Luxembourg Stopover

Grand Duchess Charlotte (1896-1985)
Lead the country's govt. from London in exile
during WWII. French sculptor Jean Cardot.

One friend rolled his eyes and gasped 'Not Luxembore' when he saw our Easter Holiday Itinerary.

We drove from Cambridge to Luxembourg, via the Ferry crossing, in one day so planned to stay two nights there in order to have a whole day for a look around. Our hotel opposite the Train station was lovely, with one of the best breakfast buffets I've seen in Europe so far. (http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-2058-mercure-grand-hotel-alfa-luxembourg/index.shtml) We smuggled out a couple of slices of their Marmorkuchen (a German marble cake) for afternoon tea. (recipe here - http://www.bavariankitchen.com/desserts/marmorkuchen.aspx)

Left: Saving some money with the induction cooker - what management don't know won't hurt them.
Right: Petal enjoying the bells of Luxembourg.

Nortre Dame Cathederal - Coat of Arms

All the back streets around the hotel were full of seedy nightlife. We parked the car in a lockup garage a block or two walk away, past a variety of strip clubs. We figured the 42 Euro charged for the 40hrs was worth it. It would seem that the entertainment needs of one type of traveler were particularly well catered for! When we popped back to the car to get my camera charger the next evening it was a bit confronting to see young girls being dropped off by brothers and boyfriends for work.

The sun was shining so we walked around the central district of Luxembourg City. It felt like a little Paris without the OCD planning regulations. Being Palm Sunday the bells were tolling, a couple of enterprising souls were snipping leafy stems from the public potted gardens and tried to sell them to us to take to church and the many faithful gathered at the Cathedral for Mass. The capital is in the bottom half of the country but because the whole country is only about 2 600 square km it is fairly close to everything. The Gutland is rolling hills crisscrossed with rivers, the rest is narrow valleys and huge rocky outcrops. Luxembougers do tunnels and bridges really well.

Train Station across from the Hotel

One of the many Mary icons around this
very Roman Catholic city.

Streets of Luxembourg

Left: Notre Dame Cathederal  Right: War Memorial

A huge Ravine splits the city in two. Centre: The trickle that seems to have caused the gap.

The ruins of the Luxembourg fortress. It was touted as the strongest defence in Europe apart from Gibraltar. The French and Prussians battled over  control until the Treaty of London declared that Luxembourg be a neutral country and the fortress torn down. And so to stop the tiny country being torn apart by it's neighbours, a Castle that had never had it's walls breeched was demolished.  The ruins have been given UNESCO heritage status.

As we drove through Belgium and Germany we noticed that nearly every tall rocky point had a Castle plonked on it. Perhaps because there are so many vantage points down fertile valleys, Luxembourg seemed to have even more Castles crammed into it. As we crossed the Belgium/Lux border on the E25 motorway, we saw a walking holiday advertised called 'The Valley of Seven Castles'. It follows the a national pathway through the Eisch river valley from Gaichel to Mersch. It is 37km with plenty of villages to stop at along the way.

Left: Clervaux Castle from the village street             Right: The inner courtyard. 

WWII relics inside the Castle gates. Petal was not impressed that the hatch was wielded shut.

10 or more large rooms are filled with highly detailed models

We decided to see all of Luxembourg's castles in one visit by taking the train from the capital (4 Euro pp for all day travel!) to Clervaux in the north. It is an easy walk from the station to Clervaux Castle, we decided not to take the steep zigzag up to the interesting looking Abbey. It started life as either a Roman or Celtic fort - and then was developed by different families until the battle of the Bulge (WWII) when it was smashed and burnt out. The state took control of the site and have completed an impressive restoration according to photographs and plans of the original. It now houses the local council government, a museum of Luxembourg's castles in miniature, a collection of WWII memorabilia collected from the area, both American and German, and the UNESCO 'Memory of the World' Family of Man photography exhibition.

