Luxembourg is actually a pretty interesting country. I highly suggest you look up the history of the country - yes, I'm a supernerd, but I like to know about places I visit.
It's so awesome to live in Germany and be so close to a bunch of other countries. Being from Texas, it's actually a pretty big treat. Hell, "the sun has ris', the sun has set, and here we is in Texas yet." It only took us an hour and a half to get to Luxembourg, through rolling valleys and farm lands. Finding where we were trying to GET to in Luxembourg City took at least another 45 minutes. We MAY have gone the wrong way down a couple of one-way streets, and we MAY have pissed off a couple of locals, but we finally found a parking garage in the city center. Actually, finding parking garages seems to be the easiest part of driving in Europe - very well marked. GPS use in Europe is still something we're trying to figure out. Streets are so narrow, and not at perfect 90 degree angles, so when the GPS unit tells us to "turn right" it could be one of three streets on our right. Very confusing.
Our goal of the day was to get to the Museum of Natural History & Art. Unfortunately, the whole city center is marked by steep cobblestone hills. NOT exactly the best thing when you're in a wheelchair. At some point, I think my kidneys almost vibrated out of my body. Thank the Powers that Be that I had Chris AND Josh there to help. They both had to take turns pushing my handicapped butt around.
A couple of interesting things about Luxembourg:
1. Most people speak 3 languages - Luxembourgish, French, and German. We found most spoke French, though, and it seemed like all the print items (billboards, newspapers, etc) were in French.
2. There were handy-dandy signs posted all around with arrows pointing to different sights/attractions throughout the city. Quite helpful.
3. The city is basically an old fortress, surrounded by walls & bridges. I would have been a much happier person if I could have actually WALKED to different areas of the city to the lookouts. We missed a lot of good photo ops.
4. Sidewalks can get increasingly narrow, and you will have to be rolled into the bus lane on occasion.
We finally made it to the museum, and I gotta tell you, this place was AWESOME! It was 4 stories below ground, and 5 stories above ground. The underground levels did not have concrete walls, but actual rock walls, from where they cut into the stone. It was markedly chilly down there, as well - basically like being in a cave (although the humidity was definitely being controlled). Another neat thing about the museum, is that all of the artifacts were actually from Luxembourg - the stone age, iron age, Roman artifacts, etc. were all actually found in the country.
Unfortunately, time started to get away from the three of us. We wanted to go out to eat in a local cafe, and try and make it to the American cemetery where General Patton is buried, but we'll just have to save that for next time. I love our dog so much, but she definitely makes it hard to spend a full day anywhere.
Oh, and one other fun tidbit of information about Luxembourg...just because the elevator to the Parking Garage was working when you first arrived, does NOT mean it will be working when you depart. Good luck figuring that one out when you're hungry, your insides have been vibrated into goo, and there are swarms of Frogs on bicycles playing chicken with your Wheelchair Aide.
BUT, it was probably really good that we left when we did. My leg has been hurting so bad since we got home. When I woke up this morning, I was probably a 7 out of 10 on the pain scale. I don't even want to know what it looks like under all the bandages.
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