Luxembourg and The Royal Wedding

Officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the country is wedged between Belgium and Germany with France on its southern border.  A Duchy is a territory that is governed by a Duke or a Duchess.  A Grand Duchy is an independent territory and, of all of these through history, Luxembourg is the only one to survive and remain independent to this day.  We attended the Royal Wedding Weekend...

Prince Guillaume (William) married Countess Stephanie de Lannoy of Belgium nobility on October 20, 2012.  In addition to me and Jeff, there were European notables everywhere, minus Will and Kate.  I, for one, had no idea there were so many royalty in Europe!  Really, most of the (dare I say minor) countries of Europe still have monarchies in place!  The young Prince and Princess hosted them all.

The next day, they let people like us in.  We got to walk the red carpet and enjoy the beautiful and opulent setting.  The flowers were cream to orange in color which is in keeping with the royal colors of orange and an almost turquoise blue.  The orange is, of course, from the Dutch Orange-Nassau family of which William is a descendant.

The entire town celebrated in style with fireworks, outdoor concerts and general partying in the streets.  I bought some awesome boots at the city flea market the next morning.  

Beautiful fall colors!

Dominating the Countryside

We spent one night in Luxembourg City which is a beautiful old town atop a rock in southern Luxembourg.  The history here is amazing since this tiny country has been fought over since the Roman times.  It is difficult to get a good perspective on the city.  It sits on top of a bluff overlooking a ravine.  These pictures are taken from a bridge that joins the old town to the newer town across the river.  So, whomever was "King of the Mountain" had obvious advantage over the lowlanders below.

But, we were just here for the cycling and that was actually found on the German border in Vianden.  This area of Luxembourg is known as Petite Suisse (Little Switzerland). The town is dominated by its own castle which sits majestically on the hillside.  This location marks the last German occupancy of Luxembourg.  The general area of northern Luxembourg is also known as the location of the Battle of the Bulge.  It was an area where Hitler was able to push through the resistance from the German border to the middle of Belgium creating a 'bulge' in his line of offense/defense.

 

Jeff braved the climb several times on day one, only to find out later that he had taken the 'easy' way up.  Since that just wouldn't do, we came back for day two and the final ascent.

The old town is built along the river and up the steep cobblestone streets to the castle.  There are picturesque scenes everywhere you look.  I'm sure I have said, but it is worth repeating, I get the most out of the smaller villages that we visit as opposed to the big cities.  The smaller the town, the closer you are to the locals AND more authentic is their culture.

While Jeff spent a couple of hours on the bike, I occupied my time on my computer and played paparazzi.  This little town packed a big punch with the beautiful River Our running through the middle and great cafes to soak up some sun.

I stole this picture!  OMG, I didn't know you could do that!  Well, perhaps this was taken from a helicopter, I don't know, but I hope you agree it was worth stealing?

It was a beautiful fall weekend and we enjoyed it all on our way home.  

This was a true two day get-away, so on Sunday afternoon we headed back to Veldhoven with Jeff's eyes on the prize of the 'biggie' - Alpe d'Huez!