Edward Steichen, a Luxembourger, had collected and exhibited photographs from war - hoping to prove its futility and pain to prevent it happening again. He is said to have been unhappy with the response of the thousands of visitors -'though many were disgusted and not a few tears were shed.' He decided that the only way to stop humans killing others for pride or space was to make humanity too valuable to sacrifice. Over three years he traveled and advertised to collect photographic images of daily human life. He amassed over 2 million from every cornier of the globe taken by amateurs and professionals alike. He contrived a series of themes and eventually chose 503 photographs to form his exhibition. This was launched in New York at the Museum of Modern Art and toured the world several times before being permanently housed in Luxembourg as this philosopher artist requested. The Family of Man is a treasure that we were privileged to be able to view.

At Petal's prompting I purchased a book with all the photos to keep alive the idea of every person's worth and unique contribution to our Family. Unfortunately I put a bottle of Rivella(a Swiss softdrink) into the bag with the book, a drizzle on my leg a little later alerted me to the fact that the lid hadn't been screwed on tightly enough - the book was wet! We just missed the hourly train back to the capital so we sat in the 1856 cafe with coffees and hot chocolate to wait in the warm. The lovely staff were so patient with our lack of any language apart from English (Willow was visiting her friends in Italy) and gave us a slice of complimentary Marmorkuchen. Petal and I had turns flicking the pages across the top of the radiator to try and dry them out before they stuck together.  Only a few need the attention of the letter opener.

As one of the smallest independent countries in the world, landlocked by historically powerful neighbours, Luxembourg has become a model of diplomacy and integration. Napoleon, the Prussians, Belgium and the Nederlands have all wanted a piece of Luxembourg in the past. It was finally given independent country status as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1839 by the First Treaty of London. France and Prussia nearly went to war over it in 1866, it was invaded and occupied by the Germans as they crossed French borders through it in WWI. Luxembourg announced neutrality in WWII but was not strong enough to keep it so was annexed by the Third Reich in 1940 as a large portion of the population are Germanic. Its government fled to London and many of its police and armed forces were sent to concentration camps for refusing to sign the oath of loyalty to Hitler.

A little town where big things happened

The Moselle river is the border that runs between Germany and Luxembourg. Down in the corner where French, Lux and German borders meet is the little town of Schengen. Here, on a boat moored in the river, Luxembourg hosted the signing of agreement between the initial European nations working towards an open border, same currency United Europe. Not a bad idea for victims of bullying to reuse - unite possible foes in a cause that benefits all.

We were not sure if this interesting looking barge was being built or dismantled. It is opposite the Museum celebrating the signing of the agreement. Germany is over the river and France beyond the lock rear right of this picture.
We assumed this may have been where the boat for the signing was moored.

A clever sculpture where each country in the agreement provided a star with emblems of their own.

One of three panels by the river - this one with a photo of the signing.

Left: The original Das Schloss von Schengen with a drawing of how it was used, looks a bit Rapunzelish now.
Right: The new habitation of the family.

This little town had some really interesting architecture.

Everything is so close over here!

The country aims to make it's citizens efficient members of this European Union through mastery of language. In the first few years of school, Luxembourgish - the national language, is used. The remainder of primary school is taught in German as the national language is a high German dialect. Then in secondary all instruction is delivered in French which is the language used for business and finance in the country. English is also considered a compulsory subject for anyone hoping to get a tertiary education.  I don't know if the Aus/NZ monoliguistic attitudes and expectations are a blessing or a curse.

After a giant Creme Brulee that had been flambeed with Amaretto for desert, I slept very badly in the enormous comfy bed; Petal creaking around on the fold out spring wire bed and the powder puff pillows didn't help much either.

Considering our stay was very brief I didn't find this little Duchy at all boring. Big ideas can come from little places.

Read: Strange Meeting by Susan Hill

http://www.amazon.com/
Strange-Meeting-Susan-Hill/dp/0140036954

Getting ready for the 100th anniversary of WWI
I don't know how I've missed this title - Petal read it at school and told me about it. An intriguing plunge into the lives of a man and his mate as they head for the trenches.

