One more time around!

So, suprise surprise, I made it to Paris one more time. I think this will be my last trip some place before I come home and given that I have been to Paris so many times and love it there...it seems almost fitting that it would be my last big trip. I ended up going with Laurence for an overnight stay in Paris and saw still more things that I have not seen there. Amazing that you could go someplace 4 times and still have more things left to explore. Laurence was going to meet one of her other friends and staying there so I came along for the ride and to spend time with her. We stayed in a beautiful section of town just above Notre Dame know as La Marais. There were lots of fun shops and great restaurants and happily for me a Starbucks coffee. It is so sad to pay almost 6 EUR for a venti caramel macchiato, but you will never know how much you miss your coffee until you run into a big coffee place 4 times in 6 months! And to boot, they had donuts there! As we were walking out the door, I said to Laurence...I must have died and gone to heaven...coffee and donuts! From there we did a little shopping and I got some presents for my mother and my sister. For those of you who did not catch it and want to make fun of me later...Yes Starbucks was my first stop. And yes that was the thing I was most excited about seeing! From there Laurence and I sat at a cafe and had something to drink while we waited for her friend Jean to meet us. When he arrived, I left to let them have some time to catch up and I went off to take some pictures. Since I have taken most of the touristy pictures of Paris that I wanted to take, now I was just trying to find things that I thought were interesting. I have posted them here. I was pretty frustrated at how things were coming out, but I did manage to find a few things that I thought kind of worked out. I went back and met Laurence and Jean and we went to a trendy restaurant called B4. It was good, the company was really nice. Then when Jean left us Laurence and I stopped for another drink on the way home and talked at one of the little outdoor cafes. I think that this is what I am going to miss most about Europe: Laurence and sitting outside having a drink and solving the problems of the world. Sunday, Laurence was meeting another friend. Before that we went and had brunch at a famous place called Le Loire dans le Theiere. Here we got real breakfast! After that I left Laurence and took pictures in Le Jardin des Plantes and I sat by the Seine and listened to music and enjoyed the atmosphere of just being in Paris.

Well I finally made it to Bruges

For the last weekend that Sara is here, we decided to try and make it to Bruges in Belgium. This time we took the train to make sure the it would actually happen. :) The city was everything I had heard and more. I really loved it there. The atmosphere was amazing and it was so great to be able to spend that time with Sara. Bruges is considered to be the Venice of the north and very touristy. There were definitely a lot of tourists but it was really quaint as well, and the people were so friendly. The train ride from Luxembourg took about 4 hours. It was raining on the ride and we were both really tired because we took the 7 am train. We took the time to rest and regroup. When we got there, we took the bus to the area the hotel was in. We were able to get in right away which was nice because were about 3 hours before the check in time. We dropped our bags and went to the center. On the way there we had seen there was a Dali gallery and we both wanted to check that out. First, we went on a canal boat tour, I put some pictures on here. The canals are now only used for the tourists, which is kind of a shame because they were really cool and seemed like a great place to spend the day. We did a lot more shopping and window shopping than we thought we would. Of course, the chocolate there was really amazing. We made it back to the Dali gallery right as it started to rain. Talk about perfect timing. It was really interesting to go and spend time there with someone that appreciates his work and has some interesting perspective on it. From there we went to a really great little restuarant and split a Croque Monsieur (toasted ham and cheese) and we each got a Belgian Waffle. Clearly, we could not leave Belgium with out trying that. The food there was really wonderful, we loved it so much we went back the next day for breakfast. Other than that we also went to a great tea room. I think that we spent most of the trip really shopping and eating! Not a bad thing! We also had time to try the sauna at the hotel. Overall, it was a very relaxing trip. The next day was brunch at the same restaurant and then a little more shopping to pick up some presents for some of our family. I will definitely be going back to Bruges. It is a little hard to put the ambiance in words and the feeling that we had being there, but it is definitely someplace the everyone needs to see! And doing it with a friend like Sara makes it even better. We had so much fun and so much to talk about, we have too few opportunites to really spend time like that. I was really happy to have that time with her.

The middle of nowhere is amazing!

My last guest of my six month stay is here and we are having so much fun. Sara, one of my closest friends from Plymouth arrived here on Friday afternoon. I was nervous about getting her at the airport because I realized after she had already boarded the plane that it was arriving here at 3 instead of 5 and I had made no arrangements to get her that early. Thankfully, Dave was really understanding and let me take a long lunch break during our month end pricing to go get her! Thanks Dave! So Friday, I went and and picked her up at the airport and then dropped her back at my house and then went back to work to tie up some unfinished projects. When I was finished we took a walk aroung Luxembourg and I showed her the abbey, one of my favorite and one of the most picturesque places in Luxembourg. I will take pictures there eventually to show everyone but I am sure that they will not even do it justice! We arrived home at about 10pm and I cooked dinner and then we stayed up until about 1:30 talking and catching up some more. The next day we met Laurence and headed to Luxeuil les Bains in pretty much the middle of nowhere in France but it was amazing. It is about a 3 hour drive from Luxembourg and the region is best known for the healing mineral baths. A lot of people go there for the healing properties for rheumatism or psoriasis or other such ailments. We were really excited about the hotel because it had a pool and also really excited about meeting Laurence's friend Sylvie that night. The hotel was really cute. The rooms were similar to a bed and breakfast anf everything was modern and clean. We changed as soon as we got there in an effort to get a little time at the pool and in the sun. We did manage that but sadly no tan :( We then walked around town a little. We ran into a bachelor party and we chatted with the groom for a bit. I am adding his picture with us here, because you have to see how he looked, his friends were ruthless! (but all in good fun). One of the best parts of the evening was the phenomenal jazz fusion band that we stumbled upon in this obscure courtyard park. Even the little kids were silent when the music was playing! We really wanted to get a CD, but they said that they did not want to record their music because they felt that they wanted to be able to share the music and the experience with people and the recording it would take that experience away. This was a kind of cool but very frustrating answer. When we left there we went to dinner with Sylvie, one of Laurence's friends. We had an amazing time. The food and the conversation were really fabulous, I am sure that we solved one or two of the worlds problems that night! We got home at about 1, and really, we were not even tired. Sara and I proceeded to stay up until about 3 chatting and laughing. In fact, we were so loud that Laurence could here us from her room on another floor! Oops! The next day, we took the back roads through the cute little provincial towns to Baulay, to visit Sylvie and enjoy a barbecue at her farmhouse. The food and the time was really great. We had so much fun. As Sara put it, it is amazing that smart, liberal women from all over the world seem to be the same no matter how far apart they are! We brought Sylvie a slip and slide as her present for having us there. It was supposed to be a gift that we could use too since it was going to be hot out then too. It was complete with little inflatable race cars to race with others, too bad it was not hot enough that day, we could have testing it out to make sure it worked. I would highly recommend visiting the middle of nowhere and meeting Sylvie, the whole weekend was really fabulous. Today, Sara and I just tooled around Luxembourg. She window shopped and I really shopped. It was a great, relaxing day that we both really needed to unwind. Thanks to Sylvie for hosting us and showing us such a great time. It is really nice to have made such a wonderful new friend!

