Paris1972-Versailles2003

I am inspired to tell you about one of my favorite countries that have not live in yet. Visited several times always in family trips and many memorable moments, we love to visit more. I like to update links and text on this older post and tell you as an introduction to the magical Duchy of  Luxembourg.

Oh yeah, there is the country and then the city….Luxembourg and Luxembourg ville. Well briefly, the country, and I have been up and down on it by car! is really the Grand Duché of Luxembourg , and then you can write in German or Luxembourgeois as well. It is bordered by Belgium on the west and north, Germany on the east, France on the south. It has two regions ,the north or Oesling part of the massif of the Ardennes and the south or Gutland .  The Luxembourg  is a representative democracy with a constitutional monarch which is the Grand Duke as chief of State, making the only country still a Duchy in the world. There is the Grand Duke Henri and the Duchess Maria Teresa, from Havana, Cuba ! A real love story.

A bit of history I like:  The Château fort of Luxembourg, jewel of the future city of Luxembourg and county of same name was founded in 963.  The future county of Luxembourg that could not be before the 11C show the title of Count of Luxembourg, been the first one Giselbert . During the Middle Ages, the counts were often at war with their neighbors especially the Bishop of Metz, that were the bankers and the powerful bishop of Trier that had property in the county and tried to control the valley of the Moselle for its trade and stop the expansion of the counts of Luxembourg. Count Henri is elected emperor in 1312 and his son John married  the heir of the kingdom of Bohemia, which they ruled until 1437. Already in 1354, Emperor Charles IV of the Holy Empire raised it to duchy.   The Duchess of Luxembourg, Elisabeth de Goerlitz sell the Duchy to Duke Philip III of Burgundy in 1441. Later it passes to the House of Hapsburgs in 1482. The emperor Charles V gives in heritage together with the Spanish Low Countries, Franche-Comté and a vast colonial domain to his son Philip II of Spain (Felipe II). The Duchy is annexed by France in king Louis XIV in 1684 but given back to the king of Spain in 1697, and following the war of successions is given in 1714 to tha Austrian branch of the house of Hapsburgs; this becomes in 1736 the House of Hapsburgs-Lorraine.

At the French revolution and after the revolutionaries defeated the Austrian army in 1795 much of this territory is integrated to France as the department of the Fôrets or forests.  Later, after the French defeat of 1815 the treaty of Vienna split the territory into the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the forest dept to  a state called Grand Duchy and given to the same ruler king duke William 1st .  By 1830, another rebellion known as the Belgian revolution and eventually gives independence to Belgium and the Grand Duchy loses more than half its territory gained in 1815 given rise to a complicated union with the kingdom of Netherlands and member of the German confederation with a presence of a Prussian garrison at the castle in Luxembourg city.  By 1890, the king Grand Duke William III that has no male heir died and the Grand Duchy passes to the House of Nassau-Weilburg ,this ending the relation between Luxembourg and the Netherlands. As William IV and Marie Anne de Braganza also had no male heir so the Salic law was abandoned in 1907 and the princess Marie Adelaide ascend as Grand Duchess in 1912.

During WWI , the Luxembourg is occupied by the Germans violating their neutrality until 1918; the Duchesse Marie Adelaide was contested by her people for some political errors and she abdicates to a convent in favor of her sister Charlotte, wife of Prince Félix de Bourbon-Parma. the treaty of Versailles 1919 confirm the independence of the Duchy and a referendum confirm the monarchy of the country as well.  During WWII , The country is again invaded violating its neutrality in May 1940 by the Nazis; this time the Duchesse and family are exiled to London to maintain the fight and remain on the allied camp.  The Luxembourg is liberated in 1944 by American troops led by General Patton who is buried at the Cemetery of Hamm (see post). Today the country is led by Grand Duke Henri and his wife Maria Teresa, the Grand Duchess. They have five children with the oldest heir Guillaume.

