Girls' Getaway

Mary was one of my first friends in Nashville so she's a special one!  I was so happy to hear that Mary, along with 2 friends, would be coming to see me in Luxembourg in August!  Alex was about to be in for a treat - FOUR ladies in the house :)  I'm quite certain he didn't mind.

Mary, Amy and Ellen didn't have much time in Luxembourg so, when they arrived from Paris, we hit the ground running!  First on the itinerary was a raclette dinner because you can't be in this part of Europe and not experience it!  This is special cheese, my friends!

 

 

The next day, a Saturday, Alex and I showed the girls around the city - we ate breakfast at our favorite spot, the Coffee Lounge, perused the market, did a little shopping and gave Mary, Ellen and Amy the chance to sample the chocolate shops in town.  Finally, we ended up about 30 minutes down the road on the Luxembourg / German border town of Schengen.  Schengen houses one of Luxembourg's white wine houses, Domain Henri Ruppert, which happens to have the loveliest view overlooking the Moselle River.  Here we are about to head inside...

 

 

Henri Ruppert didn't disappoint, nor did the view.  We're standing on Luxembourg soil but behind us, on the other side of the river, begins Germany.  Even more strange, less than a mile to the right, you have France.  Schengen is the city where the three countries connect.  Just another fun fact about little Luxembourg :)

 

Our plan for Sunday was to leave for Bruges, Belgium after church so, after the service, we made a quick stop by the Schueberfouer (Luxembourg's annual fair) to pick up some lunch before heading out of town.  This is one of my favorite photos from the trip - Amy and Mary diving in to their big bratwurst, a Luxembourg fair staple! I think they look pretty happy, don't you?

 

 

 

After the brief, yet memorable, stop at the Schueberfouer, the four of us girls piled in the car and headed to one of my favorite cities drivable from Lux - Bruges, Belgium!  Luckily, the 4-person room at my go-to little hotel, the Boterhuis, was available so we were cozy and comfortable just off the main town square.  I highly recommend this charming boutique hotel if you ever find yourself in Bruges...which you should!

 

The girls loved Bruges - the chocolate, the lace, the canal boat tour, the shopping and, of course, the food.  Here I am with Mary at our new favorite little restaurant, the Olive Tree...

 

 

After a long dinner, some free food (just one benefit of a girl's getaway) and much conversation with the young restaurant owner, it was evident that he'd developed quite a crush on Amy, the lovely musician of our bunch.  It wasn't long before Amy's album was playing throughout the restaurant and our new friend appeared to be a little starstruck.  I think its safe to say that we won't be strangers in the Olive Tree if we ever make it back.  What a memorable night and fun week with friends!

 

Love from Luxembourg...

Melanie

 

 



A birthday celebration in a French farmhouse

Alex and I were so excited to get the invitation to celebrate our friend Martyna's birthday over a weekend in a farmhouse in France.  I know, we are so spoiled.  Here's the birthday girl!

You may remember Martyna and Paulius from my post on our lovely Lithuanian friends some time ago.  Well, Martyna had the wonderful idea to celebrate her birthday on a little trip with 10 friends - all of whom were Lithuanian except for Alex and me. 

We went to a T-I-N-Y village in the Champagne region of France where we stayed in a barn that had been converted to a 4-bedroom retreat.  The property had lakes nearby, large open fields and horses!  Spending the weekend with this group was so much fun! 

We all cooked dinner together...

 

 

Explored Langres, a nearby city...

 

 

 

Rode horses...

 

 

 

And celebrated Miss Martyna around a fire with chocolate cake!

 

 

 

And to top off the weekend, we played in a field on the way home and got some great photos with the haybales.  And you know...I LOVE haybales :)

 

Thanks to Ineta, Ema and Paulius for the great photos and to our sweet Lithuanian friends for speaking English the entire weekend so we could participate in the conversation :)

 

Love from Luxembourg...

Melanie

 



 

 

A second visit from Ms. Connie

Once again, I'm going to attempt to catch up on all of our summer adventures. With the trips and large number of visitors, team Martin made so many memories this year. We had the chance to make a second round of memories with Alex's mom as she returned to visit us in July...

Ms. Connie is quite the expert travel planner. When she arrived, she'd done all of our work for us by routing out travel plans, finding accommodations, etc. for our journeys.  This time, we ventured to the Alsace region of France and explored new German cities in the Black Forest. One in particular, Freiburg, became another favorite city on my list and reminded me, again, that Germany is way underrated!

Here's a map of southwestern Germany where Freiburg sits in the corner near France...