'I am afraid of myself. Of what I am becoming, of what it will do to me.'
"Are you afraid of your own dying?"
Barton's face lightened at once. "Oh, no. I've thought about that too. No. I have never really been afraid of that.'
"It is a brave act of valour to condemn death, but where life is more terrible, it is the truest valour to live."(Quoted from Sir Thomas Browne) p129

"I am out of the war  for good of course, but cannot look ahead at all." p174

Four Countries in One Day for Flowers

Pots of colour at Keukenhof in Holland. We were blessed with two lovely days while on the Continent.

Instead of giving me flowers for Mother's day (three Sundays before Easter Sunday in UK) we decided to go to Keukenhof in Holland to see the fields of Tulips, Daffodils and Hyacinths. Although it was early in the season we weren't disappointed.  The gardens are only open during spring (20 March - 18 May this year) and are visited by 100s of thousands of people from all around the world every year. When I read that dogs on a leash were welcome we decided to take Charlie too.
If you ever fly into Amsterdam in spring and want to take a trip to Keukenhof and Delft there are lots of tours to choose from.  I especially liked the look of a local group who can organise everything for you at a reasonable price. Look here: http://www.toursbylocals.com/How_to_Book_and_Pay

Top:The English end of the Euro tunnel had a lovely big dog park, the French version on the way back was a 2m square fenced off bit of grass with a post in centre to accommodate the males. This is his Yoda impersonation.
Bottom: Charlie bunkered down when driving - looking a bit like a jelly bean, he didn't like his seatbelt.
Right: Petal and Charles have conquered France!

It took 2hrs down the M11 and M20 to get from Cambridge to Folkstone, which is where the Euro Tunnel boarding point is. Our passports were glanced at as we were au revoired through the checkpoint. the green light at the end of our cue came on and off we drove to the car train. The Audi has to squeeze into UK car park dimensions but made the turn into the top level train ramp without any problems. The car booking could include up to 9 passengers but we were charged an extra £16 for Charlie to sit in the car. As the girls said, sitting in a car on a train under the sea between England and France, felt like one of those childhood rhymes with a skeleton jumping out of the last box. I pushed away the thought of the tonnes of water above and rock all around and got through the very quick 30min journey without finding any bones.

Left: M answering a survey about how long we were away and how we booked.
Top middle: Through the window of the train before it sunk under the sea we could see a chalk horse on the hill.
Top Right: Big semis drove on through the large framed cage below the ramp the red truck is exiting from.
Bottom: This end of the train is attached to the single level section where the coaches drive into. The car driving out of the train has come from the lowest level.

We had planned to grab some lunch and croissants for breakfast the next day, in France so detoured off the motorway to a place called Gravelines. There was a big cemetery and the rest of the town was pretty dead too. The only thing open along it's long high st was a hairdresser. This is the second time we have tried to find food in France on a weekend in a provincial town and failed dismally. The snacks I had packed for our garden picnic were eaten a day earlier at a 'service' stop where the beautifully tiled convenience buildings masked welded shut doors and concrete inner walls - unfinished and unplumbed. Many desperate travellers had crouched behind them on their rush through. They could have at least provided bags for disposal as we do for Charlie! Thank goodness our picnic table was a long way off.

Left: Source - Interactive map - http://www.eupedia.com/netherlands/map_netherlands.shtml

The GPS and Europe's wonderful motorways whizzed us across the Belgium border then the Netherlands one. No passport checks in the EU so we did a little seat dance of celebration as we passed each signpost. Left of the NL border is a province called Zeeland. Zee is the Dutch word for cold water or sea, much of the country is below sea level but this province is a series of large peninsulas and islands that are connected by bridges and tunnels. The province has a slogan - 'I struggle and I emerge'. Most of the land has been dragged out of the sea over its history. The huge series of concrete dykes keeps the north sea at bay and provide connections between the islands.