World Traveling

Well, yet another whirlwind week has come to a close, and yet another nap is needed to recover from another fantastic time. Dave flew all the way here from Colorado, a 20 hour flight! He arrived on Tuesday afternoon, after leaving on Monday Afternoon the day before! He had not really slept that much for 3 days, but was happy to spend the time going around Luxembourg and seeing the sights. We dropped his things off at my place and then dropped Laurence’s car off at work for her, and off we went to see some of the sights. The first stop was the Coffee Lounge. This is my favorite coffee place in Luxembourg. We sat there and had some coffee and the walked around. We walked by the palace and into the Grund, around the Abbey. It was a really nice time. We then stopped at Urban, one of my favorite hangouts and had a drink outside. I am sure that Dave was crashing by this point but he did not show it. We moved from there to meet Laurence for a drink and some dinner. It was definitely a great time, it was a beautiful night and we made the most of it. I had to work the next day, and Dave was hitting a wall so we decided to return home. The next day, I went to work and I left Dave the keys and some money, just in case he had problems exchanging currency. He went around Luxembourg a little more on his own. After that we met Kathy at a nice little Italian restaurant in the center of town. Mind you at this point we still have not decided what we are doing for the days off that I have. We narrowed it down to renting a car and seeing what we wanted to plan. Originally, the plan was to go to Prague, but since it was going to take so long to get there we opted for some day trips instead. Thursday was the first day trip. We went to Cologne, Germany. Of course, Dave had to make fun of me a little because the thing I was searching for most was Dunkin’ Donuts. I had heard that there was one at the train station and I really wanted to find it. Unfortunately, I did not find it, but I did find a Starbucks, so I was able to have a decent size coffee. This pretty much made my whole day! We spent most of the time wandering around, just enjoying the atmosphere of the place. We did make it to a few tourist places such as the Cologne Cathedral and we passed a really cool church that was being renovated and pretty much hollowed out, but looked really interesting for pictures. We had dinner on the square with the cathedral. I think we were both a little out of sorts this day. We were both trying to be really easygoing and mostly succeeding but also we were both really a little tired and cranky. Dave has not driven a standard car that much and between sensing his stress at driving and the GPS giving us convoluted directions, I strongly suggested that he let me drive home and things were much better J This is probably another thing I will never live down, but I am used to that! On Friday, we had decided that we were going to go to Brugges in Belgium. We programmed the GPS, selecting country first then city. When we got onto the highway in Luxembourg, Dave pointed out that he thought we should be going toward Brussels. I, however, decided to follow the GPS. When we got about two hours outside of Luxembourg, I was looking at the GPS and saying to Dave, does that say 712 miles to Brugges? Apparently, I selected the one in the Pyrennes. For those of you who don’t know the Pyrennes are between France and Spain, the whole wrong side of the country. After we were thoroughly done laughing at me, we decided to go to Paris instead. We did go to a section of Paris that I had never been to before. We went Montmatre and Sacre Coeur. It was a fabulous time, we walked around and looked at all the artisans in the area and then we had dinner at one of the little cafes. We did not get home until midnight that night, but we had an incredible time. The next day we spent most of the day relaxing at home. We were going to go a tour of the palace in the afternoon but it was all booked up by the time that we got there. Instead we got something to eat in the centre and then went to the Jazz Festival. The Jazz Festival in Luxembourg was amazing! There were so many cool musicians and interesting music. It was such a great event, and it was all free! Laurence and the girl she has living with her right now also came and we had a blast. Sunday, we mad yet another trip. Laurence, Dave, and I went to Metz. It was another trip to mostly see the ambiance of the place and experience it. We sat at one of the little cafes along the river and listened to music and enjoyed the day, just chatting and eating and really just relaxing. Monday I had to work, but later in the day we went for drinks at Laurence’s house and enjoyed wine and just more relaxing, which after this whirlwind week we certainly needed. I took Tuesday off as well since it was Dave’s last day here. We ended up going to Trier in Germany and I took him around to see some of the cool places I had been before and to find gifts for his friends. We were going to eat at one really nice looking place, but as the menu was all in German and not even remotely comprehensible to either one of us, we opted for another place. The food was good there too and it was to perfect evening to end the trip on. I never knew that it was possible to laugh so much or have such a great time with any one person. It was by far the best week I have had so far!

I'm Back

Well I know it has been quite a while since I sat down and wrote something so I have a lot of updates for you. Or maybe not that many because I saw some of you when I was home for the 4th of July. The weekend before that was more time to relax and prepare to go home, although I did go with Kathy for the day to another part of Luxembourg called Remish. This is along the river and reminds me a little of the shorelines you see along the coast, no white sandy beaches but little shops and restaurants along the water, it was really a nice place. We ended up taking a wine tour there at one of the wine caves called St. Martin. This would have been a little more informative had the whole tour not been in German! If it was not for Kathy having been on some of the wine cave tours before I would have left there not knowing anything except that the wine tasted pretty good! I bought one bottle of Riesling and one bottle of Champagne to bring home to give everyone a taste of the vineyards here, and they became part of the 4th of July celebration. Or at least the Riesling did, then champagne went home with my cooler and some of my beer and hard iced tea to Melissa's house, So maybe it will be around for Labor Day instead :) The trip back to the US was a whirlwind trip to say the least, but I am really glad that I went. I was able to see most of my friends and my family and to enjoy the 4th of July. Thursday was spent pretty much running errands. I got my haircut, Thanks Denise! I really needed it I am sure. I also got my nails done and my toes. This is so expensive over here, it is not worth the money really, Thankfully I had thought to pack my own pedicure kit, but it is always nice to be pampered. Then Friday of course was the 4th of July. It started in the morning with the parade, which I was a little afraid was going to be a washout, but the sun came out enough to keep it from raining and the parade was great. I had coffee and donuts for everyone and more donuts and pastries thanks to Gayle and Maggie. As fate would have it my friend Laurence was coming to Boston on a business trip about the same time I was coming home for my holidays. So I invited her down for the festivities. I picked her up at the train station and brought her back. We had the grill going and the side dishes out and people were arriving, it was a blast. Dan and Donna announced to me that they got engaged while I was away. I gave Dan a hard time for not calling me, but in all honesty I was so happy for them and really touched that they wanted to wait to tell me in person. So their cookout I went to the next day was really an engagement party. Talk about timing! the cookout was a great time and this year it was still nice, a little cool, at night, so we made it to the fireworks too. It was really the perfect day. Then on Saturday, I drove Laurence back to Boston so she could meet up with her other friends and I went to the engagement party. It was great to see the band, Dan and Donna, and their families. Also I got to see Sylvester 3 times in my five days home, strange how that happens that you just keep seeing people. Since they ran out of Polaroid film by the time Sylvester and I were going to get out pictures taken, I drew a cartoon for them instead. If you have ever seen the cartoons I draw they usually have their arms sticking straight out so when they found a camera to take our picture, Sylvester made sure that his arms were sticking straight out so that we were standing exactly like the cartoon, I must say it was kind of funny, but maybe you had to be there. Sunday was the day I returned back to Luxembourg. We did the lighting round of shopping at Derby street and then it was off to the airport. It was so nice to be flying back with Laurence. I did not get to sit with her on the way to London, but I had someone it hang out with the rest of the time and to sit with on the flight to Luxembourg. I was so tired. I cannot believe that I actually decided to work as soon as I got off the plane. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was planning to stay up for the jet lag anyway, but by the end of the day it was hard to keep my eyes open. It really took me almost the whole week to recover. But here I am, more or less back to normal and ready for the my next visitor. My friend Dave is arriving on Tuesday afternoon, we are playing it by ear in deciding what we are going to do, but either way it should be fun. Yesterday, Kathy and I went to Vianden, yet another part of Luxembourg I had yet to explore. this is where all the castles are. We went to the castle Vianden. This was interesting to see, it would have been nice if they had I guided tour, but Kathy had a book with her and this was enough for me to get some of the history, and I got to see a castle other than the one at the Magic Kingdom! Then we took the only Chair lift in Luxembourg up to the scenic overlook to take more pictures. The pictures were great, but the ride down on the chair lift made my knees go weak (good thing I was sitting down!). I know a lot to cram into one entry but it has been a fast couple weeks and I am sure that the rest of the time here will go that fast now too. Less than two more months now until I return to the US and start planning my next adventures!

