Schueberfouer

Schueberfouer is a big fair the runs for 3 weeks in the end of August and the first half of September.  It happens to be located between our neighborhood and downtown.  The advantage is that we can easily walk to the rides.  On the other hand, we have to pass it every day and resist the 2€ per child rides!

We had a little sneak peek on Sunday night and then Jeremy took a break Wed afternoon so that we could take the boys for a couple hours of fun.  We could have stayed at the kids bumper cars til the rides closed at 1am!

It was crazy unorganized compared to what you would expect in the US.  When the ride stopped, some kids got out, some stayed, it was a free for all for all the other kids standing around the sides of the ride (completely ungated).  On our first attempt to ride bumper cars, Colden wasn't aggressive enough to get a car, so as he is looking around and walking back towards me, they just start the cars and he had to dodge them on his way off the floor!  I've never seen anything like that before!

We even took the kids on an adult ride thinking it looked tame enough... It went FAST!!  We had fun, but no requests to ride that one again!

Food at a fair is always greasy or sugary... and delicious! I was disappointed not to find any fried dough, funnel cakes, elephants ears or whatever you call them!  We did have local sausages that were delicious and the small cup of water cost 0,20€ less than Jeremy's beer!  I took a picture of the new thing we tried... It was a nicely seasoned fried potato patty.  One serving was 3 of these... I thought the one I ate was plenty filling.

Since the fair runs for another 11 days, I'm betting we'll be back :)

Double Double Decker

What a wonderful week we spent in London!  We started with a day touring London on the double double decker, AKA: a double decker tour bus, not to be confused with the double decker city bus which we saw many of and I had to explain many times that our ticket didn't work for that bus!

(A look at Tower Bridge from the top of the bus)

Our first hop off the bus was at Hyde Park where we headed to the Princess Diana Memorial Park with a big ship for the kids to climb on.  The queu to get into the park was an hour long, so we explored Hyde Park and enjoyed a carousel ride instead.

After a lovely bistro lunch in Soho, a taxi took us straight to Hamley's, a five floor toy store on Regent Street.  We spent an hour playing with remote control cars, hex bugs, animals, gazing at Playmobil and Lego sets and enjoying the entertainment of all the store employees showing off their cool toys!

At a quarter til 4, we were all exhausted and ready for a snack. A little gelato and we were ready to ride the double double bus again.

London

We arrived in London after a quick hop over the pond from Luxembourg.  I have to say, flying in Europe had been quite a different experience from the cattle cars in the US.  Even Colden told the flight attendant the he spoiled him!  We really were taken car of quite nicely on CityJet and even sent away with a bag of chocolates for sweet boys :).

Our hotel too was welcoming to children... They had this fun little (very little) play room for the kids that we spent quite a bit of time at over the course of 5 days!

First thing, we headed out of our hotel in Waterloo to explore what was right around us.  Big Ben and the House of Parliament quickly became the favorite landmark and with a park located in front of the big clock tower, it was fun to play and wait for the bell tower to ring.

We also found our first of many red phone booths, so we took advantage of the photo opportunity!

La Cuisine

Translation, the kitchen.

Several of you have asked what my kitchen is like and I have only had the privilege of showing a few of you via Skype... So here it is!

I was not kidding what I said it was small!  It's about two of my body-widths wide.  Needless to say, it's tough to share the kitchen with anyone, though I've learned to share a bit with Jeremy.

It does have a decent amount of cabinet space if you keep in mind that my kitchen appliances do not work here (voltage + plug issues) so I didn't bring most of them.  We bought this gadget to modify voltage so that we could keep 3  of my basic kitchen electrics and not have to buy new.

 

Also, most of my pans are too large for the oven, so they are in storage.  I also have an induction stove which is a really cool feature, but again, most of my pots and pans are not compatible, so those are also in storage!  I bought this induction heating plate to help adapt some essential pans, but even this only helps with some.

The newest addition to the kitchen is our espresso maker!  It's amazing... It makes the nicest foam for my morning cappuccino and a lovely espresso base to mix with it.  I'm in love :)

Oh and I have this cool garbage chute from the sink.  I definitely will have this in a future kitchen of mine!!  I can't say this is the best design but the idea is genius!

That's it... Tour of the kitchen, complete!  And according to locals, this is a luxurious kitchen!!

Morning in City Centre

On Monday we had an appointment at city hall and decided to stay in Centre to explore a bit until we could meet Jeremy for lunch at the park.  We enjoyed a few street performances and I (finally) learned the proper way to order a take-away coffee... Je veux un capaccino emporter.

The Spillplaz (we think very appropriately named) is a new little park right in the walking streets of downtown.  The boys call it the "Spinny Park" as almost everything in it spins.  See the yellow and red clown?  That is a water fountain for kids.  Cute!

