3 Countries, 1 Weekend: France, Luxembourg, Germany

It took me a while to figure out what I was going to do with my spring break. Wonderful places like Venice, Barcelona and Athens that I have not yet been to were possibilities for a while, but I wanted to spend some time in France as well so it came out to be sort of complicated to travel to countries that weren’t exactly right by each other. Right now I am in Paris (in a Starbucks – oops) just coming back from a weekend trip that I took with Laurent. Since he Works full time he couldn’t take off a whole week like us students can, but we managed to take a semi-random but incredible trip to...wait for it... Luxembourg! When I told people that I would be spending part of my spring break on a beach in France and the other parti n Luxembourg, people seemed to understand the appeal of a French beach but definitely not the appeal of ‘Luxembourg’. “Why are you going there?? There’s NOTHING to do there!” were the kind of comments I received.

I admit that I had no particular reason in choosing Luxembourg other than the fact that it was another country I had never visited and the TGV train tickets from Paris to Luxembourg were cheap and lasted only two hours. I was happy to not have to be in another airport, worrying about baggage limits. However, I am very happy with this choice.

When we arrived in Luxembourg we had nothing – no map, no directions, list of places to visit. We left Paris at 7 AM and arrived at 9 AM. The tourist information of the train station was closed but we found a larger map on the wall and located the Hotel Delta where we were going to stay. Although we couldn’t check-in until the afternoon, we left our things so we wouldn’t have to carry them around while visiting the city. Once we got our map with the ‘hot-spots’ of Luxembourg to visit, we set out on the path they lined out for tourists. Some of the interesting and beautiful places we saw included: Notre Dame Cathedral, Pont Adolphe, Gëlle Fra, a monument commemorating volunteers in the armed forces of the Allies in WWII. We ended this part of our tour with lunch in the incredible Vallée de la Petrusse, and even got a little bit of sun because of the perfect weather. We had some friend fish, a panini, calamari and a delicious Luxembourgish specialty – I forget the name but it is a type of flat potato pancake – in the open market that Saturday, right after looking at the rows of flowers and passing through the crowds of people.

Gëlle Fra

Behind the Cathedral

Flowers for sale!

Fried...fish, calamari and potato pancake

in the Vallée de la Petrusse; Photo Credit: Laurent Box

Vallée de la Petrusse

Aqueduct

We ended the day with a late dinner. We were worried for a moment because nothing seemed to be open around, but once we got into the center of town we found a reasonable priced Mexican restaurant. Yes, a Mexican restaurant in Luxembourg. Mounds of great food for 10 euros, delicious sangria and an old man signing and playing guitar made the day. And to think just that morning we had been in Paris!

The next morning we hopped on a bus to Saarbrücken, Germany. I originally got the idea to try to see Germany while in Luxembourg from my mom who studying abroad there in college. I have already seen and met the places and people my mom discovered and met while in France, but never Germany so this was a pretty cool part of the trip for me. The ride took one hour and when we first arrived we did not know where to go. There was the train station, and then even though we walked a while (following a map we got from the station), we weren’t seeing anything. There were two churches, St. John’s Basilica and St. Johann’s Cathedral… and then closed stores and no restaurants. We were afraid for a minute, since according to a local this was the “center of town”. However, after walking a bit more in search of a brewery we saw gins of life. Cute shops located in tiny roads. Restaurants. A fountain. After having a wonderful lunch, me picking off of Laurent’s plate more than my own, we walked a bit more and to our joy found a park by the river! Right before sitting down to get some sun we spotted a sign “Saarbrücken”. There was another couple trying to get pictures of each other so we went up and offered to photograph for them. They, in exchange, took our photo and we discussed a bit about our lives after. They enjoyed the fact the Laurent was French, that I was American, had studied in France but now lived in Portugal. Complicated, really. The best part though was finding out that this couple was from Portugal. Coimbra, in fact! She, Inês, was finishing her PhD in Saarbrücken and he, don’t remember his name, was visiting her from Coimbra.

St Johann's

The real center of town

Walking to the park

After we “tanned” in the sun and bought some ice cream despite the language barrier, we returned to the train station to go back to Luxembourg. Our train the next morning to Paris was at 6 am so we thought it best not to stay out late. However, this did not stop us from getting Mexican food (at a different restaurant – we wanted to mix it up) and some amazing cocktails. First and best piña colada I’ve had.

