Sean’s alarm woke me up again at about 8am, (LAURA’S ALARM, NUMBNUTS!!!) I think it is the Arctic Monkeys. Its all good though. Got up and had some of the ‘Lion Bar’ cereal. It was totally nummy. (I wanted to mix it with some Smack, but that wasn’t open yet, so I didn’t. I think you should always start your day with Smack.)
The cats were back today, staring in at us expecting food to be delivered and good times to be had. (The cats that you hadn’t mentioned yet? Noob. There are two cats hanging around the cottage which Laura can’t help looking at and thinking that they’re cute, despite the fact that one has clearly been in a fair few fights and seen better days, and the other is a Siamese, which have looked evil to everyone since the first time they saw
Lady and the Tramp. Anyway, they’re annoying.) I thought it best to put an end to this before we broke and gave in. I got a small bowl of water and launched the contents at the feline. Direct hit. The cat has not come back since. (Andy’s trying to sound hard – he didn’t want to hit the cat, he wanted to scare it. However, the thing was too stupid to try and move , and so got a little bit wet. Laura was sad.)
Bastogne was the first on our list for the day. A town that was almost completely destroyed during the second world war, it is now a bustling little town. There are loads of bars, restaurants and cafes. (There was also a bear dog. It was massive, ace, and massively ace.)
At the top end of the high street is a lovely church, I think it must have survived the war fairly well as it looked pretty original inside. (Brilliantly, all the churches round here seem to be Catholic, which means that Jebus actually lives in them. That’s nice.)
We went to a little café and had some tea and cake. On the table we had a blackforest gateau, a chocolate and cream cake, apple cake and a raspberry and custard tart. (We shared them all so that we all got a bit of each. They were pretty darned nummy, although a tad pricey – the four bits of cake, with four hot drinks, came to 25€. Also, there is an issue with tea preparation in foreign climes, in that they just don’t understand how it’s done. I got a pot of hot water with a tea bag on the side, meaning that it never properly infused. Still, it was better than no tea. Also, we actually saw a girl carrying a tiny dog in her handbag, totally un-ironically. I didn’t think real people really did that kind of thing, but apparently they do. The dog was cuter than she was though, so maybe it was to draw attention away from her.
The cats were back today, staring in at us expecting food to be delivered and good times to be had. (The cats that you hadn’t mentioned yet? Noob. There are two cats hanging around the cottage which Laura can’t help looking at and thinking that they’re cute, despite the fact that one has clearly been in a fair few fights and seen better days, and the other is a Siamese, which have looked evil to everyone since the first time they saw
Lady and the Tramp. Anyway, they’re annoying.) I thought it best to put an end to this before we broke and gave in. I got a small bowl of water and launched the contents at the feline. Direct hit. The cat has not come back since. (Andy’s trying to sound hard – he didn’t want to hit the cat, he wanted to scare it. However, the thing was too stupid to try and move , and so got a little bit wet. Laura was sad.)Bastogne was the first on our list for the day. A town that was almost completely destroyed during the second world war, it is now a bustling little town. There are loads of bars, restaurants and cafes. (There was also a bear dog. It was massive, ace, and massively ace.)
At the top end of the high street is a lovely church, I think it must have survived the war fairly well as it looked pretty original inside. (Brilliantly, all the churches round here seem to be Catholic, which means that Jebus actually lives in them. That’s nice.)
We went to a little café and had some tea and cake. On the table we had a blackforest gateau, a chocolate and cream cake, apple cake and a raspberry and custard tart. (We shared them all so that we all got a bit of each. They were pretty darned nummy, although a tad pricey – the four bits of cake, with four hot drinks, came to 25€. Also, there is an issue with tea preparation in foreign climes, in that they just don’t understand how it’s done. I got a pot of hot water with a tea bag on the side, meaning that it never properly infused. Still, it was better than no tea. Also, we actually saw a girl carrying a tiny dog in her handbag, totally un-ironically. I didn’t think real people really did that kind of thing, but apparently they do. The dog was cuter than she was though, so maybe it was to draw attention away from her.
On the subject of ladies, the standard of women in Europe is not nearly so high as you have been led to believe. Be warned.
Having finished our elevenses, we took a short stroll down the main street to the cenotaph, which is a beautiful monument. Less attractive is a sculpture imbedded into one of the wall of one of the buildings, depicting some soldiers helping one of their wounded comrades. At first, we thought it was broken, but then we looked closer and realised that, no, that man’s head was meant to be on the floor, and all the other people were meant to look the way they did. It was baffling.)
Moving on from Bastogne we moved on to Luxemburg, Luxemburg (so good they named it twice). (Driving past the football stadium which would, later that day, host the Luxembourg v Israel World Cup Qualifier. It was titchy.)
Luxemburg is a really ace city, I’m sure it would have had beautiful views as well over the valley below the town, but the fog was SO thick. We could make out a shadow of a church on the other side and some huge town houses at the bottom, but not much else.
We had a good look round. One of the things that impressed me greatly was that they city is one giant wifi hot-spot. Wherever you are, you can turn on your mobile of laptop and get an interactive city guide with video and audio commentary, no Facebook though. (This is good if you are a nerd.)