 

 

Freiburg is a university town and that was evident in the amount of young people on the streets, the great shopping, the number of cafes and the energy of the city's center. Here we are (finally, yet briefly wearing summer clothes!!) at the market in Freiburg...

 

Freiburg market

 

Though Freiburg was our home base for the long weekend, we also visited several surrounding little towns including St. Peter, Furtwangen and Triberg. Triberg, below, is known for its huge waterfall...

 

Alex and his mom in Triberg

 

After several days in the Black Forest and a day in Basel, Switzerland, our trio headed back over to France to make a few pitstops in Kayserberg, Ribeauville and Colmar, France before returning to Luxembourg. Kayserberg was a delightful surprise, as neither Alex nor I had been there, or even heard of it before...

 

 

 

I bought an adorable ceramic baking dish in Kayserberg that will always remind me of our time there.  The style of baking dish is one of the things the Alsace region is known for.  Isn't it cute?  It bakes a delicious chicken, too :)

 

 

 

Our last stop, Colmar, is close to and similar to Strasbourg and just about as picturesque as it gets. Little bridges perched over canals, flower boxes on every window and colorful timbered houses describes quaint Colmar...

 



 

 

And thus completes another memorable and special visit!  Up next, a weekend birthday celebration in a French farmhouse :)

 

Love from Luxembourg...

Melanie

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Life on Purpose

I'm going to interrupt the summer adventure posts with some recent ponderings that I've been wresting with as of late.  I've had a lot of time with just myself and my thoughts this month.  August is THE vacation month and the month that working in Luxembourg appears to be optional.  Everyone packs up for 3-4 weeks and a mass exodus occurs until September.  While the free spirit in me loves this idea of checking out, the Martins remained in town and the extrovert in me (sans computer!) was less than delighted to be my own company for 3 weeks straight :)

Its funny what comes into clear focus when you spend extended periods of time alone.  I have been severly reminded over the last few weeks that we, as individuals, spend so much time taking care of ourselves and trying to make ourselves happy.  Here I am in a beautiful country with my husband, seeing the world, and living, for what seems to most, a fairy tale.  I've been reminded that just outside of this fairy tale, there are people surrouding me lost and in need.  People who benefit from me choosing not to make my life all about myself.  Its not likely that I will ever have this much free time again and I don't want to look back regretting years that were wasted in the grand scope of eternity.  I want to live life on purpose. 

Though I'm not sure what this will come to look like, I'm grateful for a few friends who are joining with me to dream about some possibilities.  Friends who share this vision with me and want to see what it means for their lives, as well.  There are prayers being lifted, research being done and contact being made to organizations and individuals in the city who are already making a difference. 

I'm also thankful for a book that I read recently called "The Scent of Water" and a Louie Giglio podcast titled "Life on Purpose" that have both stirred something inside me.  A Ralph Waldo Emerson quote will sum up today's post: "To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - that is to have succeeded."

Let us live life on purpose :)

Love from Luxembourg...Melanie

A much anticipated European double date

Patrick & Libby started talking about a European double date the the very night Alex & I told them that we were moving to Luxembourg.  Two of our closest friends, both in our wedding and vice versa, Patrick & Libby, we knew, were going to make it happen!  And this year in April, Euro double date 2012 began!  Team Burke and Team Martin were united once again :)

Alex and I got to show our special friends Luxembourg, Trier (Germany) and Bruges (Belgium) before they continued on to Italy.  Many thanks to Patrick & Libby for the fantastic photos they took along the way!

We visited some of the Luxembourgish vineyards...

Our favorite view from a Luxembourgish vineyard overlooking the Moselle River,
which serves as the Lux / German border

We took a little weekend trip to the Champagne region in France to visit Moet & Chandon, as well as some smaller vineyards...

Moet & Chandon in Epernay, France

Moet vines - too early for grapes!

Our trip ended in the special town of Bruges, Belgium!  Bruges is always a treat - and to think, I'd never even heard of it before last year!

Patrick, Libby, Alex and I in front of the famous clock tower

And I love this photo of the Burkes on a scenic little bridge in Bruges

The same little scenic bridge in Bruges :)

The only problem with the visit is that it was too short!  But, without a doubt, I'd say Euro double date 2012 was a huge success!  Thanks for coming, y'all!  Euro DD 2013? :)

Love from Luxembourg,

Melanie





Lindsey Lou and Butch, too!

I'd been anticipating the visit from my dear friend, Lindsey, for months.  This wouldn't be the first trip in my history with Lindsey - memories of a week-long stint in the Texas hill country flood my mind :)  We were quite the adventurers together in our Nashville days. Life has moved us both from our beloved Music City but, I was reminded of those sweet times when I got to live another travel adventure with Lindsey this past May... 

