Just Can't Get Enough

Luxembourg~again!  We embarked on our third visit to Luxembourg this past weekend.  What could possibly ensnare us to return to that tiny county to the north two weekends in a row?  Films in original version!  Kyle and I were the last folks we knew over here who hadn't yet seen Inception.  That was until we mentioned it to our friends JP and Su.  They very graciously invited us over to their apartment for lunch after church last Sunday and then we planned to drive to a theater in Luxembourg City.  For lunch Su made a delicious chicken pasta dish with a salad, and Kyle and I introduced our friends to pizookie (as Kyle calls it) or cookie cake (according to me).  JP amused us with all the accents he can do of other Europeans~I'm a huge fan of his Italian one.  He used the word "bambina" no fewer than 5 times~too funny!

Well, we crossed international borders and parked in a precarious parking spot (I think it was the sidewalk) only to find that Inception was sold out at our show time.  Did I mention that this theater seats 300-ish people?  Didn't this movie come out several weeks ago?  It's Sunday afternoon, people, not Friday or Saturday night!  Alas, JP had a back-up plan.  There is another theater in the industrial and frightening town of Esch.  They've basically built up a huge shopping center around an abandoned, dark, super-creepy, industrial factory.  Be not afraid as you look upon this freaky combo of modern architecture and a carcass of Luxembourg's industrial revolution....

Zoomed out you may think it's not so freaky and imposing...

...just imagine walking to your car alone here at night.  You couldn't pay me to see an evening show at the cinema in the red building.

As it was still daytime and I was with a group, we went ahead and purchased tickets to the next showing of Inception.  We just had to cool our heels for an hour before it started.  JP (thankfully) happened to notice the sign said "VA" not "VO".  For those of you who have never had to make the distinction, VO means the original language for a film.  VA~could this mean version anglais?  Nope... in Luxembourg it means version allemande (dubbed in German).  Well, among our group we have English, Spanish, French, Korean, and maybe Vietnamese, but none of us could speak German.  The film is supposed to be complicated enough~let's just watch it in a language none of us understand.  After successfully getting a refund on our tickets, guess what we did?  We went back to the first theater in Luxembourg City to get tickets for the evening show.  

Before the day is over, I guarantee you we saw Inception.  However, we had more time on our hands than before.  We headed to some ruins that overlook the valley to take pictures for a bit before show time.

We are still in church clothes~Kyle is a very dapper fellow.

JP & Su & a little one due in February 2011!

Valley view #1~ a church

Valley view #2~ bridges

Valley view #3~ gardens

Not the castle to stay in when in Luxembourg

Su, JP, me, and Kyle~ it was a nice touristic detour before the movies.

Finally, after many hours of anticipation we enjoyed Inception.  It was a real treat to hang out with our friends all day long.  If it hadn't been for all the movie trouble, we may never have seen the most frightening city in all of Europe.  As a final note, does anybody have any thoughts on Inception?  All I'll say for now is that I'm relieved the rest of French women aren't as terrifying as Marion Cotillard playing "Mal".  Also a little bummed that she spoke no French the entire movie... oh well.  I'll be writing again soon about the date day Kyle and I took to Nancy.  A plus!

Moselle Moseying

Well, in an attempt to calm my nerves I decided to write to you about a very relaxing weekend we shared with the Dunlaps.  Why am I on edge?  I arrived back from a jog just a little bit ago and was cooling down in the dorm when I heard a knock at the door... then the clanking of keys.... Before I knew it, someone was entering my apartment.  As an attempt to cool off, I was resting in my shorts and sports bra~not exactly what I want to wear when an intruder busts in.  It was our friendly neighborhood landlord, Fabrice.  He says he's come to clean something, but I'm currently hiding out in the living room.  Let's move on to happier thoughts instead of dwelling on being half-nude when there was some unexpected maintenance....