Zeeland and Holland are the coastal provinces of the Netherlands and were big players in the Golden Age of exploration. When Able Tasman discovered the South Pacific islands he thought they were off the coast of Argentina, later the Dutch authorities named the large island Novia Holland, the collection of smaller ones to the east Novia Zeeland; you can see the logic of this when comparing the maps. The sea between them is the Tasman. After Matthew Flinders figured that NSW and New Holland were actually one land mass he referred to it as Terra Australis and suggested Australia as a nicer sounding name.  It stuck in later official English correspondence and by 1820 had become the accepted term for the Southern Continent. New Zealand is still officially that but the Maori name, Aotearoa  (land of the long white cloud) is commonly used.

My detour to see Zeeland - name sake of my homeland, cost us 6 Euros in tolls to travel through engineering wonders that went over, under and around the water - linking peninsulas and islands of the Rhine river delta into a straight path to Rotterdam - the biggest city and financial centre of the country. Passing Rotterdam via this route bought us to a gigantic tangle of overpasses that any Californian would be proud of. We travelled home via the Ghent and Antwerp ring roads because I was driving and that is where the GPS said to go!

Zeeland through the car window. Swans and Geese flock to the waterways. Old windmills and the new.
Very flat, sandy and wet. Eco Tourism the main source of income for Zeeland.

We drove on to Den Haag (The Hague). This beautiful old town has the houses of Parliament, the Royal Palace and is only 30 mins away from the Keukenhof at Lisse. The skyscrapers have spread in from Rotterdam but there are big parks of native forest and paddocks of Llama and miniature horses a stone throw away from the centre. The city is a cross between Amsterdam and London to look at - canals and pretty park squares surrounded by 3-5 level terrace houses.

Indonesian Restuarant

Flowers and canals - Spring in Holland

Willow with the old and new of The Hague behind her. Another gorgeous day.

 

A residential park close to the hotel

Three apartments leading off this staircase.

The Best Western Petite was down the road from the Australian Embassy and an easy walk to a quiet street bursting with restaurants. We passed two Thai places and Indonesian seems popular. As a colony of Holland I guess there are many Indonesian emigrants. We settled for an Italian place that had outdoor seating but the owner decided it wasn't quite warm enough and invited us to let Charlie sit under a table inside. He spoke a blend of Italian, English and Dutch - we understood enough to have a yummy meal. Michael and I hit the supermarket, a favourite travel pass time, and grabbed some gouda cheese, rolls, beef, yogurt and a spongy sort of pancake for breakfast. We looked at the Dutch lollies but were a bit scared because they were all black, I remembered the salty liquorice from when I was younger so we decided that the ones on offer in the hotel foya were enough. You can buy coloured and flavoured varieties now. A whole facing was given over to 'peanut cheese', chocolate spreads and Hagelslag (think small chocolate bullets of various flavours). The last is apparently the most popular bread topping in the Netherlands.

Our big room with exit to a garden
suited Charlie perfectly!
Remember orange is the national colour

The Binnenhof Courtyard
The center of the Parliament buildings.
Netherlands has been governed from here since 1446.
They are now a constitutional monarchy like Aus and NZ.
Queen Beatrix was crowned in 1980.

Hagelslag on Roggbrood (Rye bread)

Binnenhof buildings to the left- pity there was so much maintenance going on when we were there. 

There are 1.25 bikes per capita in the Netherlands but apparently one gets stolen every minute of the day. The bike paths we saw were wide and picturesque. Car lane widths run beside the cars and trams, this is possible because the roads were designed very wide way back.  The sky looked a hazy blue rather than the grey of its photograph, storms in the Sahara sent dust in the atmosphere north. Petal had noticed the weird tone of the sky but it wasn't until we got back to the UK and English radio that we heard about the sand storms.

Summertime hours came in over our night in The Hague - the title a little optimistic! Forward the clocks went which meant we didn't get to the gardens at 8am when they opened. but we were still early enough to be able to walk around and see the sights without too much of a crush.

One of many, very loud music machines. This one is near the entrance from the car park and started playing Madonna's 'Little Prayer' as we arrived.  No one wanted to stand in the giant clogs.

Left:Delft tulip vase - 1600s    Centre: A working Windmill outside The Hague   Right:Celebrating Fresians at Keukenhof
Not hard to see the Chinese influence in the Delft pottery!