Very good road network leading to all corners of the country , and easy ride. Good train travel as it is in the center of it all, and the beautiful train station to see,  tramway and cable car are in the city of Luxembourg. There is a nice airport Luxembourg-Findel  outside of Luxembourg city so at Findel, and we have stayed by it with easy connection by bus to the city center. OF course, only came here by car, the rest is for info only, The CFL public transports webpage: https://www.cfl.lu/en-gb/network

The country recognized the national language as Luxembourgeois or Lëtzebuergesch. The German and French are very much in used in all domains. English is well understood and there is a large Portuguese community as well.  Ok ok is a bit long but the country is nice ::) I have criss cross the country but really been into the cities of Mersch , Hamm, Ettelbruck, Echternach, Grevenmacher, Remish, Schengen, Vianden, and of course Luxembourg city. Standing at the  union of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers and located centrally to Paris at 372 km (231 mi) and Brussels at 213 km ( 132 mi).

Some of my favorite places to see ,and you can see posts on them are the Ducal Palace, Grand Theater, Theater of Capucins, the Luxembourg city history museum, Casino of Luxembourg (art galleries)  , The Notre Dame Cathedral, the fortifications in the Gund and Pétrusse, the little train , the Casemates , and Neumunster Abbey, the wonderful Place d’Armes ,and the romantic Adolphe Bridge. The WWII American Cemetery and Memorial at Hamm is the final resting place of  5,076 American military dead, including General George S Patton; there is also a memorial to 371 Americans whose remains were never recovered or identified.(RIP).

The Luxembourg tourist office: https://www.visitluxembourg.com/en

The city of Luxembourg tourist office: https://www.luxembourg-city.com/en

There you go folks, hope it gives you enough to come to see this magical small country of Luxembourg. We love it ,and can’t wait to be back again, eventually. We had many memories of driving there even just for lunch at the Place d’Armes with the family by car and come back to Versailles sometimes on the same day!!! Yeah road warriors of Europe!

And remember, happy travels, good health and many cheers to all !!!

I am combing my vault of pictures and found some not yet in my blog! I feel they need to, for memories’s sake as my blog is my life’s history! We have many trips to Luxembourg and always enjoyable with wonderful family memories; the coming to Remich was no different. I have other post,but will tell you about new ones, on the curiosities of Remich . Hope you enjoy it as I.

Strolling on the Esplanade, lingering in front of the Fontaine de Bacchus, having fun on the playground , the Esplanade is appreciated by all. After your walk, make yourself comfortable on one of the pleasant terraces of Place Dr F. Kons. Indeed we walked it and is beautiful natural scenery on the river Moselle and we saw the cruise boat that should be wonderful but we were on our road warrior ways and continue on down the road to Schengen (see post).

The boat M.S. “Princess Marie-Astrid”, you will discover the Moselle valley from a new angle. Reading from their site it tell us that it has a total capacity of 500 passengers, including 220 inside, this majestic boat built in 2010 reveals a luxurious and elegant interior. Indeed, everything on board is designed for your comfort. Thus, while savoring an excellent gastronomic menu, vineyards, villages, hills and forests will accompany you according to the waves. And thanks to its large panoramic windows, no detail will escape you. Moreover, when you board, perhaps you will have the feeling of reliving the course of history, because it was on board the 2nd MS “Princess Marie-Astrid” that the famous agreements of Schengen were signed ! . Regular trips from Easter until the end of September, and special runs outside the regular service are possible.

The boat is very sleek nice clean something to think about next time around this neck of the woods in my Europe and in my lovely Luxembourg, and nice Remich !

The city of Remich tourist office : http://visitremich.lu/en/la-ville/tourist-info/

The Moselle region tourist office on Remich : https://www.visitmoselle.lu/en/where-to-go/remich

The Moselle region on the cruise boat : https://www.entente-moselle.lu/en/bateau-princesse-marie-astrid/presentation

There you go folks, a nice road warrior trip thru sublime regions of Luxembourg! Remich was nice and we love to do the road trip again eventually. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the post as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

I am back updating this wonderful post into one of my favorites countries of Europe. And one of its most smaller, as well as coming to its oldest city of Echternach! It was a lovely ride and would like to expand a bit on the town.See other posts, and hope you enjoy the post as I.