Once upon a time, our friend Cole suggested that we rent scooters one weekend and tour the castles of our Moselle region.  It's been many months since the initial proposition was made (Cole is back in the U.S. now), but the dream never died.  Kyle and I were holding out for good weather conditions and a scooter rental shop.  We also were glad to have Rocky and Maria equally enthusiastic about our chateaux explorations.  During the planning process, Kyle and Rocky found that some dreams never really do come true.  There is an absolute scarcity of rentable scooters in Lorraine.

Plan B~We depended on the Dunlaps car to take us on an excursion.  On a Friday afternoon in July, we set out for Echternach which is the oldest town in Luxembourg.  We were lured there in the hopes of seeing a marching band.  Again, our hopes were dashed, but we did have a lovely time taking pictures at the basilica, eating a delicious dinner, and celebrating Daringsfest (whatever that may be) with the locals.  For the night, we resided at the lovely chateau in Schengen.  Good husbands take their wives to castles~it was so nice!  Schengen is quite well known for the treaty signed here permitting more relaxed border controls throughout all of Europe~it makes international travel super simple!

Hamiltons at the basilica

We all enjoyed a little champagne as our aperitif~how else would you have celebrated Daringsfest?

Our room in the comfy castle!

Remnants of a much older tower of the castle

A view of the castle's garden from above

Kyle's eating his cookie in front of the chateau in Schengen!  If you guessed correctly in my last blog entry, congratulations!

Saturday was a fantastic day.  We checked out of the castle and drove to Remich where we had breakfast and then rented bikes.  There is a lovely bike train that goes along the Moselle river and vineyards galore.  We stopped in the towns of Ehnen and Wormeldange (or as we call it, Worm Dance) along the way.  In Worm Dance, we took a break for lunch and wine tasting.  Vins et velos~not a bad combination.  After that, we pretty much rode straight back to Remich to return our bikes and depart to our next destination.  We figured out that we went close to 15 miles on our bike tour~not bad for vacation!

This picture is so amusing.  Here is where we rented bikes.  I must admit, a great number of the photos I'm sharing are from Maria.  My camera got a bit wonky Friday night...

Kyle boldly snaps a shot over his shoulder of Maria and me while cruising along the river.  He's very skilled.

Ehnen in all it's glory.

Perhaps you are not enticed by Worm Dance wine, but we certainly were...

A cute wine sampler~it's best to share one of these with a friend.

Vineyard are everywhere!

Not quite ready yet...

A leisurely ride indeed.

Where did we end up?  Trier!  Or as the French say, Treve.  Yes, the city that is so great, it has two names.  You may recall that we went here once before with Kyle's buddy JT.  It was really nice to revisit it in warmer weather.  We strolled around, took lots of pictures, and ate at a very crowded restaurant (that means the food is good, right?)  By the evening we were all exhausted and ready to head home to Metz.

Watch as the Hamiltons enjoy roses by the Porta Nigra!

See how the Dunlaps marvel at the gardens by Aula Palatina (the Basilica of Constantine)!

Much fun was had by all.  Without scooters, the weekend wasn't a total loss~it was, in fact, very delightful!  We came home with a bottle of the regional wine (a rosé, which are so much better in France than any where else).  We also had tons of quality time with the Dunlaps before their departure just last week.  Though it probably merits a whole entry, I will just tell you that we had Rocky and Maria over for a dinner/slumber party the last night they were here.  It worked out really well for them to get up super early in the morning and ride a bus to Paris.  It was a fun farewell, and we look forward to hanging out with them stateside sometime down the road.

Hey, you know what else?  The landlord is gone thus peace has been restored to my home.  Though I can't tell what exactly he did, he left the WC's door wide open and I smell something like cleaning supplies in my kitchen.  It's a mystery... Before I sign off, one more thing...

Luxembourgish

Kyle and I know a wonderful family here in Metz~the Pounds.  We do Bible study with Steve each Thursday, and the evening is made more wonderful by his wife Vicky who prepares dinner for our group to enjoy at the table with them and their 4 kids.  Yesterday they kicked up their hospitality to a whole new level.  The kids have a club which meets once a month at a church in Luxembourg.  We had mentioned wanting to visit Luxembourg city sometime, but that it'd probably cost around 40 euros for just the travel expenses.  Since they were planning on going this weekend, and they have a minivan, they offered to take us with them.  Too generous...

