Our First Soiree

June is a huge month of vacations and celebrations in Luxembourg.  The biggest holiday of the month (and one of the biggest of the year) is the Grand Duke's Birthday which is June 23 and a National Holiday for all of Lux. 

Because of our close proximity to the festivities in the center of town, Alex and I decided to have a little pre-party.  We knew that at midnight on the 22nd, the day before the holiday, there would be a huge fireworks display over the bridge in the Centre right beside our apartment. There would also be music stages set up all over downtown and thousands of people would pack into the streets to celebrate on the Grand Duke's dime. 

Alex and I invited our new Luxembourg friends and had a great turn out of close to 20 people.  I decided that the party should be cakes and desserts, since it was a birthday party, afterall.  I spent the day in the kitchen baking and here's a sneak peek of the spread...

Chocolate and vanilla layer cake with cream cheese icing...

Chocolate and strawberry tarts...

Fruit skewers...



I also had cupcakes, cheese (every party in Europe must have cheese :) and a few bowls of jelly beans that I was thrilled to find in a cute little store in town.

The party was so much fun and we loved the chance to introduce our friends to each other.  Here are a few pictures, though I didn't get many because I was enjoying conversation with everyone and simply forgot to take more!

Sanne and Julie, my Dutch friends who work at the Netherlands Embassy

Sara and Valerie, native Luxembourgers, in addition to Sanne and Julie

And my South African friend, Kristy, at the fireworks show

Speaking of fireworks, they were amazing and quite timely for 1.5 weeks before our 4th of July!  The show was much more extravaga that I was expecting; though I should start expecting that of Luxembourg.  The partying in the streets was also waaaaay more than I was anticipating.  People warned Alex and me that we may not get much sleep this evening because people tend to party (loudly) in the streets under our apartment for most of the night.  Luckily (and surprisingly), we did get sleep but not before briefly checking out the scene in the streets.  Here's a glimpse of what I saw - watch the left side of the screen closely for the dudes breaking it down and turn your volume up for the full effect :)

Happy Birthday, Grand Duke Henri.  And what a birthday party it was!

Love until next time...Melanie





In Bruges

There is a not-so-famous movie from several years ago starring Colin Farrell called "In Bruges."  Its really quite terrible so don't see it but go there if you ever have a chance - its just as lovely in person as it was in the movie. 

This weekend, Alex and I took a trip to the little town of Bruges.  Bruges, located in Northern Belgium, has been called a tiny Venice because idyllic canals wind throughout the cobblestoned little city.  We've heard that Bruges is a "must" and Alex and I found out this weekend why people adore it so.

As I mentioned before, Bruges is known for three things: chocolate, beer and lace.  There is a chocolate shop on every corner and we did our share of eating it.  Alex and I returned with several boxes of chocolate and I must say, chocolate from the little chocolate kitchens in Belgium is truly better than any chocolate I've ever had at the Godiva store at Green Hills Mall :)

Upon arriving in Bruges, Alex and I walked 10 minutes from the train station to our hotel.  I was a little nervous about the hotel because it was surprisingly in our budget and the hotels, overall in Bruges, seemed a bit pricey.  When we opened the door to our room, I was delighted!  We had a large bed, lots of windows, 3 sky lights and beautiful hardwood floors!  Not to mention, the room included a free breakfast.  The Martin's LOVE free breakfast :)

Because I love food - and the food in Bruges was outstanding - I want to share a few of the highlights in case you ever find yourself hungry in Bruges :)  Our first meal - lunch on day 1 - was at Kaffee Pergola - a hard-to-find and perhaps-a-little-too-upscale-for-lunch spot overlooking the canal.  It was so romantic and delicious!  Alex and I both had fish that was caught from the ocean about 20 miles north of Bruges. See how cute!

After lunch, Alex and I took a canal ride to see the sites including the famous bell tower, the Church of Our Lady, the Bastilica of the Holy Blood and the oldest pub in town, dating back to 1515.  Here are a few pictures...

The beautiful bell tower at night

A delicious sugar-dusted waffle (and popular afternoon snack)

Alex perusing the beer menu at the oldest pub (circa 1515 - that's OLD!)

Our dinners in Bruges were off the charts.  Another restaurant that I have to mention was called Tom's Diner. Recommended to us by the Queens, Tom's Diner alone was worth the 3 hour train ride to Bruges.  On the outskirts of town in an old building, you'd never find Tom's unless you were looking.  http://www.tomsdiner.be/

One of my favorite parts of our trip was our bike ride to Damme.  Alex and I rented bikes for a day and headed North along the canal to the next town several miles away called Damme.  Here I am at the bike rental shop prior to the trip.  Yes, I'm unfortunately wearing a lot of clothes for June.  I'm not in the South anymore :(

Alex and I decided to take some video of the ride so we made it into a little YouTube link that you can view below.  There are a few pictures, along with a few minutes of video.  Please forgive the bumps - we were riding on cobblestone and that is VERY evident in the taping :)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUNxNI9WtSI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Enjoy!

