The wrap up, finally

In Paris we had a poor Internet connection. In Amsterdam the weather was nice. We came home and life took over. So here I am, finally doing a synopsis of the last week of our trip.

Luxembourg – great country. We stayed in Echternach which is a cool little town. The main street was a shopping street with an outdoor gelato stand (yum!), wine shops and a market. We went to dinner at a pizzeria the first night and while out and about the next day we saw the restaurateur; he recognized us and said hello. That’s the kind of town it is.

Luxembourg the country has all sorts of recreational activities from biking, adventure sports, and camping. We took a couple drives up the river through beautiful vineyards, visited a couple wineries, and saw a couple castles.

From there Amanda and I took a train to Paris. We got to see the Paris Marathon, which as pretty inspiring. Our favorite scene was at the finish, at about the 2:35 mark or so, a blind runner (with a running partner) came in. We were positioned right on a curve and as they went around the curve the partner just nudged the blind runner to keep on the path – it was surprisingly moving.

The next day we went out for a run and came across a bunch of police activity at the base of the Eifel Tower. As we waited around we realized the Olympic Torch was going to be coming through (or down). So, we waited around and were rewarded with seeing the torch come down the stairs of the tower and run off (to further controversy, it turns out). We didn’t have our cameras but ran into an American student studying art for a bit there who got some pictures for us (www.andybloxham.com). Turns out some of his pictures even got on CNN, including one of the back of my head! Check it out at: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-9544.

After two days in Paris we did hit a bit of a low spot, emotionally. Our room was really really small, even by Paris standards. The weather was cold and a bit rainy. The Parisian culture is quite a bit different and takes a little bit of getting used to. And, Amanda and I got in a bit of a fight. We got over that quickly, though, and actually enjoyed the last couple days there in Paris. We got into more of a relaxed mode, I think, and enjoyed what we could despite the weather.

After our time there we took a train back to Amsterdam. The weather turned nice and we met back up with Randy and Sandy to share travel stories. We had some amazing dinners – the diversity in food choices, really good food choices, is wonderful in Amsterdam. Amanda and I rented bikes and toured Amsterdam that way, which was a blast. I decided if I went back I’d stay further out of town and rent a bike the whole time I was there.

That was the end of our Europe trip – it ended on a high note, for sure. However, we were ready to be reunited with our kids. When we got home all of them were very excited to see us which, of course, made us feel warm and special. And, I think we’ve decided that will be the last major trip we go on without them for a while.

It’s a discovery

That’s what he said at breakfast. We just happened onto this hotel in Valkenburg, on our drive from Amsterdam to Luxembourg. And it was a discovery… it was a small European boutique hotel meets South Miami Beach experience, but they were much too coordinated to actually put out a pink flamingo. The Hotel LeTo is run by two men and they definitely have a unique decorating style. The front courtyard area has 2 giant lamps for street lights. The hotel is painted yellow and blue (there are lots of primary colors used throughout) and the windows have yellow or blue lace curtains. In the bathroom the towel hooks are the rear ends of dogs with tails to hang the hooks on to. There are Betty Boop statues in the lobby as well as several variants of purple, red, or yellow trendy but cheap looking chairs. I mean, everywhere you look there is something odd and new, yet somehow it all seems to follow a décor and it all goes together… it is so random it almost has an order and pattern.

What sealed the deal was the breakfast. We expected cereal, yogurt, juice, and bread. But, we came down to a table set for four, several kinds of juices, a huge bread bowl, eggs, banana fruit smoothies, fresh fruit, and supreme service. The table took the décor to a whole new level – all the silverware was cute little figures, the coffee and tea pots were weird garden-type creatures that poured coffee out of their mouth, and the egg holders had craftsy-like knit egg covers. It was an entertaining breakfast ensemble and made for a great start to the morning.

For the rest of the day we went and visited the caves which have drawings from hundreds of years ago, include clandestine worship areas (including a confessional carved out of the stone) and tributes to the WW2 liberation forces. During the Christmas time they host a craft fair in the caves, which must be incredible.