The City of Lights

Well, another weekend, another trip. I am starting to feel like a true jet-setter now! I went back to Paris this weekend with my friend Crystal. Luckily for me, we did not do all the same things that I did with my family. First of all, we got to the hotel and it was an old little hole in the wall, but the people there were very friendly and the room was clean. We were a little disturbed by the look of the place at first but in a good neighborhood for 120 EUR a night what to you expect. The added bonus is that we each got our own double bed which is quite unusual for the hotel rooms here. I had to sign us up for a triple room because there were no double rooms available. A triple room at the best hotels is one double bed and one twin bed. So this was much more than I expected. In the States you get so used to the comfort of knowing that you will almost always have two double beds in a standard room. Here that is very hard to get. Since the hotel is basically just to sleep, we got over that one pretty quickly. We had gotten the same hop on hop off bus tour passes for the next couple days so we decided to stick with what was in our area for that day. Our first stop was at the Musee d’Orsay. I really liked some of the work here, mostly the Renoir Paintings and the Rodin Sculptures. But there was also a special photography exhibition that was really cool. I think that I pushed Crystal a bit over the edge with the museums between here and Amsterdam so I did miss some of the impressionist work that I would have liked to see there. As it is a renovated train station the architecture of the building was just as cool as the pieces in it. From there we went over to where we got our bus passes and signed up for the Illuminations night tour of Paris and then walked around. We found the highlight of my trip….a Starbucks Coffee! For those of you who have heard me complain about the size of the coffee in Luxembourg, you will know how truly exciting this was for me. I had to pay 5 Euros for a Caramel Macchiato but I had a coffee that I could carry around with me! I also had to take a picture of myself in front of the Starbucks to send back…I know I am such a dork, but I was really excited about it. After my exciting trip to Starbucks we had a glass of wine at a little café that backed on one of the really old churches in the area, it was a really cool atmosphere to sit outside and enjoy, and then we had a long dinner at another little café, and the food was fabulous. We started with escargot, which I probably just like for the garlic butter, but it was really yummy. Then we each had the duck and goat cheese salad, also really nice, plus coffee and crème brulee. It was a long dinner, but very worth it, probably one of the best meals I have had so far. Then it was time for the night tour. I took the bulk of my pictures here, Paris is really beautiful at night, especially the Eiffel Tower all lit up, we really enjoyed this tour more than just about everything. We decided also to make this trip more of a vacation than we had the other ones, so we slept in, at least it was sleeping in for me, Crystal would have slept until noon, I woke up at about 9:30, Sorry Crystal. By the time we got ready and ventured out, we had a late breakfast at another little café because as you may know or guess, there are about a million of these in Paris. After that we found our bus tour in front of the Louvre and went over to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. We really did not spend too much time here as the lines were really long and we had already planned to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. When we got there the line was really long and it was really hot out pretty much the whole weekend. If you ever decide to go there, you can only make reservations on tickets for group tours and be prepared to spend about 3 hours. The view was great; you could see the whole city from there. Unfortunately when we came down we realized that our tour bus had been shut down for the night due to the Musicfest that was going to happen that night. This posed a problem as we needed find the Metro and figure out our own way home. Obviously, it happened but it was a little bit of a project. Another great dinner at yet another little café helped to curb the annoyance that we felt. We stayed there for quite some time and heard some of the bands playing while we were walking home. Sunday, we slept in again and then grabbed a quick pastry and headed to the Rodin Museum. This is Crystal’s favorite sculpture and really all she wanted to see was The Thinker which was in the garden there. To our pleasant surprise you are able to go into the gardens for free, so we just took a garden pass and walked around there. I took some photos there and the we left and went to the Louvre. We did the short tour there, which touched on the three most popular pieces, the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. We were going to try and do another tour, but the GPS on the audio/visual tour we got was a little too much for either of us to figure out probably due to the heat, but we decided to forgo a second tour and just wait a the train station. We made it back to Luxembourg at about 9:15pm. Although we were really tired, we decided to go out anyway. It was the Duke’s Birthday weekend, which is like our 4th of July, but much bigger. There were fireworks, bands, food and drink vendors all over the streets. It was an amazingly large party and a lot of fun. Other than losing Crystal and needing to find her again it was a great time. We got home about 1:30 in the morning and we could have stayed out much later. Several of my friends were out until the sun came up, but since Crystal needed to be at the airport by 8 in the morning we opted for a couple hours sleep instead. Since I had Monday off here, I could rest then. Overall, it was another great weekend. Paris is really one of my favorite places so far and the Duke’s birthday celebration was something that could not be missed!