The cliche icons of Holland are windmills, tulips, blue and white pottery, black and white cows, big round cheeses and clogs. The windmill technology was bought back by crusader knights from Persia and was put to good use pumping the water out of the lowlands.

The tulips in my little souvenir Delft
vase probably came to my local
supermarket from Holland.

The tulip is a Mongolian native, Turkish sultans grew them in their gardens, called tulip after the turban and the Constantinople ambassador gave the Leiden Botanical gardens director (Carolus Clausius from Vienna) a few bulbs to grow in the 1590s. Out of this grew a supply and demand nightmare that was dubbed tulipomania. It was the first commodity bubble where in the 1630s one tulip bulb was worth more than many people's homes. At first they were a sign of great wealth and the brightly coloured flowers were displayed in specially designed vases in delft with their hand painted designs. As people greedily, desperately sought these prestigious flowers for their own gardens the prices went berserk. Eventually the market crashed and many people were left with nothing. Since then the Netherlands government brought in special trading conditions on the flower. The Netherlands is called 'The flower shop of the World' because they export more seed, bulbs and cut flowers than any other country. Holland's sandy loom is the perfect bed for bulbs to grow. They have over 12000 types of daffodil, hundreds of colours and styles of tulip and masses of hyacinths.

Left: Blossom beside a pavilion showing the grower's latest tulip marvels.  Right: A coot's nest surrounded by daffodils

Keukenhof has grown from being the kitchen gardens for Teylingen Castle where Countess Jacqueline gathered fruits and vegies. She died in 1436 after 4 husbands but only 35yrs. Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641 and the estate spread to 200ha. The area became a showcase of local bulb sellers wares when the mayor of Lisse sponsored the first show in 1949. Now it is the biggest flower garden in the world with the Royal family supporting the Trust.  All varieties on display are for sale in the little bulb booths scattered around the gardens. To bad I have black thumbs! It is only open for 8 weeks of Spring every year.

We wandered down to the Mill to buy tickets for the 'Whisper boat'.

The boat glided along the bulb farm canals. Flowers are cut when just budding but when growing bulbs the flowers are allowed to blossom and then are deadheaded to send all the nutrients down for storage. The bulbs are lifted for packaging and sale after flowering. Audio guides in several languages available as part of the tour.

Left: This lilly looks like it may start dancing any minute.
Centre: Two toned grass that you are not allowed to walk on down the famous beech avenue.
Right: Sculptures are hosted every year - these look a little more like giant baby teeth than an abstraction of a tulip. 

I had to walk on the grassy knoll to get this shot of the people more interested in the mechanics of the organ than the Victorian facade. 

Charlie's adventures - he didn't like the stepping stones. Luckily he only weed in one garden the tulip may not survive. He was very entertained by all the water fowl but didn't embarrass us by trying to catch one of the docile ducks.

Waiting for lunch, a smoked hotdog with a really yummy dressing supplied.  All the Rhododendrons and Azaleas around the park will be flowering when it is closed. Imagine if they were out at the same time as the bulbs - heavenly.

There was an Orchid, Anthurium and Bromeliad Show in the Beatrix pavilion

M found a four wheel steer cycle in the Freesia pavilion. These gorgeously scented flowers are native to Africa. The genus was named after a German doctor not the province of Friesland where the black and white cows come from. The dutch bought them back from their colonies and built glass houses to grow them in. Today the Dutch have the biggest glasshouses in the world to support their enormous horticulture industry.  The photo is a bit blurry because M was zooming around so fast...

Floral arrangements and displays of the latest fressia blooms

Choppin' (they should have had Bach instead of Brahms on the other side) and Willow by the blossom

On our way out bulbs ready for planting out were for sale. Many more people arriving to spend the afternoon. 