There is the Church St Peter and St Paul as well as the Abbey Museum that i like to group into this post for you and I. Again the ride to Echternach was awesome, many memorable moments including finding the first parking upon entering the city, we figure would be a long walk but voilà all was within walking distance!

The Church Saint Pierre et St Paul at Rue de la Montagne, is the first parish church of Echternach. In the 4C, the hill where the church stands is fortified with towers and a surrounding wall. The crypt of the church dates back to these works. Around the year 1000 a Romanesque building was built in the form of a basilica with three naves. The two towers that flank the choir reflect the architectural influence of Lorraine and a semicircular apse. In the 15C, the church is transformed and enlarged in Gothic style. This intervention led to the creation of the current nave. In 1718 the ground level was lowered, the apse renewed. After WWII, archaeological excavations and restoration work took place, which gave the sanctuary its current appearance. The stained glass windows are by the painter François Gillen, a native of Echternach.

The rock style altar was created in the 18C. for the old parish church. Romanesque paintings, they date back to the 11C, and represent the Beatitudes.The Baroque Sarcophagus of Saint Willibrord from the 17C was formerly placed under the altar table of the abbey church , The painting of Saints Peter and Paul from the 18C represents the two patron saints of the church.

The Echternach tourist office on the church: https://www.visitluxembourg.com/saint-peter-and-paul-church-echternach

The Abbey Museum is at 11 Parvis de la Basilique. This was a surprise and we enjoyed it much.

The monks of the Abbey of Echternach produced magnificent manuscripts, renowned throughout Europe. The museum, which is located in the vaulted cellars of the 1727 abbey palace, still testifies to this today. There are high quality facsimiles of manuscripts such as the Codex Epternacensis, which were produced in the scriptorium of Echternach. The museum also retraces the life and work of Saint Willibrord, founder of the abbey in 698. His bones rest in the crypt of the basilica. It is also in his honor that the Dancing Procession, listed as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, is held. The Abbey Museum has 10 audio guides in German, French, Dutch and English which are available free of charge. The user will only need to deposit his identity card as a guarantee.  Warning ! The museum is to remain closed until further notice due to flood damage.

The official Abbey museum : https://abteimuseum.org/abbey-museum/

The Luxembourg tourist office on the museum: https://www.visitluxembourg.com/museum-of-the-abbey-echternach

Some other monuments/events to see next time are:

The hopping procession of Echternach is a religous procession very unique in many ways. It is at the origin of the history of the abbey of Echternach and its founder Saint Willibrord. It is an internatinal procession in honor of the Saint Willibrord because of the great number of pilgrims. The first mentioned of this procession dates from the end of the 15C.

The Luxembourg tourist board on Echternach hopping processions: https://www.visitluxembourg.com/en/place/specialevents/dancing-procession-echternach

There is the Roman town of Echternach it is witness to the presence of before the abbey of Echternach. The abbey belonged to Luxembourg with a Roman past. The origins Gallo Roman of Echternach discovered by work done on an artificial lake in 1975-1976. The Roman city is done on a central section of 118 meters by 62 meters and this central section is composed of a monumental room flanked by living spaces like kitchen and bedrooms. Around this central section you have roads taken you to a big triclinium and other to a spa  complex; and from here to the rustic part which was the economic zone that is symmetrically to the left and right of the ramparts walls on th south of the town; composed of at least ten buildings.

The Luxembourg tourist board on Echternach Gallo Roman site: https://www.visitluxembourg.com/en/place/misc/gallo-roman-site-echternach

You, also, have the Market Cross, the Justice Cross or Johannes Bertels, the bridge, the lookout, ramparts on th south side of town ,and the old city center. Again , all a wonderful town worth the detour.

The Luxembourg tourist board on Echternach: https://www.visitluxembourg.com/echternach

The city of Echternach on its heritage : https://echternach.lu/decouvrir-2/

There you go folks, hope you enjoy the post on Echternach, a nice town to visit in Luxembourg.  And remember, happy travels, good health ,and many cheers to all!!!