The Country with two faces

Well, Amsterdam was a blast. It is funny how the two sides of Amsterdam are at two different ends of the spectrum. You either have the seedy, drug and sex scene or a whole slew of museums and cultural interests. Once you get past the train station, the atmosphere is very laid back and relaxed. There are always about a thousand people riding their bicycles, which you will be able to see when I post some of the pictures. It was cold there too. It is unfortunate because the weather has been really nice pretty much until Crystal landed and then it turned cold. She actually had to go out and buy a jacket because it was that cold out. Anyway, back to Amsterdam…the train ride from Luxembourg to Amsterdam is about 6 hours. The only potentially bad part about the train rides to and from was the connection time. We had about 4 minutes on the way there to make the connection in Brussels to get to Amsterdam and they were boarding our train on the way back already when we were transferring to go home, so we had to hustle with all our luggage, or since Crystal has a bad back…I had to hustle with all our luggage. But we made it. When we got to Amsterdam, at about 2pm on Saturday we went to our hotel. It was a very small hotel called Hotel de Paris, it got very good reviews on line. It was more like a large bed and breakfast. We liked it, it was clean and the people were friendly, but the rooms were so tiny. It was like sharing a shoebox! We were only there to sleep so we muddled through. The first place we went was Anne Frank’s house. This was top of my list of what I wanted to visit in Amsterdam. The line is always really long to get in, but thankfully it moved rather quickly. The house was left empty, as everything was confiscated when the Nazis came in to arrest the people living there, because that was how Anne’s father wanted it to remain. I really was interested in the interviews and personal accounts here and to see the house. I do think that they could have done a little more to draw you, but overall I am happy I went. From there we walked around a bit and got some dinner. After that is was time for our walking tour of the Red Light District, bet you did not even know that they had those. Well they do, and it was quite informative. The red light district was not as much of a shock as I thought it might be, maybe I am just too desensitized by what was on TV, but I just found it interesting.

The next day we did more or less the Museum Circuit, we went to Rembrandt’s house, the Amsterdam Dungeons, and the Torture Museum. Out of these Rembrandt’s house was my clear favorite. Rembrandt’s house not only displayed some of the works but it also had a demonstration of the etching process and an audio commentary to put the whole place in perspective. The Amsterdam dungeons made advertised itself as a historical reenactment when in fact it was more like a really good haunted house with some historical basis. It was still really good though, parts of it did scare the shit out of me, it just was not what I expected. The torture museum was displaying torture devices from around the Spanish Inquisition with some illustrations to put how the device was used in perspective, it was disturbing to say the least but still really interesting. After that we caught the last boat to one of the ramps closer to our hotel. By then we were tired and hungry and we walked past the Hard Rock Café and decided to eat there. Not bad, the usual for any of those places.
On our last day there we went to the Van Gogh Museum. This I think was my favorite. Partly because I really like the work and also because the commentary that we got to go along with it also put the work in perspective to what was going on in his life at the time and that really helped to see the progression of what was happening and tying it all in.
We took the train back to Luxembourg and we just made the connection in Brussels, they were already board the train when we arrived. We arrived back in Luxembourg at about 8:30pm. All in all Amsterdam was a lot of fun, I think that we are both really glad we went. Tonight we went to Metz for dinner with Laurence and took some more pictures. We went to a crepe restaurant. I did not know that crepes could be used for more than dessert, but the food was really good. I told Laurence that we will have to bring all my visitors back here so people who are visiting be prepared! Now in a few more days it is back to Paris again. I am just becoming the little world traveler!

French Phrase of the Week

Hi There,

Sorry I forgot....here is the french Phrase of the week:

Je crois que je travaille trop. Non, je sais que je travaille trop!

We are getting a little further into the year, I think you can figure out the meaning :)
If not, let me know!

The First Paris Excursion

I know, I know...it has been too long since I wrote anything down. The weekend before last there was really nothing interesting going on. I was just getting ready for the arrival of my family, so lots of cleaning and food shopping. It was not worth a whole blog entry so I skipped that weekend altogether. Then the fun stuff began. My family arrived on Tuesday morning from the USA. My sister had quite the ordeal with her transfer flight and almost did not make it. For those of you who travel here at some point, American Airlines does not have an agreement with Lux Air. If you check a bag they will not transfer it. You need to retrieve it, go through customs, go back through security and then check in for your next flight. My sister had checked a bag, my parents came with carry on luggage, so this was her ordeal. She had an hour and a little more to make her flight, if it was not for the people at Lux Air she would not have been here. They escorted her through security and from customs, and when she forgot her purse at security one of the Lux Air employees ran all the way back there to get it for her. They held the plane for her and she made it here on the flight that she was supposed to. I have to say that they definitely went above and beyond, Thank God for all of us. Thankfully, the rest of the trip was not so eventful. No one really slept on the plane, so when they arrived I let them sleep for a little while, not too long though because that is when it is hard to adjust to the time. After that we walked to my favorite coffee place in the center (one of the two places here that has normal size coffee!) and we sat and had some coffee and talked to Peter, the owner. Then we walked around and I showed them some of the places that I think are the most picturesque. Laurence came over for dinner to meet the family, generally it was a low key but nice day. On Wednesday, I took them to Trier, Germany. they really liked it there, we saw a couple more sites than I had seen before such as the electoral palace and the constantine bascilica. We ate some real german food and then headed for home. Thursday was going to be an early day because then we were leaving for Paris. Every morning, I went across the street to the bakery to get fresh croissants. Thursday was no exception. I got some croissants with my father and then we went to the fruit market and got some fruit for the ride as well. Upon arriving back at my place, Jenni informed us that our train was in fact at 8:55 not 9:55 and we needed to leave right then, good thing I am only about 2 blocks from the train station! We did make the train no problem, we switched trains in Metz in France ( and got some drinks to wash down the croissants!) and then arrived in Paris at noon. The first thing that struck me was how overwhelming it was to be in a completely foriegn city for the first time. After a little discussion we opted to take a cab to the hotel, which was not that far away, but without a map I just wanted to get there and be done with it. After dropping our things at the hotel, we went for lunch. We picked a small neighborhood restaurant on the same street since we needed to return back to the hotel in an hour to move our things to the room. The other thing that struck me was how nice the people in Paris were, so many Americans talk about their bad experiences in Paris and I found the people warm and friendly. I do speak some french so maybe the effort helped, but even when they couldn't understand my french and I spoke english, they were always really nice and helpful. After lunch, we went to Notre Dame. We walked the 2 KM from the hotel. On the way we found the Jewish History Museum and decided to go there. My sister is really interested in the history of the Holocaust, unfortunately there was not a lot of that here. Paris is in the process of building another museum soley dedicated to the Holocaust. The history of the Jewish People in Paris was very interesting though. Notre Dame was beautiful and very ornate. There were lots of little individual chapel areas inside and it was really something to see. After leaving Notre Dame it was time for a snack. Mark these moments, because food did not play a major part in this trip! My father called it the slimming tour! In order to fit everything in that people wanted to do the next day we at almost nothing until dinner! Each day was also filled with a little souvenir shopping. All the meals that we did eat were very good. On friday, we tried to squeeze in all that we could. We took the L'Open Tour Buses. They are hop on hop off buses that you can take at your own pace to all the sites and they worked out really well. We went to the Louvre, the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and the Catacombes, and all on just the croissant we had in the morning. (Obviously we are big on croissants in this family!) After dinner, we took at ride on the Sienne. Saturday was the last day for Paris, we devoted that day to Pere LaChaise cemetery and the completion of our shopping. Pere Lachaise has so many interesting people buried there, we only made it to a few: Jim Morrison, Chopin, and Seurat. There were so many other ones to see if you had the time, but alas we did not. We arrived back in Luxembourg Satuday evening and went to dinner with Laurence to Chigorie, a traditional French Restaurant. As with the other places, the food was fabulous, this one was better than most though. Then we went for a walk and looked out over the grund at night. Jenni got some pictures of this, it was really cool. Sunday, was the last day they had here, and I did not have too much planned. The only plan that I had was to meet Kathy for lunch since it was her birthday. Before that I tried to squeeze in some of the history of Luxembourg so we went to the history museum. This was cool, it starts on the bottom floor and works it way up to present day, we probably could have spent some more time there but we actually got a little sleep so it was somewhat of a late start. We ate lunch at Beaujolais, a little pizza place in the centre. It was the nicest day we had had all along. Paris was in the 50's and cold. Luxembourg was in the 70's and sunny. All of it was fun anyway, but I was happy to have a nice day. Kathy suggested that after lunch she bring us to the American Cemetary in Luxembourg. General Patton is buried there, which I did not know before coming here, so it was really interesting to see, we also went to the German Cemetary a couple streets away and it was sad to see the difference between the two. The German cemetary was much more somber and had 4 people to a grave, where the American Cemetary was sunny and peaceful. Both were interesting in their own rite. When we completed all the site seeing we could fit in, we went back to the centre for some ice cream and then walked back toward my place to meet Laurence for a drink. It was sad here yesterday with out my family, after all the hustle and bustle of the last week, I got used to the noise and the lack of space. The quiet was almost deafening. Luckily for me the next of my visitors from home arrives on Thursday! My friend Crystal is coming so I have no time to do anything but restock the fridge and get ready for her arrival! I am excited. We are heading for Amsterdam this weekend and then back to Paris the next. Let the good times keep coming!