Blakely spun so much that he got sick!  Poor guy.  He recovered quickly and thought he would go right back to spinning!

We also went to our favorite toy stores located across the plaza from each other, but it was Monday... so we did not get to go inside, again.  (Most shops open after lunch on Monday, if they open at all.)

The toy stores are located in Place Guillaume II, just behind the Palace of the Grand Duke and Duchesse.  Here is a little shot of the back corner from where we stood... Lighting was not great.

Around Our Neighborhood

Continuing our tour of Limpertsberg, we found this active church stuck right in the middle of all the row houses. We saw the Nuns entering in the morning and wonder if there is some living quarters attached.

I've been trying to figure out the importance of this building, but can't quite determine what it is.  I'll let you know more when I learn...

Sunday, after church, we enjoyed pizza at La Torre, a pretty well known Italian restaurant that fortunately sits right across from the park next to our street. The boys raced eachother on the ziplines while we enjoyed a few mins of quiet!

Speaking of church... We can walk, its so close, but maybe not quite yet in heels! (my feet need re-training) Colden asked if the people would speak English at church... Yes they did. In fact, the pastor & his family are on holiday in the States... So, we'll see what they are like in September along with the rest of life when it returns to "normal".

On another note, I have my official Luxembourg ID card!  Didn't think I should publish it here, but look, my car is official too!!

Landmark in Limpertsberg

One of the most standout landmarks in our neighborhood is Lycée Garçons.  Despite its name, it is no longer a boys school, but a public high school.

The large courtyard

in front of the building is a favorite place of ours to ride bikes!

And it's also a great place to take your pain au chocolate (or ice cream if it ever gets hot) from Pâtissier André Drebenstedt to enjoy on a bench in the sun!

We will have to go a little further out to buy our baguettes and pastries for the next month as Pâtissier André along with most of our neighborhood spots will be closed for a month of vacation.  Sad!

One detail that I just love is that our street signs describe after whom they are named, many of which have the dates that they lived marked as well.  So interesting!  Our street is named after Monsieur Laurent, Professor of Law.

Just Around the Corner

Out for our evening bike ride last night, we stopped to see what is behind the mysterious gates marked with the Star of David.

I can't really find any information about the beautiful cemetery we found, but that it was acquired by the Jewish community in 1883 and is still in use today.  The inscriptions are in French, German and Hebrew.

Stay tuned for more of our "Tour of Limpertsberg".

Sounds of the City

One of my favorite things is hearing the church bells chime. They seem to ring feverishly at Noon on Friday and at five o'clock each evening. It's one of my favorite city sounds.

 Look at this beautiful bell tower!

 We hope to ride our bikes by at noon on Friday to hear the bells close-up! Kinda weird, but I also like the sound of the neighbors pulling up/lowering their exterior shades so long as it doesn't wake me up in the morning!

Our Legs are Sore!

I've been a bit absent from blogging as we have been busy moving into our new home for the past 4 days. I think I would have preferred to unload the truck than unpack all of the boxes!  In fact, this way of moving with a belt into the 2nd and 3rd story seems way more efficient than how we do it up and down the stairs in the States.

We've made good progress with only a few boxes remaining in the guest rooms.  Our closet on the other hand is still a work-in-progress.  It's not a bad space for a closet.  Certainly not comparable to my dreamy master closet in our last home!  The previous tenant was nice enough to leave some basic drawers for us to use, but there is no hanging space on our level of the house.  

No European move is complete without a trip to IKEA, so off we went to solve our closet storage problem!  It was actually a really fun shopping trip.  I knew there was play for the kids, but I had no idea that we could check the boys in and go by ourselves!

Today, day 4, we needed a break.  So after all the bikes were assembled and ready to ride, we went for a tour of our neighborhood, Limpertsberg.  I just love our neighborhood!  It's so city (compared to the suburbia from which we come) but also so peaceful.  It's especially peaceful on Sunday as EVERYTHING besides a cafe or two is closed.  I will give you a glimpse later!

Oh yes, you still may be wondering why our legs are sore... Our house is 4 stories... The lowest level is the garage level where we have storage, but not a living space (besides a potential playroom) which is why we reference it as 3 stories.  But we have all been up and down the 4 levels so much that we all have sore calf muscles!  Even Colden is complaining.  Blakely is refusing to go up and down as much... Smart ;)

Dissapointing!

I'm all about new and different, but M&M/Mars totally tricked me!  "Crispy" M&M's are not the pretzel M&M's that I love and thought that I was buying!

On a positive note,  M&M's are not the same bold colors as in the US since they are sans food coloring... Blakely is quite happy about that!