Home, Sweet Home!

After almost three months we were ready to go home. Too much of a good thing...or so as the old saying goes. The trip back from Luxembourg  was pretty uneventful, only extremely tiring; but you Atlantic hoppers know that. One experience, however, was new to me and that was being able to use the internet while in the air and post on Facebook. The pics were too good to go unposted.
Clouds are just clouds, but impressive every time to see them from above.

This is Cape Cod hubby suggested.
We had good seats in Delta's new comfort area. Since hubby retired, business class is out of reach.so instead of the famous Fillet Mignon Delta usually offers up front, we had this. Edibly. I thought food in Delta's cabin class was improving. With my own monitor I was able to watch three films in a row that interested me. Between those and Facebooking, nine hours weren't too bad.

I will continue you to post a little about our remaining adventures in Luxembourg from home. As usual, towards the end there will be some tips for successful home-swapping.

Beim Siggy

Count Siegfried, the first Count from Trier who built his castle here on one of the many promontories on the Luxembourg plateaus, was mentioned before.
What a surprise to see a restaurant by that name. "Beim" simply means "chez"; alors, we had to make a pilgrimage there. Actually, we found it by chance driving by. It's situated just past the casemates, still on the Bock.
Siggy is an abbreviation even nowadays for male or female names alike which are difficult yp ponounce for non-German speaker" Sieglinde, Sigurd, Sigismund, Sigrid and Sigrun.If you have read my Irish farm book, you know what I'm going to mention now: That my housekeeper asked me whether all Germans were called Siggy because there were several in and around the town of Killlaoe where we lived.

Food always features highly on our trips as well as views from restaurants; hence the emphasis I put on Burg/castle restaurants so far. The prices at Siggy's are reasonable. A yardstick for prices is always the steak for hubby. A superb fillet mignon was well-priced at EUR 27. I had a huge salad with baked brie and a big portion of charturie of antipasti at EUR 18. The view on a sunny day from their terrace: priceless!
To our surprise, our home exchange partners had never been there. Maybe know that they know a Siggy who gave it  a personal recommendation.

Visitors Allowed

We had a long weekend here in Luxembourg, today being the Day of the Assumption of the Holy Mary. Luxembourg is a predominantly Catholic country. It became Catholic by a fluke of nature. The protestant Grand Duke William IV married a Portuguese woman, the Infanta Anne Maria, who was Catholic. He promised her that all their sons would be Protestant and all their daughters Catholic. Then they had six children- all girls. As a result the succession to the throne had to be changed so that girls could become the ruler (1907). Since then Luxembourg has remained Catholic.

My best friend and her husband came to visit from Germany, only a little of three hours up the road. That is one of the benefits of home swapping: you can agree with your exchange partners to have visitors. Their names and duration of the stay will be entered in the exchange agreement beforehand so that nobody runs a surprise B& B in your house. Our first swap partners this year, the people from Berlin, had their daughter who lives in New York visit them for two weeks in our abode.
This clause makes home swapping even more attractive and is one of the reasons we choose to go to Germany or a neighboring country so that family of friends can easily visit us.

Temperatures were in the low eighties.Together we walked the now familiar streets, saw the fortifications and also did a road trip in the convertible to nearby Echternach, the oldest town in Luxembourg. Its history goes back for more than 1,000 years. The remains of a Roman villa proved to be very interesting as well as the basilica that was visited by John Paul II in 1985. The Basilica St. Willibrord, the patron Saint of Luxembourg, houses his remains in the crypt in a white sarcophagus.

We Have Arrived!

 Well, at least in Luxembourg at our third and last destination of this summer's trip. Riding around in a beetle convertible -- an experience I haven't had in ten years since I sold my Mustang. It was just too hot in Florida to drive around with the sunny scorching down on you most of the time. And too small a car for my 6'6'' tall son who only sling himself in diagonally with the top down. Let's see what the Lux weather has to offer. And it is blue-- my color!

 Our home away from home is a turn of the century (Art Deco style) villa on 3 levels, with eight foot high ceilings and many stairs to climb in between. Well, that will be our keep fit every day. The morning room as they call it in England., the wintergarden in Germany where we have our meals.

 The stylish fireplace won't be used in the summer but makes for a cozy corner.

And here is the rest of the living room, not showing the big TV as it is on the right hand sight.
The walled in  or secret garden reminds me of the one I had in Dublin. Somebody here loves gardening, has the ideas for it, and also the green thumbs apparently. We don't mind mowing the beach towel size lawn once or twice.

SEASON 6 IS UPON US!

No, it's not Paris this year.

Believe me, it's definitely not Paris although it bears some resemblance, doesn't it?

A street scene, full of cafes and little boutiques in the fashionable quarter of  Kreuzberg .

You're excused to think so, but it is not the Seine. It's the Spree with a view of the famous Island of Museums (Museumsinsel). It houses the Pergamon Museum with the famous statue of Nefertiti, strangely called Nofretete in German.

If you haven't been to Berlin, you're in for a treat and surprise. Berlin is the hottest - and I mean- trendiest capital in Europe with the most visitors in the last 2 years. It will be the start to this years's home swapping adventure starting in early June, earlier than we ever did before. This couple approached us and we couldn't think of one single reason why not leave for our annual trip to Europe earlier than normally. 

We have two more exchanges lined up after Berlin, a little village near Baden-Baden near the black Forest and border to France. I hear you say that we were there before. In fact, it's our favorite area in Germany and we keep returning to it almost every year.

After that, we'll be heading to Luxembourg. This exchange came about quite unexpectedly after a long wait when we thought we couldn't find another swap. More about all destinations as we go along.