Vianden Castle

On our drive back from Luxembourg city we took a detour north to Vianden Castle. Definitely worth the side trip. It was constructed between the 11th and 14th centuries but not much of the original castle remains today. Almost the entire castle has been reconstructed over the past 30+ years. A few original parts still remain, and the reconstruction has of course remained as faithful to the original castle as possible.

In order to become a locksmith, you had to create the elaborate locking mechanism shown below, which is on the inside of a chest. I'm impressed.



Some of the views from the castle. The town of Vianden is really cute.



A nice hallway within the castle:



Some views from an open space within the castle. It was a really neat space with these mediterranean-inspired openings.



A nice dining room:



Some of the towers of the castle:



The castle from different angles:



Martin sunning himself. It's so rare to get a few minutes of sunshine in the winter months around here!



After we left the castle, we stopped for lunch in Echternach (a little town in Luxembourg). Martin ordered the Portuguese specialty that you see below. It's a sandwich that contains steak, sausage, and ham and is topped with an egg and cheese. And it comes with a side of fries, of course.

Luxembourg City

Well in case you couldn't guess, it was raining for our stay in Luxembourg. We booked a last-minute trip just for the weekend so we knew what we were getting into before we went. We started out the day on Saturday with a trip to the Mudam, which is the museum of modern art in Luxembourg City. There were some neat exhibits there, and also some weird exhibits as you would expect from modern art. Below is a picture of a fountain that contained black water, followed by a picture of Martin looking around in the chapel of obscene images ("obscene" meaning intestines and skeletons).



Frankie and Larry waiting patiently for Martin to remove himself from the gift shop:



Martin and I decided to brave the rain and walk along the city walls during the afternoon. It's a great walk that gives you some great views of the city and its walls.



Look how narrow some of the houses in the foreground are:



We stopped at a bar to dry off and to try the local brew, Bofferding. Not bad.



Then, the best thing ever, we found a soup restaurant for a late lunch! Martin had some lobster soup and I had a green lentil soup that was amazing. Cheap too!



On Sunday morning I got up and went for a run at 8am and the streets were still empty (and dark too! Sunrise in Luxembourg near the winter solstice is after 8:30am). People in Luxembourg sleep really late - the museum we went to didn't open until 11. Anyway, below are some pictures of the empty streets in the pedestrian shopping area.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber (again!)

There are some towns in Germany that are so quaint, cute, cozy, friendly, etc that you have to go back to them again and again. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is one of those towns. Last time we went it was during the summer and this time we went right before Christmas to experience the home of Käthe Wohlfahrt, the most amazing Christmas store, during its peak season. Rothenburg did not disappoint - almost every street is lined with lights, decorations, trees, etc, and combined with the old buildings and old signs for all the shops it was just perfect. Though one thing we didn't expect there was the number of Americans ... we heard English around us almost all the time, we almost forgot we were in Germany. So many Americans!

Before we hit the Christmas market, we went for a walk along the wall that surrounds the old town. Below is a picture of the main street in Rothenburg taken from the wall followed by a picture of Frankie and I hanging out on the wall.



Some views of Rothenburg taken from the wall:



Next up are some pictures of the town at night. Most of them are at least a little blurry but hopefully you get an idea of how cozy and fun it was!



This is the main square, with the Christmas market set up in it. The market extended outside of the square quite a bit as well.



I took a few pictures the next morning too. Everything looked just as nice in the daylight:



All these trees were in front of the Käthe Wohlfahrt store.