Days 22-23 16 & 17 April. Belgium to Holland

Day 22-

We were up and out the door for a trip over to the old city today which restored some of my fairytale image of what Luxembourg would be like. We had a great local guide who took us through the centre of the old city to see the ancient fort in the rocks and the pretty old town below which still looks the same today as it did then. We saw the Dukes palace, complete with marching guard outside. The population is only 500,000 here and half are foreigners but Luxembourg is an important EU power, especially with all its banking.

We had free time after this so had Mexican at a restaurant with Connie and Tony from Houston, then wandered around. There are a lot of beggars here, some just on their knees and others showing withered limbs in the hopes you will give them money.
Back to the bus and we were dropped off back at the hotel for an hour, then out again for an optional to Trier - a german town just over the border. This was the earliest roman settlement in Germany, complete with the oldest cathedral and an impressive city gate which resembled the coliseum. It was where the roman empire expanded into Germany and is a very important city for the country itself. Many people from Luxembourg live here as it is a lot cheaper to live.

We had a guided tour again, first in the coach then later walking - all very interesting. We then had free time before being whisked to an amazing chateau high in the hills for a great dinner. Its been 23C again today and we were all more prepared with cooler clothing than we were yesterday! The group of us and two other American couples get on really well, its really comfortable - Connie and I spend time trying to pronounce each others accents properly and the various colloquialisms we have in our own countries- its hilarious!

View from our room in Luxembourg.


45 mins back to the hotel in Luxembourg and packed up, cleaned up and ready for an early start tomorrow.

Day 23-
We left early today and travelled to Bastogne, where the battle of the bulge was fought. The memorial is massive and a show of respect to the Americans who fought, died and one there.

After that we travelled to the smallest town in the world- a place called Durkay which is ancient and cobbled and very picturesque. It was really coooldd this morning, but nice!


We wandered around then got soup and a toasted sandwich, then back on the bus for a couple of hours to leave Belgium and travel to Masstricht, which is André Reuer's hometown and where he still plays 10 concerts a year in the city square. We had a 2 hour walking tour which was interesting, including a massive bookshop in an ancient cathedral that was voted one of the top bookshops in the world- it was awesome!.
Then we left there for the town of Liege for the night in a very nice hotel. We have another early wake up tomorrow as we are travelling on to Rotterdam, the Hague and Amsterdam.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, which is in a nice position, but the service was terrible with some people
getting food, some not and the language barrier with our waiter made it almost like an episode of Faulty Towers!