Everything about this trip was wonderful: the sunny and warm weather, my friend and boyfriend, beautiful sites and getting to know another part of the world. I just felt extremely lucky despite becoming a bit sick. So, for those who say there is nothing to do there in Luxembourg I reply that you have to find the right sites, the right food and of course, travel with the right person to experience the luxe of the country.

Up next, Easter in France!

Piscina, Palácios e Portugal

A couple updates from the fim do Março to the fim do Abril:

VISEU

It has been a while since I have updated my blog, but now that I am on Easter vacation and no longer filling out internship applications, I have a moment to write about where I have been and what I’ve been doing for he past couple of weeks. I’m not going to describe everything in one post since there have been various trips. The first is Viseu, Portugal.

As part of my study abroad program here in Portugal there are two organized trips: a day trip that we have not yet had and a weekend trip that took place in Viseu, Portugal. Viseu is about an hour and a half from Coimbra by car. The five of us (me, Amalia, Alex, our director Ana Paula and her boyfriend Francisco) drove to Viseu Friday afternoon to our five star hotel and spa, Hotel Montebelo. Amalia, Alex and I all shared a room, fully equipped with a bath and hot shower, something that lacks from our apartment at times. We ate the complimentary fruit plate before slipping into our robes for our massages. The spa was equipped with a pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and, my personal favorite, hamam or Turkish bath.

That night we went our to eat before heading to the “Ice Bar”, a bar completely made of ice. A “hot” or rather cold (hold your laughs please) tourist attraction, we enjoyed our delicious drinks at this incredible location.

Saturday was filled with visiting museums and cathedrals. Unfortunately it was raining and cold, but nonetheless interesting to see all of the religious art in the area. Our visits included the Ireja da Misericórdia and the museum of Grão Vasco, the biggest Portuguese painter of the 16^th century. That night we were on our own for dinner and evening activities which included shopping at the mall. Viseu was interesting, but it is not the size of Lisbon or Porto so we were also able to visit a museum in Carambulo as well, a museum that displayed propaganda and also a temporary exhibition of old cars. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for this part of the trip in my suitcase, but it was a good way to end things, even though we were absolutely exhausted. The last meal included “sandes de leitão”. If you don’t know what that is, you’re better off looking it up online. Very good, but we probably drove around from an hour (the time it takes to travel between Viseu and Coimbra) to find these oh-so-precious sanduíches, according to our director.

Sé Cathedral Square

Miséricordia

Saint Isabel, Coimbra's saint

SINTRA

After our massages in Viseu, we took a train down to Lisbon a weekend after. Mario, my dad’s childhood friend picked us up, made us a wonderful dinner and drove us to a house in Sintra. My dad has another good friend, Helder, with a vacation home in Sintra. Helder offered up his home for the weekend so we three girls, looking for a weekend away, took the generous offer. The house is gorgeous and despite the lack of hot water, was a nice getaway. We slept in comfy beds and watched a movie, In her Shoes. During the day, however, our visit in Sintra was packed.

Since Sintra isn’t exactly pedestrian friendly, Ricardo, Mario’s son, kindly drove us around and served as our guide for the weekend. We enjoyed sites like Palácio da Pena and the Castelo dos Mouros on Saturday and took a trip to Mafra and visited the palace there on Sunday. We were also able to drive to Cabo da Roca, the most western part of Europe, and Cascais. My favorite part of the trip was definitely the Palácio da Pena and the Castelo dos Mouros. The Palácio incorporated so many styles and colors and its location at the top of a mountain made it even more pristine. From the Palacio we could spot the Castelo dos Mouros, a typical looking castle you’d see in a children’s cartoon of a medieval story. Situated on the castle’s peaks were the different Portuguese flags and their evolution, and the style was typically arab.

Palácio da Pena

Claustros da Palácio

From below

Castelo dos Mouros

View from Cabo da Roca

Library inside Palácio de Mafra

The morning we left we had hot water. Such a nice change from our apartment’s shower. Sintra, although touristy, is a beautiful historical city. Although the trip was last minute sometimes those are the best kind of trips. Going in without a ton of knowledge of the location or expectations of the trip can make it one of the best ones. I am learning that I enjoy traveling like that.