So Saturday started out very well.  Kyle and I were preparing for the arctic temperatures we were going to face in the name of exploration and visiting a different country.  Kyle received a voice mail from an unknown man; we listened to it several times and determined it must be some sort of wrong number.  It said that there was a package waiting to be picked up at the patisserie/boulangerie Oster (a small bakery at least a mile away from us which we had never visited).  Though we were expecting a package, and we have witnessed some absurd delivery methods (more akin to ransom or highway robbery than customer care), we were certain that something didn't add up and it must not be for us.  Kyle boldly called back (anyone who's made a call in a foreign language knows it can be a bit of a nail-biting experience and almost certainly always awkward).  It turns out the man was insistent that this package was for him and couldn't be delivered to our dorm but must be picked up in the other neighborhood's bakery.

Alas, Kyle reviewed his order and sure enough in the fine print is a message about how they don't use the mail service or major private delivery companies to ship their goods.  Their distributors have the choice to deliver your purchase to an intermediary distributor who then hold your item for you to pick up.  Have you ever heard of anything more absurd?  It's actually a brilliant scheme~on arriving at Oster, we couldn't resist buying some pastries to take with us on our day trip.  Sure enough, the baker had our box and let us sign for it.  Amazing.  Perhaps I'll save telling you what came in the box for a later entry (cheesy blog intrigue one more time...).

We arrived at the Pounds home with box in hand just in time to eat lunch with them (tartiflette~yum!).  Unbeknownst to me, I had become quite popular among the 3 older Pounds children (the 4th is still just a baby).  Thus the day was filled with debate over who got to sit next to me at the kitchen table and in the minivan.  Once in the car, we played games and told stories and listened to Adventures in Odyssey (a Christian radio show for children with new episodes daily).  It was a grand time.

Kyle and I spent the afternoon wandering about town looking in shops.  Within several minutes after entering town, we were approached by two Luxembourg ladies who wanted us to participate in a survey.  At first we didn't realize this was the case because they were speaking in their crazy Luxembourgish language (what some have told us is "spoiled German").  After establishing that we weren't from Luxembourg and only spoke French, they wanted nothing to do with us.  So we continued until we stumbled upon this charming display of modern art...

Is that a baby or a blood sucking leech?  How is it that the lady's hand is the only body part in pristine shape?

Though it appears that Kyle is posing with the statue, it merely is the only place to sit without having to look at that monstrosity.

We aimed at visiting the valley and seeing this enormous bridge built a little over 100 years ago.  The valley was amazing; it is a giant park tucked beneath a huge city.  There are lovely trails, a small stream, and cute stone walls.  Though I've had negative feelings towards snow for the last few weeks, it was even nice to see the remnants of a small snow fall in the park.  We most thoroughly loved that the harsh winds we faced in the city hadn't managed to weave their way down to the valley.

You are now entering the valley

Snowy bridge

Perfect opportunity to enjoy the treats made by our package dealer

Another lovely sight in the valley

Anytime we venture out of Metz, we usually indulge in something we don't normally do at home.  Before heading back to the church to meet our friends, we stopped in a cafe for two delightful cups of hot chocolate and macaroons.  Deshicious~as the Pounds children would say.  Sometimes it's just all you want on a cold winter's day.

I'll take my cocoa with a side of whipped cream.

He was making a monkey face while eating his banana macaroon.

I raise my goblet of sweetened dairy to you to commemorate being inhabitants of Europe for 6 months (did I mention we've lived in France officially for 6 months?)

The evening ended with eating another meal with the Pounds (they really spoil us) and playing with the kids.  Kyle got some quality time holding their little baby~these are the things that make my heart swell.  He's getting good at not becoming terrified whenever the baby makes a noise or moves in some way which he doesn't expect.  These are the qualities a girl looks for in the future father of her children.  I'll leave you with a little treat from our ride home.

The identities of the children have been concealed for their safety (also it was dark on the ride home...)