 Having to make the 6pm Chunnel crossing with Charlie having to be cleared by the Vet customs first we decided that we could only have one stop in, Delft or 'The Girl with the Pearl Earing' Gallery. I said that it would be cheaper to go to the gallery! We walked through Den Haag again, leaving M and Charlie with the car because for once there was no English to interpret the parking machines and it spat out our card. But when we got there the girls wouldn't stop chuckling and I was dumbfounded. Rembrandt's self portrait, the girl and the pearl and so many other Vermeers, not to mention the reportedly stunning interiors will not be seen with my eyes. A repeat of Madrid - boohoo.
Luckily I had bought a pill box with the girl on the front for Willow to keep her earrings in while travelling and a delft pot from a store at the gardens. Willow told me to buy a book with the prints and get over it but it really isn't the same as staring at something the masters touched, the size of the real thing is often surprising and alters the way you think of it. Seeing the brush strokes and the overlays up close is thrilling and sometimes you see a painting to fall in love with that you've never seen  or heard of before. There should be a law against closing Galleries.

Hopes Dashed

Side of the Gallery
across the pond from Parliament

No entry for a while - until alterations and maintenance are complete.  Willow and Petal think it is hilarious!

http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_pearl_earring.html#.Uz0tZ_ldUj8
Interactive image at this site

http://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx  See the Gallery's collection here.

Charlie showing his face for his passport check at UK customs

An overturned vehicle and the subsequent police investigation doubled the time of our journey home from Folkstone. Hundreds of trucks had just turned their engines off amidst the enormous cue to be detoured off the M20 onto an A road. Cars crawled past them as they waited for the Motorway to be opened again. M was hoping that as we got to the top of the cue the cones would be removed and we'd be able to race down the motorway. Unfortunately, the only drag was the chopping between 1st and 2nd gears for an hour or so. 

Even so this was probably one of the best Mother's day presents I've ever had. Thanks Family xx

Planning to Read:

The Black Tulip - Dumas (Wrote the three Musketeers) Penguin books 
First published 1850. 
A deceptively simple story and the shortest of Dumas's most famous novels, The Black Tulip weaves historical events surrounding a brutal murder into a tale of romantic love. Set in Holland in 1672, this timeless political allegory draws on the violence and crimes of history, making a case against tyranny and creating a symbol of justice and tolerance: the fateful tulipa negra. The 20th of August 1672 is an important date in Dutch history: the brothers De Witt are brutally lynched by the crowd, allegedly for high treason where they were only trying to negotiate a peace treaty with France to protect their little country. However, their deaths meant that William of Orange (later also King of Great-Britain) could become king. With this backdrop, Dumas creates a story, not about the brothers, but about one of their godchildren: Cornelius Van Baerle, who is saddled with a jealous neighbour Isaac Boxtel. Why is he jealous? He is envious because Cornelius is having some success in discovering The Black Tulip which is awarded a prize of 100,000 florins, and thought impossible. Just at the point where the black tulip is well on its way to coming into existence, Van Baerle is compromised and thrown into prison where he is sentenced to death. Somehow, though, God has mercy and he is granted a perpetual prison sentence instead. As the story continues, a love affair emerges between the jailer’s daughter and Van Baerle who gave her his three bulbs in his testament. The black tulip is not only a symbol for justice and tolerance, but also a symbol for the most perfect and divine love of two people. It can be prosecuted, attempted to be destroyed, killed, trodden on, but it will never give up, and eventually it blooms despite all those obstacles. A wonderful, gentle, tender and placid love story without huge declarations, but none-the-less powerful. A great novella.
--Submitted by kiki1982 ~ http://www.online-literature.com/dumas/black_tulip/ 

http://www.amazon.com/Girl-With-Pearl-Earring-Novel/dp/0452282152/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1396530708&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Girl+with+a+Pearl+Earring+novel                            http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335119/

Last century I read Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier(1999). The girl herself was a strong and vibrant character but Vermeer came across as a talented, spoiled, shallow man which was rather disappointing. I always like to imagine people of genius are somehow as evolved emotionally and morally even though life has taught me this is certainly not a given. The film came out in 2004 but I watched it on video because Colin Firth was playing Vermeer; I didn't want to watch the selfish assuming spread across Mr Darcey's face as I knew this brilliant actor would be able to do! The smaller screen was easier to bear. Chevalier's novel and the adapted film, give a truly believable account of life and attitudes in 1660's Delft.