Where the wind blows us

As I've said... I've been adamant lately about us using the time we have to go do and see things. Josh will try to conjure up an image of me using brute force and a whip. When I look back at yesterday... maybe that's not too far from the truth. Josh got out of the hospital Friday morning. He is feeling pretty good, only minor amounts of pain, and he is now passing bits of stone (as it has been broken up). Originally I told him if he was feeling up to it we should do something on Saturday. Saturday morning that (for some reason) was no longer optional... we were doing something. I recently made a list of local day trip things for us to go do. I told Josh to look over the list and pick something. He decided to wait until we got in the car and picked a (some-what random) destination on the GPS.

So off we went to Clervaux, Luxembourg. That was a place on my list. Clervaux is suppose to have a castle which has a "world famous" photo exhibit housed inside of it. I love driving through Luxembourg. The roads are narrow and windy, which makes driving slow, but it is always so beautiful. As we drove down into a the little valley Clervaux was nestled in, it seemed like it was something straight from a post card. It's a very small little town with only the castle, a church, and an abbey (and a few shops and houses). As it turns out... the castle isn't much of a castle. There is a very broad definition of what a "castle" is... and sometimes what you get isn't what you were expecting. In typical American fashion, if I hear the word "castle" I am instantly picturing a big ol' honkin' stereotypical Disney-type castle. Clervaux wasn't this. Castles in Luxembourg tend to look like this (the style I guess?) as Vianden castle which we went to last summer looked somewhat similar to this (but... better and more castle-like).

We paid to go inside of the the castle (HUGE waste of time and money as the inside only had dioramas of other area castles) but decided not to go see the photo exhibit. This may seem a little backwards since the photo exhibit is what the castle is known for. But after the disappointment of the castle interior... I think we just admitted to ourselves that we aren't necessarily "art people" and didn't really want to see the photos.  Or pay.

However. Right next to the castle was a really beautiful church. It was interesting, I haven't seen one like it before. Very beautiful from the outside. The interior was surprisingly plain. But, the exterior made up for that.

This sign was posted near the church.... it's too funny NOT to share. I only wish I could order some for myself!! 

Our tour around the castle, church, and town was done in less than 2 hours (including lunch) it was barely 1. We weren't sure what to do next. Another thing on my day trip list was Bastone, Belgium which is where the Battle of the Bulge took place. Josh originally said he didn't want to drive that much/far... but we saw signs telling us we were only about 35 km from Bastone. So we decided to head on up the road to check it out. I really wasn't sure what we were going to do while we were there as there are a few different memorials/sites in Bastone. We went first to the historical center for Bastone. As it turns out... the historical center has burned down (or.... partially burned down) and is under construction. We already are planning to go back to see some of the museums there, so we'll have to go back when the center is re-built. But we were able to see a Battle of the Bulge memorial dedicated to the American troops. It is built in the shape of a star. The names of the states are listed around the top. On the inside there are different memorial panels describing what the American troops did and thanking them for their service and sacrifice. There are also panels memorializing the different divisions which fought in the battle. You can go on top of the memorial and get views of the area.

The most important state... 

A view from the top 

When it comes to the area in which we live, or just Germany in general, I always say that it's kind of funny to think that an area which is so beautiful or can seem so peaceful would be the background for something so terrible and devastating. I suppose that could be said for a lot of places and a lot of wars. But... Bastone was beautiful.

After Bastone it was still afternoon... Josh decided we should head to Luxembourg City to see what movies were playing. I didn't argue. We went to see Ice Age 4 (we are both kids at heart and love cartoons). It was hilarious and a lot of fun to see. We also decided to do a booze run at the grocery store next to the movie theater as it has a lot of our favorite Belgian beers for reasonable prices. Our original idea of "picking up some beer" really turned into a big haul of beer and wine (well... it was cheap). Josh likes to collect the different brands of beer glasses over here, so in addition to our bottles of beer and wine, we got two sets which came with beer and glasses.

All this for 100 Euros. Jealous?

 

We decided to complete our day by going out for dinner. We tried out a new Indian restaurant near out house. I've never had Indian food before, but this was amazing. So incredibly delicious. We agreed we would go back and it would be a spot we would take people to when they visit. Sometimes Germany misses the mark when it comes to ethnic foods... other times, it is spot on. Luckily this restaurant is one of the good ones. 

After our fun filled day, we were talking about starting to plan out some upcoming weekend trips. This is a little difficult to do right now as Josh may or may not be leaving for training soon, and he may or may not be going on another TDY soon... But, all that aside... some destinations I am determined for us to get to for some weekend trips coming up are (please click and enjoy some Google images. I'm a visual person): Brugge, Belgium; Munster, Germany; Wurzburg, Germany; Nuremburg, Germany; Haarlem, Netherlands. As always, my travel list far exceeds our time off or our budget. There are some other trips I would like to make, but we have to coordinate some times when Josh has a 3 day weekend was it is a longer drive... But. Here is to planning more trips and more successful day trips.