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!