There was much hugging and jumping up and down upon Lindsey's arrival :)

Though Alex had to work for part of the week, I got to show Lindsey and Butch around our favorite places in Luxembourg.  I introduced them to macaroons at Namur, a little bakery in the city center...

Macaroons & coffee at Namur

We wondered into the Grund, drank hot chocoloate at the Chocolate House, saw the Grand Duke's palace and introduced the Roebuck's to MORE food - a Swiss cheesy delight called raclette!

Lindsey & Butch and their first raclette meal (and yes, that's sweet tea bottom right :)

We also took a trip to Trier (Germany) and Maastricht (The Netherlands), one of my favorite destinations that you probably remember from an earlier post Maastricht Magic.

A water mill in charming Maastricht

The mill above actually powers the making of fresh,
homemade bread at this little Maastricht bakery

After a few days in and around Luxembourg, Alex and I met Lindsey and Butch in Amsterdam.  The visit there was fresh and exciting since none of us had been there before!  Alex and I arrived a little early so we popped by the huge tulip festival, the Keukenhof, just before it closed for the season.  Though almost half the tulips had already seen their best days, there were still hundreds of thousands of blooms and it was gorgeous!

Keukenhof tulip festival outside of Amsterdam

We found Amsterdam, despite its tarnished reputation, lovely and a great place to spend a weekend.  We enjoyed traveling everywhere by bike and even learned a trick or two when we didn't have enough bikes to go around...



There were beautiful canals lacing the entire city so we took a canal tour...

Visited the Van Gogh museum...

Vonder Park...

And, of course, ate some delicious food...

Restaurant Bizaar in Amsterdam

Our favorite meal, by far, was at a little restaurant on a side street called Zaza's.  If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam, please go straight here for dinner...

After our AMAZING dinner at Zaza's

It was a perfect little European adventure.  Missing the Roebuck's already!

Love from Luxembourg...

Melanie

 





I'm back!

To say it has been a long time is a major understatement!  I have been without my lil laptop for over a month and wildly out of sorts because of it.  The blog was majorly neglected, I know, but the good news is...all is well and back up and running for me in cyberspace :)

So much has happened in the last three months that a major recap is in order.  Some of my best friends have come to visit us in Luxembourg...

With Libby at the flower market

Introducing Lindsey to the Grund in Luxembourg 

Alex and I have also been on some amazing trips of our own!  We went on a little 10-day Baltic adventure to St. Petersburg (Russia), Helsinki (Finland), and ended up in Tallinn (Estonia) for a wedding...

Church on the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg

Most recently, Alex's mom (Ms. Connie) came back for her second visit and we saw some of the most beautiful parts of Germany and France together...

Strasbourg, France

Several posts will follow to highlight all of our summer excitement.  And I can legitimately call it summer now as temps this month have finally surpassed 75 degrees!

There's also more excitement to come as another friend, Mary, arrives next Friday followed by my parents the first weekend of September!  Thank you to all who have stayed in touch, come to visit us and read the blog to stay a part of our lives here in little Luxembourg!



Much love,

Melanie

 

Travel Tales from Italy: Lake Como

Lake Como is perfectly situated at the foot of the Alps and about an hour train ride north of Milan.  The scene outside of the left window as we arrived took my breath away.  It was the beginning of May and the sun was shining on the top of the snow covered mountains just beyond the lake.  No wonder Como is the choice location for George Clooney to have property among many other rich and famous.

Alex and I had three days to explore several small villages around the middle of the lake: we stayed in Varenna and Bellagio but, thanks to the ferries that run all day, were able to enjoy several other nearby towns, as well. 

Map of Lake Como

Some highlights of the Lake Como trip include our hike to the castle ruins...

At the top!



Tours of two villas on the lake: Villa Carlotta (famous for its amazing gardens) and Villa Barbianello (Alex's favorite)...

A view from Villa Carlotta's balcony

Alex at Villa Barbianello

Villa Barbianelo



And the food.  When you're in Italy, a favorite is always the food :)  Here's the view from our first dinner in Varenna...

One of my absolute favorite experiences of our trip was the Italian cooking class that Alex and I participated in on my birthday.  Moreno is a very well-known chef on the lake who offers cooking classes during the day instead of serving lunch at his restaurant.  Alex and I were picked up by Moreno, himself, and enjoyed a full day of Italian cooking and eating, of course.  We learned to cook a veal tenderloin, a special potato gratin dish, homemade pasta sauce and even fresh pasta!

Chef Moreno



Pasta-making attempt

Chef Moreno cooking class graduates :)

What a special trip it was!  Thank you, Italy, for always being a good time!

Love from Luxembourg,
Melanie