Phantasialand

Well, this was another busy day at work with lots of plans during the week as well. Monday night, I met Kathy and her friend Diane for dinner. We went to a fondue restuarant in the center. It was a little on the pricey side, but the food was fantastic. We got one order of cheese fondue as an appetizer. It was a tomato basil type fondue, really good. Then we each got an order of meat fondue for dinner. The cuts of meat were very lean and everything was tasty. Way too much for me to eat in one sitting! On Wednesday, I met Justyna for dinner. Justyna is one of my newer friends. She works at the Tube, one of the bars that I go to. It is a small English bar. She is Polish, originally from Warsaw, she speaks 4 languages (Polish, French, English, and German). We went to Namaste, one of the Indian restuarants on my street. We stayed for a long time just talking about our lives and life in general, it was a lot of fun. Thursday was my day to lay low (because I think I went out on Tuesday too but I really can't remember what I did! I am forgetting things already...not good!) Friday, I hung out with some of the guys from my group on Le Place de Paris, one of the blocks that has several outdoor restuarants, I kept it early though because Saturday was Phantasialand! Phantasialand is an amusement park in Germany close to Cologne. It seems like I am doing the amusement park tour of Europe...that's a new one. It was so much fun. I was a little nervous about going because the group from BBH I was going with were people I only know a little, we don't really see eachother more than just to say hello to. They invited me to go with them when I was still in the States and they thought I was going to be a part of their group. The way my exchange worked it was not the case though. I should not have worried though, everyone was so nice and we all went around together. There was 11 of us that went. The bus picked us up at the train station near my house at about 8:30 in the morning. It is a 2 hour ride to Cologne. Jenni, you would be so proud of me, I rode almost all the roller coasters, the only one I would not go on was one that even some of the guys would not go on. The one that I would not go on was called the Talocan, it was a giant spinning wheel with two long rows of spinning seats the spun aroun on an axle while you were plummeting toward the ground. Also I skipped the free fall, but I did go on the Black Mamba, which is supposed to be the biggest attraction there (from the website): A rush like no other! The Black Mamba hurtles through ravines, plunges down chasms and shoots past waterfalls. You won't even have time to scream as loop-the-loops, corkscrews, hairpin bends and stomach-churning drops follow in quick succession, while the tunnels obscure your peripheral vision and alter your perception of speed. All in all it was a fantastic day. We got back to Luxembourg around 8:30 and we were all exhausted, I was too tired to make myself something to eat right away, I went right to sleep and got up around 10pm to eat and then went back to bed. Tonight, I am going to Kathy's house for dinner, she is making a raclette. A raclette is a melting block of cheese that is served with meat potatos and veggies. It is one of the things that they serve at the fondue restuarant as well. Now I am off to get ready for the day.

Revised French Phrase

So in french class we learned the polite was to say things yesterday (a new verb tense) and I realize now that my french phrase is a little too demanding so for those of you who might actually use it and don't want to have someone spit in your beer for being rude...

J'aimerais une autre biere.

Much more polite! Heather....miss the firm deadline again and I might have to book another ticket back to the U.S. :)

German and French Phrase of the week

Ich brauche ein anderes Bier.....I need another beer

and in french for those who have been missing the phrase of the week email.

J'ai besoin d'une autre bière

Laying low

This weekend was very low key. I worked very hard last week, basically from 7am until 8 or 9 pm almost every night. I had intended on going someplace this weekend but after a week like that I just needed to recover and recoup from the long week. So I did the normal boring things that I would do in the US, which is groceries and watching TV, going to the movies and sleeping in. I went to see two movies, Saturday night I went out with Laurence, she left for Tunisia on Sunday to meet her twin sister for vacation. So , we got together before she left so that we could hang out a little. We went out for dinner at the same seafood restuarant that I mentioned earlier, at the mall. I am still amazed that a landlocked country could have a good seafood restuarant! Then we saw Fools Gold, it was cute, a nice way to pass two hours. I also started watching the series Rome from HBO. My friend Jim let me borrow this while he is in Poland. I really like it so far and I have watched the first seven episodes. I worked on putting together a CV (resume) for one of the girls I met over here, and I submitted it for an Admin Position over here. She is a nice girl, smart, she speaks 4 languages, but she hasn't had the opportunity to finish college so I figured I would try and help her out a little. She is a bartender at one of the places that I go regularly and she has always been nice to me, so I hope that this works out for her. Tomorrow I might meet up with Kathy and her friend from the US, who is here visiting, to go out for a little while. Then on Thursday, I think that Justyna, the bartender/new friend, are going to the Indian Restaurant on my street, Namaste. This coming weekend, I will head to Phantasialand in Germany with some of my colleagues, another amusement park, who knew I would go to more amusement parks in Europe than I have in the US! I will have some more pictures for you then. Hopefully something more exciting to tell than working hard and working hard!

