Day 3: Road to Luxembourg
In constructing these web pages I discovered that I had very little in the way of pictures for the third day of our journery, at least in the collection of pictures that I have access to. Therefore, this page will consist almost entirely of a written account of that day. This is how the day unfolded...
Here is a map of the country of Luxembourg showing our starting point of Grevenmacher. Our final destination was to be Luxembourg City, some 30 km to the West...
Our third day began with a small breakfast at the Youth Hostel in Grevenmacher. We had survived the night, but I had had my doubts... A fußball tournament proved Caro the big winner, and by 11 o'clock we were ready to put the bad memories of Grevenmacher behind us! The locals rejoice!! Our biking for the day started out with a few nasty uphills. My motto is "What goes up, must also come down"! So you work for 10 minutes to get to the top, then enjoy a nice easy glide down the other side!! Luxembourg is a country of plain beauty. Many a farmer's field dot the landscape amidst forests and hills. Sheep and cows gaze peacefully as we drive by, hardly noticing our passage. And strange enough, either the people of Luxembourg either love frogs dearly or they are big enough to cause car accidents, for they mark their roads routinely with signs such as this below, as we in Canada mark the crossing places of moose!
A sign marking frog crossings??
Travelling further into the country, we came to the small town of Kapernach. And when I say small, I mean really small. This town consisted of 3 buildings, maybe a population of 10 at most! After this landmark, we passed through the towns of Beyren, Ubersyren, and finally Schuttrange. Here we stopped for lunch at a small local cafe. Being a Sunday, the cafe was filled with locals, who turned out to be 90% Portegese! There was one item of the menu for lunch, pig and fries. Not a favourite of mine but I suffered through the greese... After Schuttrange, and the refueling, we made excellent time to Sandweiler on the outskirts of Luxembourg City, and the site of the international airport. Finally, we made the city of Hamm, directly connected to Luxembourg. Here we quickly became lost in the maze of Autobahns! But after I asked a strange looking Luxembourgish man, he was fast to point out that Luxembourg city was within our sight! Rejoice!! After 3 days of biking we had finally made our destination!
The city itself was a magnificant site to behold. Literally built into the side of a mountain, we were greeted with the many walls and foundations of one of the oldest and mightiest fortresses of ancient Europe. The city was contained beyond the walls as it was of old, and we had to travel down into the valley below in order to take a lift up to get into the main city itself. The next step was to find our Youth Hostel, not as easy a task as first thought. Following signs, we adbandoned this route for the safer one of going to the Hauptbahnhof to ask for directions at the Tourist Info office. After asking, I quickly realized we were in the right place before we came up the lift! So back down we went, and proceded to follow the directions, but ended up on the wrong side of the river (not my fault, no one listened to the compass in my head!! haha). At this point we were of two minds. The girls figured it would be faster to go back up the lift and then travel in a direction away from the Bahnhof and come back down in another position. I wanted to just stay down in the first place and just go to the Youth Hostel by the most direct route, even if it looked hilly! So we split up and made a contest, boys verses girls! And after travelling up the first and only hill we glided down to the Hostel, 5 minutes tops, proving once again that boys are better then girls with maps! HAHA! While, we were waiting, me and Rick got showers, had a beer and read a book before the girls found their way to the Hostel! Just joking girls!!
Once settling into our room, I quickly went to work meeting girls, befriending two American girls with my German chocolates and Haribo Gummi Bears. We then left to explore the city while there was still light. While taking in the sites, we were approached by two young Germans who I will name 2Stoned and Blaze of Glory. Suddenly we were bombarded with questions like "Where are we?" When we told them that we were in Luxembourg, they seemed even more confused... "What, Luxembourg is a city"?? Very confused, and me thinks a little too much of the special tabacco for their own good! Provided some entertainment though... Next on the menu was supper, and finding a place to eat on Easter Sunday night, that was within our meager price range, was a tough job for sure! After walking the streets for about 1.5 hours, we settled for a bar that looked ok and yet fairly cheap... But the food wasn't so good... The wine was nice though and that helps alot! After eating we returned to our Hostel and entered the common room to mingle. It was here, after all my friends had retired, that I met by chance an Aussie named Marcus. After a hearty chat about all things under the moon, he decided to join our company the following day to explore the city! This was my que, and I quickly hit the sack!
Continue on to Day 4 by clicking here.
