Oct 3-5, 2009 – Luxembourg City – Walking tour

Annette, pictured below on the left with her husband, Serge, and I, was the mother of one of the members of the Luxembourg CISV delegation that went to the same Pennsylvania camp Allister attended this past summer.

She had arranged to have the delegation convene at their house and for Allister and Charlotte to join the children of the Luxembourg delegation children at a nearby fast food restaurant for dinner.  While they were off at dinner, she and her husband, Serge, took Laura-Lyn and I on a walking tour of Luxembourg City.  Annette is originally from the Netherlands but has lived in Luxembourg most of her life while Serge is a Luxembourg native.

Their home was on the edge of the downtown and its no stretch to say that Luxembourg City is fairly compact.   Their location was within easy walking distance of the Luxembourg City old town, pictured below.

Luxembourg is apparently a monarchy and this impressive building, located right in the heart of Luxembourg City is the residence of the reigning monarch.

 

Luxembourg City was a fascinating study of contrasts; with old and new coexisting right alongside one another.  There were many historic, but well-maintained buildings, alongside very modern buildings that apparently provide facilities for Luxembourg’s significant financial services industry.

A couple of views of Luxembourg City’s old town.  The one on the right was a small church, which apparently still hosts services, that was built right into the rock of the the old town.

After the walking tour we met up with the kids again at Annette and Serge’s house and went to a theatre complex that also included some quite nice restaurants.  While the kids attended a movie, Laura-Lyn and I joined Serge and Annette for a lovely dinner and took advantage of their local knowledge to try a couple of Luxembourg specialties.

Oct 3-5, 2009 – Luxembourg – CISV – Allister

Luxembourg had sent a CISV delegation tot he same Pennsylvania camp Allister attended this past summer.  Laura-Lyn had contacted the delegation leader and one of parents, Annette, arranged to have the delegation gather at their house.

The following pictures shows the children playing some games together before going off to dinner together, and later, to a movie.

 

After the movie, they gathered for a group photo.  Clockwise from top left, Annette and her elder son, [Allister], Ben, [Celine's brother], [Charlotte], Gulia, and Celine.

 

A heartfelt thanks to Annette for arranging to get both the children and adults together for a memorable afternoon and evening.

Oct 3-5, 2009 – Luxembourg – Our hosts – Heather and Antonio

Heather, her husband, Antonio, and their son, Mike were great hosts for us during our stay in Luxembourg and provided lots of insight into the way Europe worked and some of their own travel tips.  Heather’s mother and Laura-Lyn’s mother are old friends.  Heather, who traveled to Europe from Canada many years ago is practically an honorary European but still enjoys an opportunity to shop for Canadian delicacies at some of the stores that cater to armed forces personnel.

She speaks (and probably writes) French and she has lots of opportunity to practice Italian, Antonio’s native tongue.

Heather and Antonio’s house is the one in the middle, with the partly visible BMW in the driveway.

Their house is located near a park that offered a great walk through a forest, past some legacy owners who were on the property before it became a park.  This photo was taken overlooking one of these properties, whose owner appeared to run a firewood concession, judging by the perfect woodpile on the other side of the house that is to the right in this picture.

Further into our walk (and the forest) we reached this point where Heather pointed to the part of the forest where Allister is standing and said, “over there somewhere is Belgium.” 

Needless to say you don’t have to travel too far in any direction to be in another country.

Oct 3, 2009 – Maginot Line – Hackenberg

On our way to Luxembourg, we stopped in Metz to inquire about any Maginot Line museums in the area available for a visit.  Allister is interested in these types of things and was told there was a guided tour due to start at 2:30 pm (about 90 minutes hence) that we thought we could just make if we hurried.  We hurried, and we just made it.

Here is the entry into the Opening 19 of the Maginot Line at Hackenberg (France).

The underground installations that made up the Line were huge.  These tunnels and the tours through them were maintained by a corps of volunteers from local communities.  There was electric power throughout these tunnels that was used not only for lighting but to power the narrow gauge railway that was used to ferry visitors to the far reaches of the tunnels and provide a very realistic glimpse of how these installations operated.

There was room after room of exhibits like these.

One of the highlights of the two hour tour was a trip, via train, to a distant part of the Hackenberg part of the Maginot Line to see the operation of one of the heavy gun emplacements.  The dome at the left still operates and rises almost a meter from its base through controls we saw the volunteer tour guides operate.

The crucial flaw of the Maginot Line – its inability to aim its guns a full 360 degrees was told along with the Germany strategy that was used to circumvent the Line’s defenses and capture these fortifications for their use.