Snubbed by the Mouse!

So Disney was fabulous. I suppose anyone who knows me should have no trouble believing that I would have a great time someplace where there are a lot of stuffed animals and make believe characters. We started out on Saturday morning at about 8 am for our 3 hour drive to Disney. The hotel was great, we tried to spend some time enjoying the hotel as well as the Parks. We checked into the Holiday in, each hotel had a theme. Ours was the circus. It was cute in a stylish sort of way, very nice room. We made our way over to the park and had lunch there and looked in some of the shops in Disney Village. I bought myself a couple tops the first day because there were some really cute peasant blouse type tops and I want to wear one the next day. After that we decided that we wanted to relax at the hotel so we went back, checked in and laid by the pool and read for a couple hours. It was nice to be in the sun and have some time to chill out. With the extrodinarily long hours I have been working lately it was much needed. After that we went out for a Steak Dinner in Disney Village. The restuarant was meteocre but the night was beautiful out. We sat outside and then we moved for a drink someplace else. We retired early that night because Sunday was going to be a long day. Sunday we were at the park by 8 am, the lines did not open until 9:15 but it gave us time for breakfast and to get in line for the gates early. We were in the park by 9:30 and it was faboulous. We did both parks, Universal and Magic Kingdom and just picked the things we wanted to see. I am sure Jenni will be happy to hear that I did go on the roller coasters, and that they were a lot of fun. We also did a character lunch where I was so unhappy because Mickey would not stop to take a picture with me. I tried to get a picture with him two times and he just shrugged me off and walked right by! Mickey Francais est stupide!!! I did get a picture with Chip and Dale, Gephetto and Pinnochio, and Goofy. I wore my Minnie ears the whole day and Goofy pulled them off every time he walked by....I think maybe Goofy was flirting with me? How wierd is that? But he is my new favorite now! All in all I love Disney. On the way back on Sunday we stopped in Reims in France so that I could see the cathedral, unfortunately the batteries on my camera ran out!! So I guess I will have to make it a point to go back. Now it is back to reality...French class is going well, I am doing well with communicating, hopefully I will at least be comfortable with speaking when I get back...with any luck fluent but that might be a stretch. I am coming home for the 3th of July, hopefully I will be able to see you all then.

The Cookoff

This weekend was all about the cook-off. Jim has been boasting...since well before I got here, I am sure, that his chicken parm is the best and would rival anyone in the North End. Since it is one of the only two things he can cook, naturally this gloating could not go unnoticed by those of us who cook many different things and never miss an opportunity for a good face off. So Kathy challenged Jim to a chicken parm cook off and I also was invited to take part. I went all out. I got up early Saturday morning because I wanted to make my own Pasta Sauce too and I was off to the store. Since the big grocery store is a twenty minute bus ride, I did not make it back until 11am. Another disadvantage for me is that apparently people do not use breadcrumbs in this country! Who ever heard of a country without breadcrumbs!!! Jim and Kathy had gotten some at the army base when Kathy still had a friend over here, I made my own. Sounds like that would be a bonus, but making breadcrumbs not as easy as you may think, especially without an oven and with fresh not stale bread...Amy S. I think I need a lesson when I get home! Anyway over all I think for having a few bumps in the road it came out pretty well. We all brought our dishes to Kathy's house and baked them in her oven. And being the forward thinking person that I am I made an extra dish to bring for lunch for the week, which has now turned out to be the lunch for my group tomorrow...I am the only girl and I think the only cook, go figure! Kathy invited four of her friends over and they were the judges. She won by a landslide! So the good news is Jim did not win (although his Chicken Parm was really good) and the bad news is I did not. Maybe next time we can pick something that I have made before and something where the ingredients are easily accessible. On a high note, my sauce came out awesome! Sunday was again low key, but it was another beautiful day. I slept late and did some laundry, then I went to one of the many outdoor cafes and read my book and drank some coffee. After that I walked around the Casemates, someplace I had not been to before but really beautiful outdoors. I tried unsuccessfully to take a self portrait and the one that the tourist I stopped took of me was very unflattering so maybe next week we can rectify that. Next week it is off to Disneyland in Paris! I guess the next pictures will be with the Mouse!

I am slowly being integrated into the country

This weekend was a little more low key than most, I stayed in Luxembourg for the most part. Friday night, I went out for a couple of drinks with my friend Dave from work. It was a beautiful night out so we went to Urban and sat outside. Dave is one of the Irish guys that I work with, and it was cool to be able to sit down and chat with him and get to know him. We move from there to The Tube, an English Bar that is made to look like the Underground. We left at about 12:30...He was going to our boss' wedding and I was leaving around nine to meet Kathy. Kathy and I went to Belgium on Saturday, to go to IKEA...nothing like spending more money on things you could easily by at home for less money but what the hell, that is part of the experience! and I kept the spending to a minimum. We also went to and Italian market with really inexpensive fruits and veggies and then to the British Store where you can buy things that you would get at home for a premium of course. Who thought there would be a place in the world where Water Crackers would cost less than Ritz? From there we went to the big supermarket and bought more food! Totally worth it though because I have a lot more of the food I would want to get than if I was at the little markets. We had lunch outside. This was the nicest weekend we have had. Believe it or not we at at Pizza Hut...not like the Pizza Hut's back home though. This is a sit down cafe with appetizers, entrees, pizza of course and a full bar. The food was good too! We listened to the musicians from the conservatory play in the centre and then we walked around the fair. After that it was time for me to leave, I went to Laurence's home in Belgium for her birthday dinner. I met her closest friends and made it through a dinner with almost complete french. Her friend Matt explained some things that it was clear I would not understand, but I pretty much got everything by myself! It was a late night, I was home at 2:30 in the morning. Sunday I met Kathy at the fair in the centre and then I went back to the cemetary and took some pictures. It was a nice weekend with a lot of running around, but I have added some more friends to my list (Matt and Mimi) and I will be watching Nouvelle Star with them starting next Wednesday! Today was the beginning of my french classes, I think I am somewhat ahead of some of the other people in my class, but they use the first class to place people so if they think I should be in a higher level they will let me know. I sat next to a nice guy from Germany, his name was Gero. We chatted for a bit before class. Everyone else seems nice, but not everyone speaks English so there was not a lot of socializing, French skills being somewhat limited and all. But I think I am going to like those too. I am adding some of my pictures from the cemetary for you all to see. This week I am going to go out on Wednesday I think for a drink with my coworkers and then to Kathy's (we have Thursday off) and then on Thursday I might go with Dave and Steve (the Irish Guys) to the Circus. There has been some joking around about whether it is a kids circus (only one tent) or a live porn show! Either way I am taking pictures! = ) Just Kidding, I am sure it is a real circus, but either way it should be interesting!!!