We had a look round the marktplatz, which was nice. There were loads of pretty buildings and we got some souvenirs from one of the many shops pedalling items to the hordes of American tourists, retracing the steps of their fathers and relatives as they defended the area from the German army.
(Luxembourg is really pretty. Parking was strange, as they have bays marked out on the pavement. Essentially, we didn’t really do a great deal, but walk around, but that was all we needed to do. It was enough to soak up the atmosphere, enjoy what is an undeniably attractive city, and search for a birthday card for Andy. Although the only card shop we found had only very lame ones.
We did manage to find a stein for Andy though. He was extremely excited by it, although got yelled at by the woman who told him that a stein is a stone. She was quite strict and not very nice. But we still bought stuff, as we’re extremely pleasant people.
We ended up having a bit of a Chavvy lunch at Quick, a French burger chain. But we told ourselves it was ok as it was a French chain, and therefore part of the local culture. Despite my not actually knowing any French, really, I managed to order and field all the random stream of questions that fell from the assistant’s mouth, mainly by just saying ‘Oui’ to everything. It worked. Laura, on the other hand, who does speak some French, got a bit flustered and the girl talked to her in English. I felt ace.
Outside of quick, we saw a chap doing some ‘Belgian Jumpstyle’ dancing, it was ace, he was dancing to some happy hardcore coming from a beaten up stereo over-modding to hell, but it was great to see.
We got a bit turned around when on our way back to the car, which meant we found some great statues, but eventually got back and set off for Clervaux.)
I’ve been to Clervaux three or four times now and every time it astounds me how beautiful it is. It is greatly understated. It is not a tourist town like Monchau (you will read about this in tomorrow’s blog) and it is still very cute. I think the whole point of the town and its main industry comes from people on a pilgrimage of their relatives in the army and people on walking holidays. It is strange, it is in the middle of nowhere and I cant see how it was of strategic importance but somehow – it was.
(Clervaux is a beautiful little town in the north of Luxembourg, in an area of great strategic importance in World War II, a fact commemorated by a statue donated by American troops to their brave allies in the town of Clervaux; a museum recounting the Ardennes campaign; and a tank and gun mount, both donated, again, by American forces. Quite aside from the town’s strategic importance, it’s clear to see why forces would wish to be stationed there – the area is completely idyllic, surrounded by heavily wooded hills, and with cobbled streets that seem to amble forever.)
Agreed
After looking around the town, and visiting the beautiful old church, we stopped off at one of the many cafes that lined the streets for a little snack of waffles or pancakes and coffees. I, of course, had tea, which was, of course, ridiculous – this time the bag was at least in the cup, but the milk was hot and frothy. Honestly, I ask you…
I would recommend going for crepes, mainly because they are fresh rather than the semi stale waffle I had.
After our break, I finally managed to find a card for Andy, while he bought himself a box of cigars. (And what cigars they are, I got 24 Coronas for 35 euros) We also found some excessively cheap alcohol – Luxembourg benefits from being a tax haven, and thus alcohol, tobacco, and even fuel, are much cheaper than in the surrounding areas – and began planning a beer run at some point…
After Clervaux, we began the journey back home. On the way there, though, we passed what looked like a supermarket, and decided to pop in to see if we could find something for dinner. We actually found an ENORMOUS hypermarket, with an entire downstairs floor devoted to drink. We wandered round for a good 30 minutes or so, picking up a few little bits, before Andy went downstairs to return some bottles. In the Benelux (and Germany) area, there is a scheme whereby you can return your recyclable bottles for cold hard cash. Having not done it myself, I’ll let Msr. Sweeney fill you in…
Not quite cold hard cash, you get a credit note so that you can claim a refund on the bottles you bring in. If you are a drunk, this is good, you can go round collecting bottles, get your credit note and buy some really cheap booze. Luxemburg is one of the cheapest places to kill yourself through alcohol and tobacco addiction (then drink drive because you can do that cheaply as well).
Thanks.
So, we headed back, and settled in for the evening. Dinner was a simple affair of bread, meats and cheese, which, as I remarked at the time, I would never consider a meal, but somehow, while in Europe, this all seems fine. It was the same in Cyprus – a sandwich constituting the main meal of the day. Maybe I should move here, and possibly lose some weight. And I certainly could – so far, I haven’t been anywhere that I couldn’t live. Luxembourg is a wonderful country, and I could so very happily move there, as was Cyprus, as is Belgium. I don’t know if it’s just because we come here and get away from real life or what, but the whole place seems so much more relaxed, the pace of life so much more sedate. It’s certainly a life I could get into. Same here I think, I’m really starting to love western Germany and Belgium. We are really getting into the swing of the slow and peaceful life. Sean, let me know when you want to move here and we’ll elope.
Oh, and even better, no-one seems fully sure what language to speak. Belgium is torn between French, Dutch, German and Flemish, although you can generally figure out which area you are in fairly easily. Luxembourg, however, was an entirely different matter, with shopkeepers speaking French or German depending who they were talking to. It was brilliant, and gives even a spot of shopping a sense of the exotic. I like that. I like the way that you can swap and change between all the languages and if you can’t remember a word in one language, use another or make something up and make the relevant hand gestures.
Anyhoo, we had a quiet night in front of an open fire, before retiring to bed for a relatively early night, in preparation for Andy’s Big Day…)
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