our reserved time for the tour of the Renaissance portion of the castle. The castle was a place of residence from the medieval times until 2012, when the last owner had passed away. It was cool and a little sad... there was a table in front of a window with binoculars, where she would sit and count the visitors to the medieval portion of the castle. The medieval ruins included a torture chamber, complete with the instruments and descriptions that gave me the shivers.

A big highlight of visiting Luxembourg was finding blackberries in the parks. Our kids love picking berries - and those were probably the best blackberries we've had in a long time (possibly ever). I can't get over the fact that they just grow and nothing seems to eat them... I think a few other people went berry-picking, because most berries close to the walking paths were gone, but if you got just a little bit deeper - there were so, so many. I don't know what the birds of Luxembourg do, but clearly, they find blackberry-eating benath them. I don't suppose there's much deer and we haven't seen a single squirrel. We used one of our water bottles for storage and transport, and ate the berries the next morning with breakfast.

What's your favorite wild berry to pick?