So I think I found Karl Marx's house?

So this weekend was Germany. I finally made it to Trier..which is about 45 minutes away from here. Trier is a very interesting place. I had never hear of it before but it has some very interesting claims to fame. It had the Ponta Nigra and some other roman ruins, it was at one time I think the capital of the roman empire, at least according to Wikipedia. Also the church there holds the robes of Christ. I did not know that they were still existing someplace and if I would guess I would have put them in Rome. Also, in case you did not guess from the title, Trier is also the birthplace of Karl Marx. We arrived in Trier at about 10 or 10:30 am. Kathy drove which was nice. We walked around and she showed my around the center a little. There was a Woolworths there. Since it does not exist in the US anymore I had to take a picture of it and those of us who are old enough to remember it will appreciate it here. It is still just as inexpensive as it has always been. I bought a windbreaker there for 6.99 EUR because I needed a jacket to wear out, the zipper on my fleece broke. Even by USD conversion standards that is a great deal! From there we went in search of Karl Marx's house, we stopped in some stores along the way, we followed the signs and we came to a white building that said something in German about Karl Marx, we think is it the place and I took at picture. After that though we talked to another woman to help us make sure and she pointed us in a different direction, but when we got there we saw signs pointing us in the direction that we came from. So the picture posted here is maybe Karl Marx's house or it could be some random german dwelling...who knows? We also went to the Catherdral to see the robes of Christ. You can't actually see the robes but you can see where they were housed and the church is quite beautiful. I also saw the Ponta Nigra but I did miss some of the ruins..I will go back and plan to take those in with my family. One of my favorite things about Trier...I could get a large cup of coffee!!! I would almost say that BBH needs to relocate me out there and I will commute, it kills me that my coffee is the size of a shot glass! We had some traditional german food for lunch in the center and did some more shopping. All in all we had a great time. We came home at about 4pm because one of my friends from work was going to be playing the guitar and singing at one of the Irish pubs that night. So I had a couple hours to catch up on my email and my calls on Skype and then it was off again to dinner at Villa d'este. I had Tortellini de la Nonna and Laurence had a salad with Foie Gras and some other interesting, better to remain nameless things. I did try them though and it was really good. She said it was just better for me not to know what I was eating thought and I decided to take her word for it! We went to the pub early so that we had a table and good thing because it got packed. Steve sounded really good. He is from Ireland, he played some traditional Irish music and also some classic rock like the Beatles etc... I called it a night at about 1 am and Laurence was nice enough to drop me at home. I went to bed around 2pm and was rudely awakened at 6am by the continuing saga with my neighbors...somebody was ringing my buzzer at 6 in the morning. This lasted until about 6:40 at which time I was wide awake and a little freaked out, but eventually I went back to sleep. Sunday was a beautiful day and although I was exhausted I did make it out for a 2 1/2 hour walk to see different parts of Lux. I tried to find the US embassy, to no avail, but I did find some really beautiful places. The public park is huge and I spent some time walking there. As well I walked through the cemetery, which unlike ours is kind of pretty with lots of statues. I will probably go back and take some pictures there too. Are you freaked out yet? Now maybe I am being a little wierd? Well you knew that already! = )

Addendum to the creepy basement....

I could not upload the picture so I will try again later!

Middle of the Week post..Boring..but Jen M. this is for you

Hi Everyone...not really much going on here during the week. I get up I go to work and then I come home. Talk on the internet for a while, maybe do some yoga and then go to bed. But...and I am not mentioning any times (see title) I was getting complaints that I was not updating my blog fast enough! = ) Anyway, I figured I could tell you that I tried to take a picture of the creepy basement to see. I am posting it here, but let me tell you, it looks a lot less creepy when the flash goes off and makes it look like it is lit up like a Christmas Tree! So let me set the stage. You have to take the elevator down to the sub basement where it is COMPLETELY dark when the doors open, then you have to hit the light outside the elevator locating it before the door closes! Even when the light is on it is dimly lit and then you enter this Nightmare on Elm Street hallway with all these creepy doors. When you move in no one shows you where the trash goes so you just have to keep opening doors and hope the light on the timer doesn't run out before you find the trash room or if you find a dead body. Which by the way is entirely likely if you meet my neighbors. There is a family living next door to me that first of all have to two loudest dogs I have ever heard and they seem to echo in the hallway in the middle of the night. As if that was not bad enough, the other morning this couple who usually confine there fights to in the apartment were fighting in the hallway at 6:30 in the morning! Since most of it was not in English, and i was not going to stand by the door because it sounded like someone was going to draw a gun at any second...all I got was i think the husband slept with someone else and then the wife did something in relatiation for it that he was not to pleased about. Interesting...I suppose I could pass the time trying to make up a story to go along with that but right now I am reveling in the silence of the last couple days! = ) I am posting the pictures of the creepy basement that just looks kind of normal so you can see that I did my best with that one. Happy almost Friday!

Another Weekend, Another Country!

