Luxembourg fun fact #1

Since I had to pull out a map when Alex asked me if I wanted to move to Luxembourg, I thought I'd give a quick crash course on this lovely little new home of mine.  Here is the first out of five fun facts that will enlighten (and entertain you) about the Grand Dutchy of Luxembourg (yes, that's our "official" name :)

1. Being a Grand Dutchy means we have a Grand Duke!  Luxembourg has had a Grand Duke since 1815 and Grand Duke Henri has been the Grand Duke since 2000.  Here's a photo of Henri, whose image is framed all over town in restaurants, shops, etc.

The Grand Duke's palace is a short 5-minute walk from our apartment and it is lovely.  It is usually armed with a guard or two and they have very big guns.  Since Luxembourg was named "the safest place in the world" (another fact that didn't make the list), I imagine the guns are just for show.  Let's hope.

Here's the palace!

I've heard that the Grand Duke doesn't actually live here all the time but my friend Sarah and I did get a sneak peak one day a few weeks ago!  Sarah and I were having delicious hot chocolate at The Chocolate House, which is directly in front of the palace.  This will give you an idea of how utterly DELIGHTFUL this place is...you pick your preferred flavor chocolate spoon, they bring you hot milk in a mug and viola!



So back to the Grand Duke spotting...As Sarah and I were sipping our hot chocolate, we noticed that there were several more guards surrounding the palace than usual.  There was also a crowd forming in front of the palace (thank goodness they weren't obstructing our view).  Moments later, the big iron doors opened and there he was!



Grand Duke Henri is in the back seat along with a few other men and he was being escorted out of the palace!  We may have another chance to see the Grand Duke in a few weeks as June 23rd is a National holiday in Luxembourg celebrating Henri's birthday!  Everyone will have the day off work and there will be a huge celebration!  I love that the Grand Duke invites the entire country to celebrate his birthday!

More on the Grand Duke's birthday celebration - but first there will be Luxembourg fun fact #2 coming very soon!

Love until next time...Melanie

Our humble abode

Last week was a big week for the maison du Martin.  We received our sea shipment, which contained all of our furniture and the rest of our belongings.  We were delighted when we got the call because, honestly, we weren't expecting it to arrive for another week or two!  The 5 Luxembourgish men arrived complete with an outside lift that hoisted our furniture and boxes up 4 floors ourside and everything came through our big living room windows!  It was quite chaotic - but thank goodness for that lift!

After a few days of unpacking and arranging, Alex and I are almost fully settled in!  The last thing to do, which is on our list for the weekend, is hang pictures on the wall.  This would have already been done, however, we soon realized that our walls were concrete behind the sheet rock.  This will require a little help from Alex and from our sweet friends, the Queens, who let us borrow their drill.

Minus some of our wall decor, here are a few pictures of our home in Little Luxembourg!

Our last bit of exciting news for the week is...we bought a car!  Living in the middle of the City Centre allows us to walk almost everywhere but Alex and I wanted to have a car for weekend travel and major grocery store runs.  We bought the car from a sweet, young American couple headed back to the States this week.  The guy played professional soccer here and  is going back home to coach at a college. The car is a gray Mazda 3 and its perfect for what we need!  Here it is!

Now we are offically ready for visitors - YOU!!  I'll leave you with one last picture - its your bed in our guest room - empty...waiting... :)

Love until next time...Melanie

A birthday in France

If you'd told me last year that this year, I'd get to spend my birthday in France, I might not have believed you.  Though we've been in Europe for three and a half weeks now, it still seems like an extended vacation...or even a dream. We spent this weekend in lovely Ribeauville, which is in the Alsace region of France along a "wine route." I am one lucky girl.

Alex and I have become great friends with the most precious couple from the States, the Queens, who embarked on this weekend adventure with us.  We hit the road on Saturday morning with the Queens, drove 3 hours to a tiny wine village in France called Ribeauville to spend a few days doing tastings, hiking to a castle and eating lots of cheese - something that I've grown more fond of since living here.  Here are a few pictures:



After a very French lunch in Ribeauville (my salmon came out unexpectedly raw), we visited a few of the wineries in the area and explored the cute town and the Riquewihr, the village down the street.  After a nice dinner, we found our hotel, which was in a separate village, Thannenkirch.  The hotel was very homey and had a lodgey / rustic feel. The only issue, besides the fact that our "king" bed was comprised of two twin beds pushed together, was the length of the bed(s). Poor Alex couldn't fit on it!

After a night of diagonal sleeping (and being woken up several times by our built-in-the-bathroom-wall hairdryer turning itself on sporatically during the night), we started our day with breakfast and then hiked to the top of a mountain to see ruins from an old castle.  Our guide and friend, Micah, is a very out-doorsy and adventurous fella but he did let us know what we were getting ourselves in to. The strenuious hike, which required me to use my hands to literally climb up the steep terrain, led us up a (very unpopulated) trail to the most beautiful view!  Here it is!

After the hike, we opened our picnic and had lunch overlooking the surrounding vineyards and tiny towns below.  It was a perfect day!

I'll post a video that we took from the top ASAP!

Love until next time...Melanie