But
eventually we made it. We were so relieved that we opened the bottle of apple
juice and drank and ate snacks all the way to Nancy. It was a cool high speed
train and went shockingly fast across the countryside. We watched the sun go
down and played with Miriam. So fun! John met us at the station and helped us
carry our bags to the Hotel de Guise. It was dark and kind of a long walk. We
passed by a humongous city park that was filled to capacity with a fair.
Finally we made it to the hotel. It was in the historical part of town. And was kind of a neat old building.
John told
us that his presentation went well, and he was meeting a lot of people that he
could collaborate with. So the conference part of the trip was a success. That
night we pushed the beds together so Miriam could be between John/me and my
mom. So she wouldn’t roll off the bed. She did pretty well though.
The next
morning we got up early and walked in the rain to the train station to catch
the train to Luxembourg. That was a beautiful train ride. It followed a river,
and we saw a lot of French countryside. We saw a nuclear power plant. We pulled into the Luxembourg at about 10 or
so. We had kind of a hard time getting out of the station. Miriam needed to
eat. Mom needed to use the restroom. Then we wanted to ask how far it was to
walk to the old town and the tourist office was really busy. Eventually we made
it out and started walking down the street.
The weather was crazy that day. It went from being really warm to really cold and windy. Fortunately we made it inside for a little while. We wanted to go on the “Wenzel Walk,” which showed the sites of the old fortifications of Luxembourg.
Luxembourg
is built on these cliffs and as part of the defenses they people built a series
of ‘casemates’ (tunnels and rooms) in the rock to help defend it. Also they
would go there as a place of refuge. They started building them in 1647 and were
enlarged as time went on. They went down about 40 meters and were about 170 km
long. In 1867 there was a massive dismantling of the fortress and only about 17
km were spared. These are known as the Bock and Petrusse casemates.
We had kind
of hard time finding the beginning of the Wenzel Walk, but made it eventually.
We started at the Bock casemates. The tunnels were huge and we saw how they
kept guns in them to defend them. Apparently around 30,000 people took refuge
in these casemates during WWII with the Nazi invasion. I can’t believe that
only 10% of the original casemates held that many people!
Well, we
went up and down and all around and saw the beautiful views from the side and
ended at the bridge to the Bock Promontory. This was a cool bridge with a
secret exit if they needed to escape.
From there we continued on our Wenzel Walk. We went along the Wenzel Wall, which was really cool and skinny. We saw the beautiful river and gardens. Finally we made it to the top of the next hill and found a hiccup. There was a big construction project. We tried to find our way around it, but failed. At that moment the wind and rain started to pick up and Miriam needed to eat. So we tried the first building that we came to. It looked like some kind of hospital. We walked in and asked the only person that we saw if I could feed my baby on the bench. He said that he would find me a better place. So he took me to an empty room. I decided it was actually some kind of care facility. Anyway, it was perfect. The weather was awful outside, but I was able to feed Miriam in privacy, and she even did her big blow out of the day there were we could take care of it. Such a blessing. By the time I was done, the weather was better. We went out and were actually able to pick up on the Wenzel walk again. So beautiful along the river. They have a public elevator to the top of the cliff that we took and we went towards the city center.
We made our way to the city center and saw the home of the ruler of Luxembourg. We saw the changing of the guard. We saw the cathedral and tried to go the other casemates which were closed. I had to feed Miriam in the square because we couldn’t find a good place for her to eat privately, but it was okay.
We did a little shopping on our way back to the train station. I got some cool shell earrings. Mom got a scarf and some chocolates to take back to John.
He met us at the train station again and when we were leaving, a young couple stopped and asked us if we had ever heard of the Book of Mormon. We said that we were already members, and they said that they were on a Young Single Adult activity. Small world, eh?
That night we had a Lebanese dinner. I just have to say how much I loved the delicious food we had on this trip. Shocker, replacing fruits and veggies with pastries, french fries, and baguettes is actually really yummy. :) Unfortunately, one can't eat like that for long without paying the consequences. Needless to say, the gym and I need to become better friends. Back to the Lebanese food though, this was a really common type of restaurant we saw. I am really interested in learning how to cook this kind of food. I'll have to let you know how it turns out.
We went on a nighttime stroll of Stanislas Place. Gorgeous! The next morning we happened upon a pottery market that was set up in the square.
After that
we walked around the old town. We saw the basilica with the lights on and
walked down to Stanislas Place, which is their really beautiful city center.
One thing I was startled by was all of the real gold leaf everywhere.
John was
kind of our tour guide as he had been given an official city tour as part of
the conference. It was gorgeous!
The next
morning we got up and headed back out to the old city. We saw the same places
in the light and a few more. We ran into a pottery market and I bought some
earrings. (I like earrings.)
Unfortunately
by the time we were done with that Miriam was obviously in a lot of pain
because of her incoming tooth. Poor girl. We rushed back to the hotel and
gave her some medicine. This kind of set us off course time wise and we had to
rush to the train station to make it. That made it seem like a very long walk. The
train ride was fun though. We took fun pictures and had snacks. It was such a relief to
be with John again.
What an
amazing structure! It surprised me by how big it was. We really wanted to go to
the top and had to wait in a cold, windy line for more than an hour to make it
there. It was so worth it though. We took the first elevator up to the second
floor and from there immediately caught the next elevator to go to the top.
Once there, we were startled by how high we were. The view was amazing and I
loved picking out places I had only heard about and saw on maps. I also really
loved seeing the humongous shadow of the tower across the city. They had this
comparison diagram that showed how high it was in comparison to the rest of the
buildings in the world, and once again, I was surprised by how tall it was.
I actually
fed Miriam up there, and changed her diaper on a bench. We went outside, where
it wasn’t as windy as I thought it would be. We stayed up there a long time,
looking at the view and taking pictures. Mom even used the bathroom at the top of
the Eiffel Tower. The only person that we really talked to was a lady who said
something about Miriam and then asked us where we were from. Turns out she
lives in Provo and is going to BYU. What are the odds?! By the time we headed
down the sun was setting. We went around the second floor for a while. We
bought a picture of the Eiffel tower and used the heater to warm up. I saw a
Ben and Jerry’s on that floor. There is a restaurant there that you can eat at
for a measly $300-$500 per person.
After we
went down we hunted all over for someplace to eat. We ended getting crepes at a
creperie, which everyone seemed to love except me. It was the only food in
France that really made me want to gag.
We made it
home and crashed. I wasn’t all the way filled up so I tried making some
popcorn, which burned really bad. Oops. J