So this weekend was another trek. My goal is to become as close to a world traveler as I can in six months, and I think I am off to a decent start. This weekend, my good friend Laurence and I went to Lille and to Bruxelles. Laurence has some things to do in Lille so I had to more or less entertain myself there, which is not a problem. I took the train from Luxembourg to Arlon, Belgium, where Laurence lives and then we drove from there. I was very concerned about the lines at the train station being the same as the post office which is more or less time consuming. The train station took about 3 minutes to get through so I had a lot of time to wait there. I ended up sitting next to a couple from Canada. They talked to me for a while, I got the impression that maybe they did not want to be talking the whole time, but they humored me anyway. Once I got on the train it was a quick ride and we were off. It took about 2 hours I think to get to Lille, France. The time passed pretty quickly because we were talking most of the way, or maybe it was just me...I had a lot of coffee that morning and I think everyone knows how I can be when I have had too much coffee!! When we got to Lille, Laurence pointed me in the right direction of the historical stuff and the shopping. I started out by taking pictures for a little while, but I was so hungry that I stopped for lunch almost right away. I went to a little bistro that served mostly gourmet pizza. It was very quaint and the people were really friendly. I was not exactly sure what I was getting because I did not know all of the ingredients in french, as it turned out I had a pizza with olives onions and tuna, which may sound disgusting but the combination of flavors was really good! From there I walked around and took some more pictures. As with every place in Europe, I had to go to the catherdral and to the center square to take pictures but the portion of Old Lille that I was in was beautiful and charming. I browsed in some of the little shops. Most of the places were out of my price range, but there were a lot of little original boutiques that you would not find in Luxembourg and these are the types of shops that I love to browse in. Once Laurence was done with her lunch and I was all pictured out until Bruxelles, we walked into some of the boutiques. I bought a necklace for myself that was very different and pretty, and description would not do it justice here so I will show you all when I get home. But is made in Marseille, different, and reasonable priced. I also got a present for my friend Maggie's baby because I know that she will just love to have something from France and I can't wait to mail it. That is definitely going out way before her birthday! From there we drove to Bruxelles. We stopped in a couple of cute shops that were also original and eclectic things. Laurence bought me the cutest little tiny rubber duck that I can hang off my cell phone or in my case I have clipped to my wallet. It is a pink GI duck, so cute! She also bought me some great spanish wine glasses, they are also very different and something that I can really keep and remember my trip every time I use them. I bought her a bracelet that she liked, and then we went to get her friend Alex. He is a very charming, smart, funny person. We hit it off right away. He is half Tanzanian and half Finnish, a different combination, but it works, he is a good looking person. We stopped a little outdoor cafe/bar. There are heaters under the awnings so that you can sit outside and have a couple drinks even when it is cold. This is the way with many of the cafes and it is a great idea I think! I sat with them for one drink and then I realized it was going to be getting dark soon so I went to take some pictures before we lost the light. I went to the Grand Place, which is the main square with the town hall and several grand buildings as well as chocolate shops and cafes. I took some pictures around there and some of the surrounging monuments but it was getting dark quickly by that point so I decided to head back. There were a lot of people around so I am sure it was safe, but Bruxelles is a real city as compared to the Village type city that Luxembourg is so it is better to be aware of your surroundings. We had a couple more drinks on the terrace. I actually had mint tea and Laurence and Alex had drinks. The mint tea was just hot water with a stalk of mint leaves in it. The presentation and the taste was really nice. I guess if you let it sit too long it gets bitter but mine did not sit long enough for that. Then we went next door for sushi which was also delicious. Unfortunately this was also the point that Laurence realize that she had either lost her wallet or it had been stolen. She took it amazingly in stride, but Alex and I felt really bad for her. We went back to the other place and looked around and asked questions, but it was a lost cause. After that we went for another drink, but Laurence and I were tired and wanted to sleep, so we took Alex back home and we went to check into out hotel. We ended up getting a really good last minute deal on a hotel right next to the Grand Place, which we were super excited about. The rooms were decent but the location was perfect. We walked to breakfast the next morning and Laurence left to file a report with the police. I walked around the Antique shops and the other shops which thankfully are all open on Sunday in Bruxelles, I found the cutest little dog sitting outside, I wanted to pick him up and take him home. I took his picture and I am including it here I am sure you would agree that I should have stolen him and brought him back to the U.S. with me. By that point I was tired and done with the wandering so I went to a cafe and sat outside with my cafe au lait to wait. Laurence and I enjoyed out hot drinks when she came back and then it was back to the almost reality of being in Luxembourg, still kind of a dream here too!
It was a fantastic weekend that made me realize how happy I am and how lucky I am to be having this experience.

I made it across the border!!!

So all week I have been telling people that I am going to Trier, Germany. My American friends were going away on seperate trips to different countries. I was sure that I would be here by myself and needed to plan a trip to take or something to do alone. I settled on Trier because it is only 45 minutes away by train. It has a lot of history. And of course, almost as important, the shopping is cheaper there than it is here!! :) Friday night, I went out for drinks and dinner with my friend Laurence. Laurence is from France, she worked two years in Boston and she is also a twin. We actually met for the first time on the flight from Boston when I sat in her seat by mistake. She asked me to move. She was very nice about it and I actually ended up with the better seat. I was in the first row before first class, so I had a slightly reclining seat and more leg room. Also, the guy that sat next to her had his shoes off when I sat down and his feet smelled so bad. All I could think was "oh my God, I am going to have to sit here for the next six hours! I think I am going to die". Then when Laurence came I was thinking, "Thank God, take the seat!". We saw each other again on the flight to Luxembourg. Then we met again when I went out to lunch with Manuel my boss. We went out for some drinks later in the week with other friends, we hit it off right away. We had been trying to set up going out a couple times but Friday it finally worked. We met at a bar called ZanZen, it was a mix between a lounge and a cottage feel. It was all white walls, wainscoating, with somewhat industrial style but comfortable furniture, from there we had dinner a a nice little italian restuarant and then went to another bar called The Secret Garden. These were all very nice, comfortable places, that everyone must love because they were packed. Laurence is redoing an apartment that she just bought, when we were finished with our dinner and drinks we went over to see it. It looked like it was going to be really nice, as much as you can tell with no lights but what was coming in from the streets! :) I am excited to see it when it is done. We were talking about taking different trips and had discussed going to Brussels on Saturday. I decided if I have the chance to travel with someone I like to hang out with then that was a much better option. When we talked the next day about what to do, we decided that Brussels was a little to far to enjoy for the time we had and Laurence suggested Metz, France. This is also pretty close to Luxembourg, I would say it took us about 45 minutes to drive there. The shops were all modern shops but it old european style buildings. Laurence picked out my first traditional french cookbook for me, which we laughed has also cartoon illustrations of the different animals and parts to identify them. It is the perfect french cookbook for someone who's french is slightly lacking. From there we walked to the catherdral and she indulged my while I stopped and took pictures every 100 feet! I lit a candle for my great uncle Reno, as he is having some health issues now and I wanted to say a prayer for him. from there we went into a little patesserie and bought some pastries and took them with us while we went to get coffee. In almost all of the bars they have both coffee and drinks. We sat outside and while we were waiting to order drinks Laurence left the table for a minute. She said if the the waiter comes back order me a black tea, please and then she reminded me of how to say that in french. When the waiter came back I said, "Un the et une cafe au lait, sil vous plait." He said to me, " Je ne parle pas anglais." and he was very impatient. Now I am thinking to myself, "No Shit, you don't speak english, but I was speaking french!!" It took me a couple of times of repeating myself for him to get it but he finally took my order and left. When Laurence got back to the table I told her the story and we both burst out laughing! She pointed out to me later that he was equally as rude to the french customers, so much for customer service! We drove back to Luxembourg Shortly after that and went to have dinner at a seafood restuarant at the mall, which was very good suprisingly for a landlocked country. We finished off the day by going to the movies. She went to see a french movie that she thought would get lost in translation and I went to see Untraceable. As thrillers go the movie was very scary, something I maybe should have seen with someone else but it was great. Now I am back to another lazy Sunday of laundry and cooking. Hope that everyone else had a great weekend!