Luxembourg 2002

LUXEMBOURG FRANCE BELGIUM & GERMANY February 2002


Luxembourg.

• Museum – history of Luxembourg in old city. Very good. Showed old movie of some Commune uprising in Paris in 1860’s. Spent time in Library & old Cathedral. Latter is stunning.
• Walk following river around valley & old township (Grond). Went down to YHA but proved to be very expensive. Located right at bottom of valley.
• Walk (10km) through forest to Itzl – little village close to Lux. Highlights remains of old watermill, old church in Itzl, fantastic views
• Train ride to Bettesdorf to meet Adrian. Walked around village & up a few side roads whilst I waited for him. Very quiet area.
• Meet L&L at school on many days
• Weekend with L&L, walk up to soccer ground but too wet. Played kicks at Lukes judo school
• Walk through casemates area & back through old part of town
• Walk through local forest with family & then stopped at ice skating rink
• Watched L&L fancy dress show at school. Both dressed up as Zorro (hats, capes, swords etc)

Metz (France)

• Train to Metz in France. Highlights – Leah went to toilet in Police Station, fantastic old RC church fabulous stained glass, old museum of Metz (from Roman times), walk through old section, saw other old churches but didn’t go in. Cup of coffee at local bistro, proprietor knew of All Blacks. Many many bread type shops. Looked a really interesting city.

Brussels (Belgium)

• To Brussels with A & N. Drove all the way (+ 140km/hr). Going to see European Motor Show in Exhibition Centre. Fantastic display (saw many great concept cars). New sports Volvo particularly nice. Mercedes & Ford had a hall each. Merc was a stunning display. Cars all on a second level so didn’t really get to see them. Crowds were huge. Afternoon tea at Pizza Hut

Trier (Germany)

• To Trier on a local train from Lux station. Great place wandered around old section. Many interesting shops. I bought a pair of Mephisto shoes, Leah a pair of Birkenstocks at a funny little store. Went back & changed them later. Nice afternoon tea at a local restaurant. Area was old Roman section – with a huge old gate. Tried to get into amazing church but were not allowed. Trier known as Treviri in old Roman times. Now very large & spreads for miles along Moselle & Saar.




Kaiserslautern (Germany)

• To KL to watch a Bundesliga game (KL v Hamburg) Two & half hour drive to get there. Parked in Opel works car park & got a bus to the game. Lots of atmosphere & plenty of passion. Game ended in 2 – 2 draw. KL were fourth on the Table. Couldn’t find the bus back to the factory so got a taxi. Probably didn’t lose too much time.

Paris (France)

