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