Love until next time...Melanie

Luxembourg fun fact #3: Location, location, location

As I've previously mentioned, I didn't know exactly where Luxembourg was located when Alex asked me if I wanted to move there.  When I found it on the map, I noticed it nicely tucked in between France, Germany and Belgium, smack in the middle of Western Europe.  What I didn't realize then was how easy it would be to get from Luxembourg to so many other amazing places in Europe.

Luxembourg City (where we live) is 30 minutes from Germany's border, 30 minutes from France and 20 minutes from Belgium.  Where else can you live and be in 3 countries in a half hour?  Since the EU (European Union) formed, its not even necessary to show passports crossing from one country to the next within the EU so traveling is that much easier. You have to pay attention to know you've entered another country!

Alex and I have taken trips with friends to the following adorable cities by car/train:
Trier, Germany (great shopping)
Ribeauville, France (great wineries)
Arlon, Brussels (I can't brag on this one - I only saw the inside of the Ikea :)
Maastricht, Holland (cute shop-lined cobblestone streets)

This weekend, we'll be in Bruges, Belgium, which we've heard is one of the best little towns in all of Europe!  Bruges is known for 3 things: chocolate, beer and lace. The canals and little boats resemble those of Venice but lucky for us, its only a 3 hour train ride! (Pictures and details to come!)

Luxebourg's prime location also causes it to be quite the tourist spot, especially in the summer.  I had no idea that I'd see bus loads of tourists arrive in the city every day.  Large tour groups and their clicking cameras always greet me when I walk into the City Centre.  It makes me wonder why I wasn't familiar with this wonderful place prior to living here!

Lastly, I'll leave you with some pictures from our weekend to Budapest!  Alex's fraternity brother and friend is Hungarian and has recently moved back to Budapest.  Alex and I said yes to his girlfriend's invitation to surprise him for his birthday so Alex and I booked a last minute flight to Budapest for the long weekend!

The balcony of Alex's friend's apartment, overlooking the entire city

Our Friday night activity - silent disco - in downtown Budapest

Alex's friend's buddies play polo and we got to see a match!

Alex and the birthday boy on the balcony overlooking the beautiful Parliment building

Our sailing trip on the Balaton River outside of Budapest (Thanks, Dr. Kaali!)



Love until next time...Melanie



Luxembourg fun fact #2

Welcome to the second installment of "Luxembourg Fun Facts."  I'll title this one, "The Three Kisses."

Every girl likes to be kissed, right?  Perhaps that's not entirely the case but there's a good reason Alex calls me a "feeler."  What a treat it was for this "feeler" to find out that the Luxembourg greeting consists of THREE kisses on the cheeks! 

Upon meeting my first few Luxembourgish friends, I was kissed - first on the right cheek, then on the left, then again on the right.  I was elated.  Upon meeting more Luxembourgish friends - guys and girls, I may add - each time, they come in for the kisses!  Its funny how warm (and a little intimate) it feels to rub cheeks with someone before you even know their name.  I think I was meant to live here - I completely adore this tradition and will attempt to bring it back to the US ;)

The three kisses usually go off without a hitch but there have been a few exceptions.  After going in for a third kiss when our French teacher arrived for the first lesson, I learned that the French only kiss twice.  Because Luxembourg is so international - especially by day when the thousands of bankers flood into town from surrounding countries - there can be misplaced kisses, too many kisses or not enough kisses if you don't know the nationality of the person you're meeting.  My rule of thumb - just keep kissing until the person you are leaning in towards pulls back :)

A story of the mis-placed kiss...
Though I haven't had any embarrassing kissing moments (besides giving our French teacher an extra smooch), I will share my friend Sarah's story because I think it is hilarious.  Sarah was attending a large dinner party at her husband's co-worker's house not long after she arrived in Luxembourg.  When Sarah and her husband Chris walked in the door, everyone greeted them with the usual kisses on the cheeks.  Because Chris' company is full of European nationalities like most here, Sarah went through the motions with ten or twelve people and got a little weary towards the end.  Upon meeting one of Chris' male co-workers, Sarah swapped the kisses, the co-worker stopped after two, Sarah didn't, and suddently her third kiss landed... laid right on his mouth!  Oops!  Sarah is adorable so I'm sure he didn't mind :)

After reading this post, you're ready for your trip to Luxembourg!  Just get ready...to be kissed!

Love until next time...Melanie