• 4 hour train ride to Paris Gare de l’Est. Very comfortable & quick. Went through Thionville & Metz.
• Lunch (sandwiches + drinks) in a small coffee house/pub. Proprietor was touting for customers so we were willing victims.
• Stayed at YHA in Boulevarde Charles Ferry (sic) close to Place de la Republique. Quite comfortable. Place was on Metro so that was very helpful. Double rooms with bunk, hand basin & wardrobe. Leah slept on floor at end of bed.
• Night 1 – walked into town via Place De La Republique. About 3 km. Wandered through Pompidou Centre (library briefly) & then modern art section. Wasn’t too impressed with the Art (some OK) but the centre was great (modern design, all the escalators etc on outside of building etc) Building painted in garish colours – reds, oranges & greens mainly. Then went on to Ile de la Cite & to the Notre Dame cathedral. Wonderful place. Awe inspiring. Sat thru part of an evening mass right up the front close to the nave. Great stained glass, some lovely Christian settings around the building, fantastic area for the priests & choir etc esp the paintings & tapestries. Walked back & watched a number of dancing schools in a little side street. Ballet, latin, Tango, African – really good. Dinner in restaurant Place del a Republique on way back to YHA. Leah had a plate full of mussels.
• Day 2 – Metro to Versailles. Quick walk around the township & Leah got some bread for lunch. Old style township purely to serve the Palace. Old buildings abound. Saint Cyr (military school) close by. Palace was amazing, staggeringly beautiful. Walked around Leah sensibly had a tape player as a guide. Went on a room by room basis. Each room had the most fantastic paintings, wonderful decorations, great features – one could go on forever. Highlights – Hall Of Mirrors, Large room overlooking Chapel, Chapel, Marie Antoinettes bedroom area. Took two tours – one in main area & the other in Kings Chambers. It’s easy to see how royalty can get out of touch with the common herd living in a place like that. Gardens were equally nice even though it was winter. Love to see them during spring or early summer. Met a couple of Kiwi guys, one of whom was over to try & get residency in France. Wanted to buy an old house in Dax (south of France) do it up & live happily there for ever more. He was a carpenter by trade.
• Day 3 – Back to Ile De La Cite & Saint Chappelle & Conciegerie. Also took in a big Hotel de Ville. Huge place which is mayoral chambers & Paris Council. Not a hotel at all. Saint Chappelle an old 2 story Church with outstanding stained glass windows. Right next to the Palais de Justice Frances High Court. Conciegerie was an ancient castle converted to hold prisoners during the Revolution. Marie Antionette , Charlotte Corday & Robespierre were held there. Excellent museum which led one around how it was set up. Then on a Bus Tour of all the major sights. Really worthwhile. Eiffel Tower (we climbed to second level), Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, Montmatre, Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coeur, Louvre, Jardin de Tuilleries, Palace de Luxembourg, Artists Quarter, Madelaine, Ile de la Cite, etc etc. We got off at Eiffel Tower, Madelaine (top class shopping area) & Monmatre. Went through the Church (Eglise de Sacre Couer) at the top of the hill (relatively modern). Then down through artists section of Montmatre & got my face forever preserved in pencil. Walked down to Moulin Rouge but entry EU 140 was too expensive. Dinner + nice Bordeaux wine at YHA. Talked to an American women who was on her way back to Seattle?
• Day 4 – Went to Napoleons Tomb & Les Invalides. Les Invalides - Museum of wars thru’ history. We wandered around Second World War. Exhibits had a very French perspective so you tended to think that France won the war on all fronts. Napoleons Tomb was great. Again all his victories were listed but none of his defeats. He did a lot for French pride. Then Leah went by Metro to St Denis & I went to Stade de France to watch France play Italy in the Six nations. Great ground, wonderful atmosphere but ordinary game. France won but low quality. Police & army everywhere. Bought myself a scarf. Met Leah back at YHA. Dinner in & then down to town again. Ile de Louis - walked around pretty quiet. Then on to Ile De La Cite. Notre Dame & stayed right through a full communion service. Very big crowd esp as it was late at night.
• Day 5 – Metro to Musee des Hommes. Traced history of mankind from way back. Very good but all exhibits were marked in French. Then went to Louvre. Queued for miles but got quickly into main hall. Entry Free as it was first Sunday of month. Crowds were enormous. Museum was huge – just too big to really appreciate in a single day. We rushed around & covered less than half. Got to see the Mona Lisa (Leah close up for a photo). I loved the large paintings. Some brilliant themes. Especially liked the “Raft of Medusa”. Also liked all the ancient Greek sculptors. There were some talented people around in those days. Really wonderful Egyptian section. As I said just too much to take in. Will have to go back.
• Day 6 – down to Les Halles shopping centre. Leah finally bought some CD’s for a friend in Sydney. Also spent half the morning choosing a set of spectacle frames. Finally got away & had lunch in the Rue de Rivoli. (Nice part of town). Walked through Jardin de Tuilleries, Place de Concord (where the guillotinings were carried out) , viewed the Obelix, went up & looked through the Madelaine (old Church) & then walked around area. Dinner back at YHA then we went & had a few drinks at a local pub. Very good day all round.
• Day 7 – returned to Lux from Gare de l’Est. Left on a mid morning train & used the metro to get to the station. Very crowded