16 June '05 - + 12 - 22 What Language are We Speaking Now?
We left
Aachen
early Friday evening, after Jenny finished work. The rest of the
day was an experience in languages. Within a few hours, we had to
be ready to read road signs in German, Dutch, German, French, German,
and Luxembourgish, in that order as we passed from Germany to the
Netherlands, back to Germany, to Belgium, Belgium, and finally into
Luxembourg. I didn't even realize that Luxembourg had its own
language until that trip. The most confusing part of the drive
was within Belgium. We passed from the French-speaking part into
the German-speaking part without any border or sign. The only
notice was that city halls were suddenly called
Rathaus instead of
Hôtel de Ville.
Backing up a bit, the trip into the Netherlands was brief and
completely unnecessary. I wanted to see the hospital where she
works in Aachen, so we checked it out. I quickly regretted it,
since that hospital is one of the
ugliest buildings I've ever seen. It was as though they'd heard that the
Centre Pompidou
in Paris was a nice building with its external service skeleton, and
they tried to copy it. Disastrously. It was so bad I just
couldn't take a picture.
Anyway, after I'd seen the hospital, it
was only a couple miles to the Dutch border and another hotel Jenny had
used a few times. So, we drove about five miles into the
Netherlands just because we could. The interesting thing was the
border. You could see the buildings that used to be border guard
stations, but now those buildings had ice cream shops. The only
real way to know you'd just crossed a
Schengen border was the subtle change in spelling between
Deutsch and Dutch.
Once
back on the trail to Luxembourg, we crossed into Belgium quickly.
We didn't have any particular reason to stop there; it was too early
for dinner and
Lonely Planet
didn't have anything too interesting to say about any of the cities on
our route. However, Jenny had never been to Belgium, and we
couldn't count it if we didn't get out of the car. So, we headed
off the highway to the small town of Stavelot. There wasn't much
to see there, as the museum in the old Abbey were closed.
However, we drove around a bit and tried to understand the French words.
Ruins of part of the Stavelot Abbeye
From Stavelot, the drive into Luxembourg was interesting. When I spent a night in Luxembourg in
1997,
I didn't see much or really understand much. Driving into the
country disabused me of the notion that there wasn't really anything to
the country but the capital city. In fact, there were some
gorgeous views as we drove through the northern highlands of
Luxembourg. Unfortunately, we never really got a good picture.
We
didn't get into Luxembourg City until late, but we resolved to see as
much of the old city as we could, and to find some dinner. It
really is an attractive city perched on the cliffs above the confluence
of two rivers. It was immediately apparent how the city was
turned into a great fortress, the "Gibraltar of the North."
Dinner
was good, too. We found a restaurant that used to be a brewery in
one of the valleys below the city. The restaurant focused on
local Luxembourgish specialties, which apparently means pork. My
dish that evening was four large helpings of four different cuts of
pork: a succulent ham, pork loin, pork ribs, and a ham hock, with broad
beans, potatoes and sauerkraut. It would have been enough for
both of us, but it surely was tasty. I washed my pork down with a
local beer, and Jenny washed down her tasty chicken dish with a glass
of Luxembourgish wine.
The Bank Museum at Sunset
The Cathedral of Notre Dame towering over the Petrusse Valley
City Fortifications at Night (same spot as another
picture I took during the day in 1997)
The Ghostly City at Night
In
the morning, we walked around the city a lot more, following Lonely
Planet's suggested walking tour (and picking up breakfast at the
farmer's market set up in the town square). The best parts were
the
City History Museum and the Bock Casements.
The
history museum was built at the edge of the city. The top three
floors are in a mansion built within the city walls, and the lower
floors were built into some old buildings that were built up from the
valley floor. The permanent exhibit was in the lower floors,
explaining the history of the city through a series of intricate wooden
models, surrounded by stonework of the ancient buildings. Very
cool. The upstairs portion was a temporary exhibit on the artwork
stolen from Luxembourg by the Nazis in World War II. It was very
interesting despite being only in German and French.
The Bock
Casements were a series of tunnels and rooms carved out of the cliffs
by the Spaniards in the 1700s as part of the city's defenses.
There's nothing really inside the tunnels, but it's interesting to walk
through the rough-hewn stone rooms and imagine being garrisoned there.
The Bock Casements - the holes in the cliffs. Also note the mix of old and new in the city.
The Grand Duke's Palace
The City History Museum
The Bock Casements overlooking the Alzette River Valley
Then,
we tried to leave Luxembourg. This was mostly a simple process,
except for the hotel garage. I've never seen such a narrow
driving course in my life. Instead of making a three-point turn
to get out of the garage, I had to make a nine- or eleven- point
turn. Unfortunately, I had to make such maneuvers at least four
times to get into the garage and at least twice to get out of the
garage. I've never been so exhausted by driving, even when I
drove all night from St. Louis to Rapid City, SD.
So, when we
finally succeeded in getting out of the garage, we headed to the
Luxembourg wine region along the Mosel River. We found a winery
there, and had a tour and some samples of fine sweet white
Luxembourgish wine. Finally, we were on our way back to Germany
to go to Trier.
That will have to wait until the next post.
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