May 30-Tuesday – Luxembourg City

Luxembourg City was a disappointment. I remember being knocked over by the old town during our first visit; the esplanade above the Petrusse valley, the Adolph bridge spanning the valley and connecting the city as it grew, the castle, the cathedral, they left a mark on my memory that did not hold up to scrutiny.
This visit we recognized how wealthy the city is; it is the banking capital of the EU with the second highest per capital GDP in the world. That means the people of Luxembourg AVERAGE over $80,000/year income. You know what else that means? It means all the top European name brands set up shop in Luxembourg City. Yves St Laurent, Gucci, BCBG, Chanel, Versace, Zara and one I could afford: H&M.
The past weekend was very hot; a preview of the summer to come. I did not bring enough lightweight clothes to get me through the summer so I was in search of something apropos. I did find a shift top that is the beginning of my summer wardrobe.
After only a couple of hours we decided we had seen enough and found our bus #194 to take us back to the camping. As we sat quietly on the bus, watching the stops come up on the screen and waiting to recognize ours, a lady standing at the exit asked if we were campers and if so, we should get off with her. We were dumbfounded that she would recognize us as such. We still don’t know what gave us away.
Back at the camping we welcomed Willie’s brother – a Dutch Citroen Hymer that was almost identical to ours. It was a 1993 model while ours is either a 1991 or 1992. We waved cheerily to them as they entered camp and soon the owner came by to compare notes. He showed us several features we didn’t know – like where the missing gray-water hose was stored and that our key worked in the door. We were given to understand that both our exterior door locks were broken and went through a whole rigamarole to get the door secured. It was still necessary to add the one exterior security door lock but we finally try our key in the “broken” lock only to find it works. We never would have tried the lock if Willie’s brother’s dad hadn’t tried his key in the lock just to see if it worked. It did and so did ours. Go figure.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 – Bastogne, France

After a stop at IKEA unsuccessfully searching for a summer comforter, we drove to Bastogne, Belgium, the location of the famous WWII Battle of the Bulge.
Bastogne was a crossroads to seven different cities/towns that led the way deeper into the continent. Whoever held the city could stop approaching armies from advancing. It was a last ditch effort by the Germans to regain dominance in the war they had basically lost by that December 1944.
Bastogne was pretty much blasted to bits but has been rebuilt quite charmingly. It appears to hold the American Army in high esteem; there are many remembrances in the town of their victory.
We stayed one night at Camping Renval, just outside the city center; an easy walk into town and an even easier bike ride. Parking our bikes at McCauliffe Square we wandered up and down Le Grand Rue – Main Street – watching people as they carried on with their daily routines. Bruce was hoping to find a Frites shop open so we could have some Belgian fries but this part of Belgium is Walloon and respects the French tradition of closing up shop in the afternoon for a couple of hours. Instead, we hopped back on our bikes and went grocery shopping at a Carrefour Market near the camping.
A British couple, Mark and Claire, are camped right next to us and after dinner we went over to their pitch and visited for a few hours, swapping stories and enjoying the ability to speak with others in our mutually native tongue. They shared some tidbits on places to visit while in the U.K. They were at the beginning of a 3-4 week holiday; perhaps we will catch up with them while we are in Britain and after they return.

Next morning we drove to the Bastogne WWII memorial museum where we were reacquainted with the history of the war. The museum, with the accompanying audio tour, walked us through the beginnings of Hitler’s power to the end and his downfall with special emphasis on the happenings in the Ardennes where Bastogne lies and the Battle of the Bulge took place. It was very well done. Outside is a huge five-point star shaped memorial with the name of each U.S. State engraved on it as well as the story of the battle told on ten panels. Walking up the staircase to the top of the memorial I was met with a beautiful 360* view of the countryside and Bastogne itself in the near distance.

Then we got back into the car and began our run to the coast of France where we planned to jump a ferry from Dieppe to New Haven, Great Britain on Monday.